Presented to the 

LIBRARIES of the 
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 

by 

Nancy Kiphart Logan 

In memory of 
Her grandfather 
Thomas J. Kiphart 



HISTORY 

OF 

THE REFORMATION 

OF 

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 

BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGN^, D. D, 

PRESIDENT OF THE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL OP GENEVA, AND VlOi^ 
PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIISTE fiVANGELIQUE. 

TRANSLATED BY H. WHITE, B. A. 

TRINITT COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE I M. A. AND PH. DR. HEIDELBERG, 

THE TRANSLATION CAREFULLY REVISED BY DR. d'aUBIGN^, WHO HAS 
ALSO MADE VARIOUS ADDITIONS NOT HITHERTO PUBLISHED, 

VOL. III. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK l^v;. 
FIRST REFORMS. 

15 21", 1522. 



CHAPTER I. 

Progress of the Reformation— New period— Usefulness of Luther's 
captivity in the Wartburg — Agitation in Germany — Melancthon 
and Luther — Enthusiasm 21 



CHAPTER II. 

Luther in the Wartburg — Object of his captivity — Anxiety — Sick- 
ness — Luther's labors — On confession — Reply to Latomus — His 
daily walks - 29 



CHAPTER III. 

Commencement of the reform — Marriage of Feldkirchen — The mar- 
riage of monks — Theses — Tract against monachism — Luther no 
longer a monk - 37 



CHAPTER IV. 

Archbishop Albert — The idol of Halle — Luther's indignation — 
Alarm of the court — Luther's letter to the archbishop — Albert's 
reply — Joachim of Brandenburg 42 



CHAPTER V. 

Translation of the Bible — Wants of the church — ^Principles of the 
Reformation — Temptations of the devil— Luther's works con- 
demned by the Sorbonne — Melancthon's reply — Luther visits 
Wittemberg - 49 



4 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fresh reforms — Gabriel Zwilling on the mass — The university — 
Melancthon's propositions — The elector — Monastic inst'tutions 
attacked — Emancipation of the monks— Disturbances — Chapter 
of the Augustine monks — Carlstadt and the mass — First celebra- 
tion of the Lord's supper — Importance of the mass in the Romish 
system 55 



CHAPTER VII. 

False reform — The new prophets — The prophets at Wittemberg — 
Melancthon — The elector — Luther — Carlstadt and the images — 
Disturbances — Luther is called for — He does not hesitate — Dan- 
gers 68 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Departure from the Wartburg — ^New position — Luther and primi- 
tive Catholicism — Meeting at the Black Bear — Luther's letter to 
the elector — Return to Wittemberg — Sermon at Wittemberg — 
Charity — The word — How the Reformation was brought about — 
Faith in Christ — Its effects — Didymus — Carlstadt — The prophets 
— Interview with Luther — End of the struggle 79 



CHAPTER IX. 

Translation of the New Testament — Faith and Scripture — Opposi- 
tion — Importance of this publication — Necessity for a systematic 
arrangement — Melancthon's Loci Communes — Original ein — Sal- 
vation — Free-will — Effects of the Loci Communes 98 

CHAPTER X. 

Opposition — Henry VIIL— Wolsey — The queen— Fisher— Thomas 
More — Luther's books burned — Henry's attack on Luther — Pre- 
sented to the pope — Its effect on Luther — Energy and violence 
— Luther's reply — Answer by the bishop of Rochester — Reply of 
Thomas More — Henry's proceedings 108 



CHAPTER XI. 

General movement — The monks — How the Reformation was carried 
on — ^Unlearned believer — The old and the new doctors — Printing 
and literature— Bookselling and dolportage 122 



CONTENTS. 



I 



CHAPTER XII. 

^ Luther at Zwickau — The castle of Freyberg — Worms — Frankfort— 
Universal movement — Wittemberg the centre of the Reforma- 
tion — Luther 'S sentiments -131 



BOOK X. 

AGITATION, REVERSES, AND PROGRESS. 

1522-1526 

CHAPTER I 

Political element — Want of enthusiasm at Rome — Siege of Pampe- 
luna — Courage of Ignatius — Transition— Luther and Loyola — 
Visions — Two principles - ---139 



CHAPTER II. 

Victory of the pope — Death of Leo X. — The oratory of divine love 
— ^Adrian VI. — Plan of reform — Opposition 149 



CHAPTER III. 

Diet of Nuremberg — Soliman^s invasion — The nuncio calls for Lu- 
ther^s death — The Nuremberg preachers — Promise of reform — 
Grievances of the nation — Decree of the diet — Fulminating let- 
ter of the pope — Luther's advice — 15^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

Persecution — Exertions of Duke George — The convent at Antwerp 
— Miltenberg — The three monks of Antwerp— The scaffold— The 
martyrs of Brussels 165 



CHAPTER V. 

The new pope, Clement VII. — The legate Campeggio — Diet of Nu- 
remberg — Demand of the legate — Reply of the diet — A secular 
council projected — Alarm and exertions of the pope — Bavaria 
— League of Ratisbon — Severity and reforms — Political schism 
— Opposition — Intrigues of Rome — ^Decree of Burgos— Rup- 
ture--. ......173 



6 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Persecution — Gaspard Tauber — A bookseller — Cruelties In Wurtem- 
berg, Salzburg, and Bavaria — Pomerania — Henry of Zuph- 
ten -183 



CHAPTER VII. 

Divisions — ^The Lord^s supper — Two extremes — Hoen's discovery — 
Carlstadt — Luther — Mysticism of the enthusiasts — Carlstadt at 
Orlamund — Luther's mission — Interview at table — The confer* 
ence of Orlamund — Carlstadt banished - 189 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Progress — Resistance against the Ratisbon leaguers — ^Meeting be- 
tween Philip of Hesse and Melancthon — The landgrave convert- 
ed to the gospel — The Palatinate — Luneburg — Holstein — The 
grand-master at Wittemberg 200 



CHAPTER IX. 

Reforms — All-Saints church — Fall of the mass — Learning — Chris- 
tian schools — Learning extended to the laity — The arts — Moral 
religion — ^^Esthetical religion — Music — ^Poetry — Painting - - - 204 

CHAPTER X. 

Political ferment — Luther against rebellion — Thomas Munzer — Agi- 
tation — The Black Forest — The twelve articles — Luther^s opin- 
ion — Helfenstein — March of the peasants — March of the imperial 
army — Defeat of the peasants — Cruelty of the princes 214 

CHAPTER XI. 

Munzer at Mulhausen — Appeal to the people — March of the princes 
— End of the revolt — Influence of the reformers — Sufferings — 
Changes — Two results - 228 

CHAPTER XII. 

Death of the elector Frederick — The prince and the reformer — Ro- 
man-catholic alliance— Plans of Charles V.— Dangers 236 

CHAPTER XIII. 



The nuns of Nimptsch — Luther's sentiments — The convent dissolved 
—Luther's marriage — ^Domestic happiness ----240 



CONTENTS. 



7 



CHAPTER XIV, 

The landgrave — The elector — Prussia — Reformat'on — Seculariza- 
tion — The archb.shop of Mentz — Conference at Friedwalt — Diet 
— Alliance of Torgau — Resistance of the reformers — Alliance of 
Magdeburg — The Catholics redouble their exertions — The empe- 
ror's marriage — Threatening letters — The two parties 247 



BOOK XL 

DIVIS IONS. 

SWITZERLAND— GERMANY. 1523-1527. 

CHAPTER I. 

Unity in diversity — Primitive fidelity and liberty- -Formation of 
Romish unity — Leo Juda and the monk— Zwingle's theses — The 
disputation of January 257 

CHAPTER II. 

Papal temptations — Progress of the Reformation — The idol at Sta- 
delhofen — Sacrilege — The ornaments of the saints 265 

CHAPTER III. 

The disputation of October — Zwingle on the church — The church- 
Commencement of Fresbyterianism — Discussion on the mass- 
Enthusiasts — The language of discret on — Victory — A cbarac- 
terist'c of the Swiss Reformation — Moderation — Oswald Myco- 
nius at Zurich — Revival of literature — Thomas Plater of the 
Valais 269 

CHAPTER IV. 

Diet of Lucerne — Hottlnger arrested — His death — Deputation from 
the diet to Zurich — Abolition of religious processions -Abolition 
of images — The two Reformations — Appeal to the people — 278 

CHAPTER V. 

New opposition— Abduction of GExlln — The family of the Wirths— 
The populace at the convent of Ittingen — The diet of Zug — The 



8 



CONTENTS. 



Wirths apprehended and given up to the diet — Their condemna- 
tion - --286 

CHAPTER VI. 

Abolition of the mass — Zwingle's dream — Celebration of the Lord's 
supper — Fraternal charity — Original sin — The oligarchs opposed 
to the reform — Various attacks - 295 



CHAPTER VII. 

Berne — The provost Watteville — First successes of the reformed 
doctrines — Haller at the convent — Accusation and deliverance — 
The monastery of Konigsfeldt — Margaret Watteville to Zwingle 
— The convent opened — Two champions — Clara May and the 
provost Watteville 301 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Basle — (Ecolampadius — He visits Augsburg — Enters a convent — 
Retires toSickingen's castle — Returns to Basle — Ulrich Hiitten — 
His plans— Last effort of chivalry — Hiitten dies at Ufnau---310 



CHAPTER IX. 

Erasmus and Luther — Vacillations of Erasmus — Luther to Erasmus 
— Erasmus' treatise against Luther on freewill — Three opin- 
ions — Effect upon Luther — Luther on freewill — The Jansenists 
and the reformers — Homage to Erasmus — His anger — The three 
days 317 



CHAPTER X. 

The three adversaries — Source of truth — Grebel — The fanatics and 
Zwingle — Constitution of the church — Prison — The prophet Blau- 
rock — Fanaticism at Saint Gall — Schucker and family — Discus- 
sion at Zurich — The limits of the Reformation — Punishment of 
the fanatics 330 



CHAPTER XI. 

Progression and immob'lity — Zwingle and Luther — Luther's retura 
to scholasticism — Respect for tradition — Occam — Contrary ten- 
dency in Zwingle — Beginning of the controversy — (Ecolampa- 
dius and the Swabian Syngramma — Strasburg mediates 339 



COl^TENTS. & 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Tockenburg— An assembly of the people — Reformation — The 
GrisoQS — Disputation at Ilantz — Results — Reformation at Zu- 
rich 351 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The oligarchs — Bernese mandate of 1526 in favor of the papacy — 
Discussion at Baden — Regulations of the discussion — Riches 
and poverty — Eck and CEcolampadias — Discussion — Zwingle's 
share in the discussion — Vaunts of the Romanists — Abusive lan- 



guage of a monk — Close of the disputation 356 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Consequences at Basle, Berne, St. Gall, and other places — Diet at 
Zurich — The small cantons— Threats against Berne — Foreign 
support 365 



BOOK XIL 

THE FRENCH. 

1500-1526. 

CHAPTER I. 

Universality of Christianity — Enemies of the reform in France- 
Heresy and persecution in Dauphiny — A country mansion — The 
Farel family — Pilgrimage to the holy cross — Immorality and 
superstition — William desires to become a student 371 

CHAPTER II. 

Louis XII. and the r:='S8mbly of Tours — Francis and Margaret— 
Learned men — Lefevre — His courses at the university — Meeting 
between Lefevre and Farel — Farel's hesitation and researches- 
First awakening — Lefevre's prophecy — Teaches justification by 
faith — Objections — Disorder of the colleges — Effects on Farel — 
Election— Sanctiflcation of life ----- - — 380 



10 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

Farel and the saints — Tht3 university — Farel's conversion — ^Farel 
and Luther — Other disciples — Date of the reform in France — 
Spontaneous rise of the different reforms — Wh.ch was the first? 
— Lefevre's place 392 

CHAPTER IV. 

Character of Francis I. — Commencement of modern times — Liberty 
and obedience — Margaret of Valois — The court — Bri^onnet, 
count of Montbrun — Lefevre commends him to the Bible — Fran- 
cis L and his children " — The gospel brought to Margaret — 
Conversion — Adoration — Margaret's character 398 

CHAPTER V. 

Enemies of the Reformation — Louisa — Duprat — Concordat of Bo- 
logna — Opposition of the parliament and the university — The 
Sorbonne — Beda — His character — His tyranny — Berquin, the 
most learned of the nobility — The intriguers of the Sorbonne — 
Heresy of the three Magdalens — Luther condemned at Paris — 
Address of the Sorbonne to the king — Lefevre quits Paris for 



Meaux - - 408 

CHAPTER VI. 

Bri^onnet visits his diocese — Reform — The doctors persecuted in 
Paris — Phlliberta of Savoy — Correspondence between Margaret 
and Bri^onnei 418 



CHAPTER VII. 

Beginning of the church at Meaux — The Scriptures in French— The 
artisans and the bishop — Evangelical harvest — The epistles of 
St. Paul sent to the king — Lefevre and Roma — The monks be- 
fore the bishop — The monks before the parliament — Bri^onnet 
gives way - 427 

CHAPTER Vlli. 

Lefevre and Farel persecuted — Difference between the Lutheran 
and Reformed churches — Leclerc posts up his placards — Leclerc 
branded — Berquin's zeal — Berquin before the parliament — Res- 
cued by Francis I. — Mazurier's apostasy — Fall and remorse of 



CONTENTS. 11 



Pavanne — Metz — Chatelaine — Peter Tousf?aint becomes atten- 
tive — Leclerc breaks the images — Leclerc's condemnation and 
torture— Martyrdom of Chatelain — Flight 441 



CHAPTER IX. 

Fare! and his brothers — Farel expelled from Gap — He preaches in 
the fields — The knight Anemond of Coct — The Minorite — Ane- 
mond quits France — Luther to the duke of Savoy — Farel quits 
France 461 



CHAPTER X. 

Catholicity of the Reformation — Friendship between Farel and (Eco- 
lampadius — Farel and Erasmus — Altercation— Farel demands a 
disputation — Theses — Scripture and faith — Discussion 469 



CHAPTER XI. 

New campaign — FareVs call to the ministry — An outpost — Lyons 
— Sebville at Grenoble — Convent'cles — Preaching at Lyons — 
Maigret in prison — Margaret intimidated 477 



CHAPTER XII. 

The French at Basle — Encouragement of the Swiss — Fears of dis- 
cord — Translating and printing at Basle — Bibles and tracts dis- 
seminated in France 487 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Progress at Montbeliard — Resistance and commotion — Toussaint 
leaves (Ecolampadius — The image of St. Anthony — Death of 
Anemond — Strasburg — Lambert's letter to Francis 1. — Succes- 
sive defeats 493 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Francis made prisoner at Pavia — Reaction against the Reformation 
— Margaret's anxiety for her brother — Louisa consults the Sor- 
bonne — Commission against the heretics — Br'^onnet brought to 
trial — Appeal to the parliament — Fall — Recantation — Lefevre 
accused—Condemnation and flight — Lefevre at Strasburg — Louis 
Berquin imprisoned — Erasmus attacked — Schuch at Nancy — His 
martyrdom — Struggle with Caroli — Sorrow of Pavanne — His 
martyrdom — A Christian hermit — Concourse at Notre Dame-502 



12 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

A student of Noyon — Character of young Calvin — Early education 
— Consecrated to theology — The bishop gives him the tonsure — 
He leaves Noyon on account of the plague — The two Calvins — 
Slanders — The Reformation creates new languages— Persecut on 
and terror — Toussaint put in prison — The persecution more fu- 
rious — Death of Du Blet, Moulin, and Papillon — God saves the 
church — Margaret's project — Her departure for Spain 631 



PREFACE TO VOLUME HI. 



A SPIRIT of examination and inquiry is in our days 
continually urging the literary men of France, Switzer* 
land, Germany, and England, to search after the origi- 
nal documents which form the basis of modern history. 
I desire to add my mite to the accomplishment of the 
important task which our age appears to have under- 
taken. Hitherto I have not been content simply with 
reading the works of contemporary historians : I have • 
examined eye-witnesses, letters, and original narra- 
tives; and have made use of some manuscripts, par- 
ticularly that of BuUinger, which has been printed since 
the appearance of the second volume of this work in 
France.* 

But the necessity of having recourse to unpublished 
documents became more urgent when I approached, as 
I do in the twelfth book, the history of the Reformation 
in France. On this subject we possess but few printed 
memoirs, in consequence of the perpetual trials in which 
the reformed church of that country has existed. In the 
spring of 1838 I examined, as far as was in my power, 
the manuscripts preserved in the public libraries of 
Paris ; and it will be seen that a manuscript in the 
Royal Library, hitherto, I believe, unknown, throws much 
light on the early stages of the Reformation ; and in 
the autumn of 1839 I consulted the manuscripts in the 
library belonging to the consistory of the pastors of 
Neufchatel, a collection exceedingly rich with regard 
• BuUinger's Chronik., Frauenfeld, 1838-1840. 



14 PEEFACE TO THIRD VOLUME. 



to this period, as having inherited the manuscripts of 
FarePs library ; and through the kindness of the chate- 
lain of Meuron I obtained the use of a manuscript life 
of Farel written by Choupard, into which most of these 
documents have been copied. These materials have 
enabled me to reconstruct an entire phasis of the Ref- 
ormation in France. In addition to these aids, and 
those supplied by the Library of Geneva, I made an 
appeal, in the columns of the Archives du Christianisme, 
to all friends of history and the Eeformation who might 
have any manuscripts at their disposal ; and I here 
gratefully acknowledge the different communications 
that have been made to me, in particular by M. Lade- 
v^ze, pastor at Meaux. But although religious wars 
and persecutions have destroyed many precious docu- 
ments, a number still exist, no doubt, in various parts 
of France, which would be of vast importance for the 
history of the Reformation ; and I earnestly call upon 
all those who may possess or have any knowledge of 
them, kindly to communicate with me on the subject. 
It is felt nowadays that these documents are common 
property ; and on this account I hope my appeal will 
not be made in vain. 

It may be thought that in writing a general history 
of the Reformation, I have entered into an unnecessary 
detail of its first dawnings in France. But these par 
tic'ilars are almost unknown, the events that form the 
subject of my twelfth book occupying only four pages 
in the Histoire Ecclesiastique des Eglises reformees au 
Royaume de France, by Theodore Beza ; and other his- 
torians have confined themselves almost entirely to the 
political progress of the nation. Unquestionably the 
scenes that I have discovered, and which I am now 
about to relate, are not so imposing as the diet of 
Worms. Nevertheless, independently of the Christian 
interest that is attached to them, the humble but heaven- 



l^EEFACE TO THIRD VOLUME, 



IS 



descended movement that I have endeavored to describe, 
has probal>ly exerted a greater influence over the desti 
nies of France than the celebrated wars of Francis I. 
and Charles V. In a large machine, not that which 
makes the greatest show is always the most essential 
part, but the most hidden springs. 

Complaints have been made of the delay that has 
taken place in the publication of this third volume ; and 
some persons would have had me keep back the first 
until the whole was completed. There are, popsibly, 
certain superior intellects to which conditions may be 
prescribed ; but there are others whose weakness must 
be indulged, and to this number the author belongs. To 
publish a volume at one time, and then a second when- 
ever I was able, and after that a third, is the course 
that my important duties and my poor ability allow me 
to take. Other circumstances, moreover, have inter 
posed ; severe afflictions have on two occasions inter- 
rupted the composition of this third volume, and gath- 
ered all my affections and all my thoughts over the 
graves of beloved children. The reflection that it was 
my duty to glorify that adorable Master who addressed 
me in such powerful appeals, and who vouchsafed me 
such divine consolation, could alone have given me the 
courage required for the completion of my task. 

I thought these explanations were due to the kind- 
ness with which this work has been received both in 
France and England, and especially in the latter coun- 
try. The approbation of the Protestant Christians of 
Great Britain, the representatives of evangelical princi- 
ples and doctrines in the most distant parts of the 
world, is most highly valued by me ; and I feel a pleas 
ure in telling them that it is a most precious encourage- 
ment to my labors. 

The cause of truth recompenses those who embrace 
and defend it, and such has been the result with the 



16 PREFACB^TO THIRD VOLUME. 



nations who received the Reformation. In the eigh- 
teenth century, at the very moment when Rome thought 
to triumph by the Jesuits and the scaffold, the victory 
slipped from her grasp. Rome fell, like Naples, Portu- 
gal, and Spain, into inextricable difficulties ; and at the 
same time two Protestant nations arose, and began to 
exercise an influence over Europe that had hitherto be- 
hmged to the Roman-catholic powers. England came 
forth victorious from those attacks of the French and 
Spaniards which the pope had so long been stirring up 
against her," and the elector of Brandenburg, in spite of 
the wrath of Clement XI., encircled his head with a 
kingly crown. Since that time England has extended 
her dominion in every quarter of the globe, and Prussia 
has taken a new rank among the continental states ; 
while a third power, Russia, also separated from Rome, 
has been growing up in her immense deserts. In this 
manner have evangelical principles exerted their influ- 
ence over the countries that have embraced them, and 
righteousness hath exalted the nations." Prov. 14 : 34. 
Let the evangelical nations be well assured that to 
Protestantism they are indebted for their greatness. 
From the moment they abandon the position that God 
has given them, and incline again towards Rome, they 
will lose their glory and their power. Rome is now 
endeavoring to win them over, employing flattery and 
threats by turns ; she would, like Delilah, lull them to 
sleep upon her knees, .... but it would be to cut oflf 
their locks, that their adversaries might put out their 
eyes and bind them with fetters of brass. 

Here, too, is a great lesson for that France with 
which the author feels himself so intimately connected 
by the ties of ancestry. Should France, imitating her 
different governments, turn again towards the Papacj, 
it will be, in our belief, the signal of great disasters 
Whoever attaches himself to the Papacy will be com* 



PREFACE TO THIRD VOLUME 



17 



promised in its destruction. France has no prospect of 
strength or of greatness but by turning towards the 
gospel. May this great truth be rightly understood by 
the people and their leaders. 

It is true that in our days Popery is making a great 
Btir. Although laboring under an incurable consump« 
tion, she would by a hectic flush and feverish activity 
persuade others and herself too that she is still in full 
vigor This a theologian in Turin has endeavored to do 
in a work occasioned by this History, and in which we 
are ready to acknowledge a certain talent in bringing 
forward testimonies, even the most feeble, with a tone 
of candor to which we are little accustomed, and in a 
becoming style, with the exception, however, of the cul- 
pable facility with which the author in his twelfth chap- 
ter revives accusations against the reformers, the false- 
hood of which has been so authentically demonstrated 
and so fully acknowledged.* 

As a sequel to his Biography of Luther, M. Audin 
has recently published a Life of Calvin, written under 
the influence of lamentable prejudices, and in which we 
can hardly recognize the reformers and the Reformation. 
Nevertheless, we do not find in this author the shameful 
charges against Calvin to which we have just alluded ; 
he has passed them over in praiseworthy silence. No 
man that has any self-respect can now venture to bring 
forward these gross and foolish calumnies. 

Perhaps on some other occasion we shall add a few 
words to what we have already said in our first book on 
the origin of Popery. They would here be out of place. 

I shall only remark, in a general way, that it is pre* 

• La Papaute consid^ree dans son origine et dans son develop- 
pement au moyen age, ou reponse aux allegations de M. Morle 
D'Aubigne dans son Hlstoire de la Reformation au seizieme siecle, 
par Pabbe C. Magnin, docteur en th^ologie. Geneve, chez Berthier 
Guew, 1840. 

? 



18 



PREFACiS TO THIRD VOLUME. 



cisely the human and very rational canses that so clearly 
explain its origin, to which the Papacy has reconrse to 
prove its divine institution. Thus Christian antiquity 
declares that the universal episcopacy was conunitted 
to all the bishops, so that the bishops of Jerusalem, 
Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Rome, Carthage, Lyons, 
Aries, Milan, Hippo, Caesarea, etc., were interested and 
interfered in all that took place in the Christian world. 
Rome immediately claims for herself that duty which 
was incumbent on all, and reasoning as if no one but 
herself were concerned in it, employs it to demonstrate 
her primacy. 

Let us take another example. The Christian churches, 
established in the large cities of the empire, sent mis- 
sionaries to the countries with which they were connect- 
ed. This was done first of all by Jerusalem ; then by 
Antioch, Alexandria, and Ephesus ; afterwards by Rome : 
and Rome forthwith concludes, from what she had done 
after the others, and to a less extent than the others, 
that she was entitled to set herself above the others. 
These examples will suffice. 

Let us only remark further, that Rome possessed 
alone in the west the honor that had been shared in the 
east by Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Anti- 
och, and in a much higher degree by Jerusalem ;* name- 
ly, that of having one apostle or many among its first 
teachers. Accordingly the Latin churches must natu- 
rally have felt a certain respect towards Rome. But the 
eastern Christians, who respected her as the church of 
the political metropolis of the empire, would never ac- 
knowledge her ecclesiastical superiority. The famous 

• St. Epiphany says, that our Lord committed to James the 
Elder at Jerusalem his throne on earth — rdv i^pbvcv airov M rnc 
y^; and speaking of the bishops assembled at Jerusalem, he de- 
clares that the whole world — navra Kocfwv — ought to submit ti9 
their authority. Epiph. Hseres. 70, 10 j 78, 7. 



PREFACE TO THIRD 70LtmE. 



19 



general council of Chalcedon ascribed to Constantinople, 
formeriy the obscure Byzantium, the same privileges 
(ra laa irpea(3da) as to Rome, and declared that she ought 
to be elevated like her. And hence when the Papacy 
was definitively formed in Rome, the East would not 
acknowledge a master of whom it had never heard men* 
tion ; and standing on the ancient footing of its catho- 
licity, it abandoned the West to the power of the new 
sect which had sprung up in its bosom. The East even 
to this day calls herself emphatically catholic and ortho- 
dox ; and whenever you ask one of the eastern Chris- 
tians whom Rome has gained by her numerous conces- 
sions, whether he is a Catholic, "No," replies he direct- 
ly ; "I am papistian" — a Papist.* 

If this History has been criticized by the Romish 
party, it seems also to have met with others who have 
regarded it in a purely literary light. Men for whom I 
feel much esteem appear to attach greater importance 
to a literary or political history of the Reformation, than 
to an exposition grounded on its spiritual principles and 
its interior springs of action. I can well understand 
this way of viewing my subject, but I cannot participate 
in it. In my opinion, the very essence of the Reforma- 
tion is its doctrines and its inward life. Every work in 
which these two things do not hold the chief place may 
be showy, but it will not be faithfully and candidly his- 
torical. It would be like a philosopher who, in describ- 
ing a man, should detail with great accuracy and pic- 
turesque beauty all that concerns his body, but should 
give only a subordinate place to that divine inhabitant, 
the soul 

There are no doubt great defects in the feeble woik 
of which I here present another fragment to the Cliris- 
tian public ; and I should desire that it were still more 
copiously imbued with the spirit of the Reformatioa 

^ JooTDal of the Eev. Joseph WolfL hoodon. 1839. i>. 225. 



20 



PREFACE TO THIRD VOLUME 



The better I have succeeded. in pointing out whatever 
manifests the glory of Christ, the more faithful I shall 
have been to history. I willingly adopt as my law those 
words which a historian of the seventeenth century, a man 
of the sword still more than of the pen, after writing a 
portion of the history of that Protestantism in France 
which I do not purpose narrating, addresses to those 
who might think of completing his task : " I would gi ve 
them that law which I acknowledge myself: that, in 
seeking the glory of this precious instrument, their prin- 
cipal aim should be that of the arm which has prepared, 
employed, and wielded it at His good pleasure. For all 
praise given to princes is unseasonable and misplaced, 
if it has not for leaf and root that of the living God, to 
whom alone belong honor and dominion for ever and 
ever."* 

• As the French original does not indicate the source whence 
this quotation is taken, it may not be improper to mention that it 
will be found in the Histoire Universelle of Theodore Agrippa 
D*Aubign6, 3 vols, folio, Amsterdam, 1626. D'Aubign^ was then 
a refugee at Geneva, and in the preface to this work, which contains 
a history of the world, and more especially of France and French 
Protestantism during his lifetime, he bequeaths to his children the 
task of completing the history he had partially traced out, and pre- 
scribes to them, in the passage quoted above, the spirit in which it 
should be performed. He little thought that over two centuries 
would pass away before his legacy would be accepted, and the hi* 
tor? of Protestantism completed. Note by the translator. 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



BOOK IX. 

FIRST REFORMS. 

1521, 1522. 

CHAPTEE I. 

I^ogress of the Reformation — ^New period — Usefulness of Luther's 
captivity in the Wartburg — Agitation in Germany — ^Melancthon 
and Luther — Enthusiasm. 

For four years an old doctrine had been again pro« 
claimed in the church. The great tidings of salvation by 
gracSy published in earlier times in Asia, Greece, and 
Italy, by Paul and his brethren, and after many ages 
rediscovered in the Bible by a monk of Wittemberg, had 
resounded from the plains of Saxony as far as Rome, 
Paris, and London ; and the lofty mountains of Switzer- 
land had refechoed its powerful accents. The springs of 
truth, of liberty, and of life, had been reopened to the 
human race. Thither had the nations hastened in crowds, 
and drunk gladly ; but those who had there so eagerly 
quenched their thirst, were unchanged in appearance. 
All within was new, and yet every thing without seemed 
to have remained the same. 

The constitution of the church, its ritual, its disci- 
pline, had undergone no change. In Saxony, and even 
at Wittemberg, wherever the new ideas had penetrated, 
the papal worship continued with its usual pomp ; the 
priest before the altar, offering the host to God, appeared 
to effect an ineffable transubstantiation ; monks and 
auns entered the convents and took their eternal vows : 



22 flISTOEY OP THE REFORMATION 



the pastors of the flocks lived without families ; relig* 
ious brotherhoods met together ; pilgrimages were un- 
dertaken ; believers hung their votive offerings on the 
pillars of the chapels ; and all the ceremonies, even to 
the most insignificant observances of the sanctuary, 
were celebrated as before. There was a new life in the 
world, but it had not yet created a new body. The Ian- 
guage of the priest formed the most striking contrast 
with his actions. He might be heard thundering from 
the pulpit against the mass, as being an idolatrous wor- 
ship ; and then might be seen coming down to the altar, 
and scrupulously performing the pomps of this mystery. 
In every quarter the new gospel sounded in the midst 
of the ancient rites. The priest himself did not perceive 
this strange contradiction ; and the people, who had 
admiringly listened to the bold language af the new 
preachers, devoutly practised the old observances, as if 
they were never to lay them aside. Every thing re- 
mained the same, at the domestic hearth and in social 
life, as in the house of God. There was a new faith in 
the world, but not new works. The sun of spring had 
shone forth, but winter still seemed to bind all nature ; 
there were no flowers, no foliage, nothing outwardly 
that gave token of the change of season. But these 
appearances were deceitful ; a vigorous sap was circu- 
lating unperceived below the surface, and was about to 
change the aspect of the world. 

It is perhaps to this prudent progress that the Ref- 
ormation is indebted for its triumphs. Every revolution 
should be accomplished in the mind, before it is carried 
out externally. The inconsistency we have noticed did 
not even strike Luther at first. It seemed to him quite 
natural that the people, who read his works with enthu- 
siasm, should remain devoutly attached to the at'ises 
which they assailed. One might almost fancy he had 
sketched his plan beforehand, and had resolved to change 
the mind before changing the forms. But this would be 
ascribing to him a wisdom the honor of which bolonga 
to a higher intelligence. He carried out a plan that he 
had not himself conceived. At a later period he could 



A NEW ERA 



23 



recognize and discern these things ; but he did not im- 
agine thern, and did not arrange them so. God led the 
way : it was Luther's duty to follow. 

If Luther had begun by an external reform ; if, as 
Boon as he had spoken, he had attempted to abolish mo- 
nastic vows, the mass, confession, and forms of worship, 
most assuredly he would have met with a vigorous re- 
sistance. Man requires time to accommodate himself to 
great revolutions. But Luther was by no means the 
violent, imprudent, daring innovator that some histo- 
rians have described.* The people, seeing no change 
in their customary devotions, fearlessly abandoned them- 
selves to their new teacher. They were even surprised 
at the attacks directed against a man who still left them 
their mass, their beads, their confessor, and attributed 
them to the low jealousy of obscure rivals, or to the 
cruel injustice of powerful adversaries. Yet Luther's 
opinions agitated their minds, renewed their hearts, and 
80 undermined the ancient edifice that it soon fell of it- 
self, without human agency. Ideas do not act instan- 
taneously ; they make their way in silence, like the wa- 
ters that, filtering behind the rocks of the Alps, loosen 
them from the mountain on which they rest ; suddenly 
the work done in secret reveals itself, and a single day 
is suflBcient to lay bare the agency of many years, per- 
haps of many centuries. 

A new era was beginning for the Reformation. Al- 
ready truth was restored in its doctrine ; now the doc- 
trine is about to restore truth in all the forms of the 
church and of society. The agitation is too great for 
men's minds to remain fixed and immovable at the point 
they have attained. Upon those dogmas, now so migh^ 
ily shaken, were based customs that were already totr 
tering to their fall, and which must disappear with them. 
There is too much courage and life in the new generation 
for it to continue silent before error. Sacraments, pub- 
lic worship, hierarchy, vows, constitution, domestic and 
public life — all are about to be modified. The ship, 
slowly and laboriously constructed, is about tc |uit the 
* llume and others. 



24 



HISTORY OF THE REFOILMATIOH. 



docks and to be launched on the open sea. We shall 
have to follow its progress through many shoals. 

The captivity of the Wartburg separates these two 
periods. Providence, which was making ready to gVe 
80 great an impulse to the Reformation, had prepared ita 
progress by leading into profound retirement the instnF= 
ment destined to effect it. The work seemed for a time 
buried with the workman ; but the seed must be laid in 
the earth, that it may bring forth fruit ; and from this 
prison, which seemed to be the reformer's tomb, the Ref- 
ormation was destined to go forth to new conquests, 
and to spread erelong over the whole world. 

Hitherto the Reformation had been centered in the 
person of Luther. His appearance before the diet of 
Worms was doubtless the sublimest day of his life. His 
character appeared at that time almost spotless ; and it 
is this which has given rise to the observation, that if 
God, who concealed the reformer for ten months within 
the walls of the Wartburg, had that instant removed 
him for ever from the eyes of the world, his end would 
have been as an apotheosis. But God designs no apo- 
theosis for his servant ; and Luther was preserved to 
the church, in order to teach, by his very faults, that 
the faith of Christians should be based on the word of 
God alone. He was transported suddenly far from the 
stage on which the great revolution of the sixteenth cen- 
tury was taking place ; the truth, tliat for four years he 
had so powerfully proclaimed, continued in his absence 
to act upon Christendom ; and the work, of which he 
was but the feeble instrument, henceforward bore the 
seal not of man, but of God himself. 

Germany was moved at Luther's captivity. The most 
contradictory rumors were circulated in the provinces. 
The reformer's absence excited men's minds more than 
his presence could have done. In one place it was said 
that friends from France had placed him in safety on the 
other bank of the Rhine ;* in another, that he had fallen 

* Hic . . . invalescit opinio, me esse ab amicis captum e Fran 
eia mifi&iB. L. £pp. 2. 5. 



AOITATION IN GERMANY. 



25 



by the dagger of the assassin. Even in the smallest 
villages inquiries were made about Luther ; travellers 
were stopped and questioned, and groups collected in 
the public places. At times some, unknown orator wouM 
recount in a spirit-stirring narrative how the doctor had 
been carried off ; he described the cruel horsemen tying 
their prisoner's hands, spurring their horses, and drag- 
ging him after them on foot until his strength was ex- 
hausted, stopping their ears to his cries, and forcing the 
blood from his limbs.* "Luther's body," added he, "has 
been seen pierced through and through."f As they 
heard this, the listeners uttered cries of sorrow, "Alas,'' 
said they, " we shall never see or hear that noble-minded 
man again, whose voice stirred our very hearts." Lu- 
ther's friends trembled with indignation, and swore to 
avenge his death. Women, children, men of peace, and 
the aged, beheld with affright the prospect of new strug- 
gles. Nothing could equal the alarm of the partisans 
of Rome. The priests and monks, who at first had not 
been able to conceal their exultation, thinking them- 
selves secure of victory because one man was dead, and 
who had raised their heads with an exulting air of tri- 
umph, would now have fled far from the threatening 
anger of the people.^ These men, who, while Luther 
was free, had given the reins to their fury, trembled 
now that he was a captive. § Aleander, especially, was 
astounded. "The only remaining way of saving our- 
selves," wrote a Roman-catholic to the archbishop of 
Mentz, " is to light torches, and hunt for Luther through 
the whole world, to restore him to the nation that is call- 
ing for him."|| One might have said that the pale ghost 
of the reformer, dragging his chains, was spreading tei- 

• Et inter festinantes cursu equites ipsum pedestrem raptim trao 
tam fuisse ut sanguis e digitis erumperet Cochloeus, p. 39. 

] Fuit qui testatus sit, visum a se Lutlieri cadaver transfossum, 
, . . . Paliavicini, Hist. Cone. Trid. 1. 122. t Molem vuigi im- 
minentis terre non possunt. L. Epp. 2. 13. § Qui me libero 

insanierunt, nunc me captivo ita formidant ut incipiant mKigare. 
Ibid. II Nos vitam vix redempturos, nisi accensis candelis undi* 
qufi ftim requiramus. Ibid. 

Ri«LorRof.,IIl. 



26 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



ror around, and calling for vengeance. "Luther's death," 
exclaimed some, "will cause torrents of blood to be 
shed.''* 

In no place was there such commotion as in Worms 
itself ; resolute murmurs were heard among both people 
and princes. Ulrich Hiitten and Hermann Busch filled 
the country with their plaintive strains and songs of 
battle. Charles Y. and the nuncios were publicly ao 
cused. The nation took up the cause of the poor monk, 
who, by the strength of his faith, had become their 
loader. 

At Wittemberg, his colleagues and friends, and espe- 
cially Melancthon, were at first sunk in the deepest 
affliction. Luther had imparted to this young scholar 
the treasures of that holy theology which had from that 
time wholly occupied his mind. Luther had given sub- 
stance and life to that purely intellectual cultivation 
which Melancthon had brought to Wittemberg. The 
depth of the reformer's teaching had struck the youthful 
Hellenist, and the doctor's courage in maintaining the 
rights of the everlasting gospel against all human au- 
thority had filled him with enthusiasm. He had become 
a partner in his labors ; he had taken up the pen, and 
with that purity of style which he derived from the study 
of the ancients, he had successively, and with a hand of 
power, lowered the authority of the fathers and councils 
before the sovereign word of God. 

Melancthon showed the same decision in his learning 
that Luther displayed in his actions. Never were there 
two men of greater diversity, and at the same time of 
greater unity. "Scripture," said Melancthon, "imparts 
to the soul a holy and marvellous delight : it is the heav- 
enly ambro8ia."f " The word of God," exclaimed Luther, 
**is a sword, a war, a destruction : it falls upon the chil- 
dren of Ephraim like a lioness in the forest." Thus, om 
saw in the Scriptures a power to console, and the othei 
a violent opposition against the corruptions of the world, 

• Gerbelii Ep. ia MS. Heckelianis. I .indner, Leb. Luth. p. 244 
t MirabiUs ia iis voluptas, immo ambrosia qusedam cailestU 
Corp. lief. 1. 128. 



MELANCTHON'S SORROW 



27 



But botb esteemed it the greatest thing on earth ; and 
hence they agreed in perfect harmony. "Melancthon/' 
said Luther, " is a wonder ; all men confess it now. He 
is the most formidable enemy of Satan and the school- 
men, for he knows their foolishness, and Christ the rock. 
The little Grecian siixpasses me even in divinity ; he will 
be as serviceable to you as many Luthers." And he 
added that he was ready to abandon any opinion of 
which Philip did not approve. On his part, too, Melanc- 
thon, filled with admiration at Luther's knowledge of 
Scripture, set him far above the fathers of the church. 
He would make excuses for the jests with which Luther 
was reproached, and compared him to an earthen vessel 
that contains a precious treasure beneath its coarse 
exterior. ** I should be very unwilling to reprove him 
inconsiderately for this matter," said Melancthon.* 

But now these two hearts, so closely united, were 
separated. These two valiant soldiers can no longer 
march side by side to the deliverance of the church. 
Luther has disappeared ; perhaps he is lost for ever. 
The consternation at Wittemberg was extreme — like 
that of an army, with gloomy and dejected looks, before 
the blood-stained body of their general who was leading 
them on to victory. 

Suddenly more comforting news arrived. " Our be- 
loved father lives,"*}" exclaimed Philip in the joy of his 
soul ; "take courage, and be firm." But it was not long 
before their dejection returned. Luther was alive, but 
in prison. The edict of Worms, with its terrible pro- 
scriptions,! was circulated by thousands throughout tho 
empire, and even among the mountains of the Tyrol. § 
Would not the Reformation be crushed by the iron hand 
that was weighing upon it? Melancthon's gentle spirit 
Was overwhelmed with sorrow. 

But the influence of a mightier hand was felt above 
the hand of man ; God himself deprived the formidable 

* Spiritum Martini nolim temere in hac causa interpellare. Corp. 
Ref. 1. 211. t Pater noster carissimus vivit. Ib.d. 389. 

i DicituT parari proscriptio horrenda. Ibid. § Dicimtur sig 
A&te chartae proscriptiouis kis mille mi&ssd quoque ad Insbruck* lb. 



eS HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



edict of all its strength. The German princes, who had 
always sought to diminish the power of Rome in the 
empire, trembled at the alliance between the emperor 
and the pope, and feared that it would terminate in the 
destruction of their liberty. Accordingly, while Charles 
in his journey through the Low Countries greeted witb 
an ironical smile the burning piles which flatterers and 
fanatics kindled on the public places with Luther's works, 
these very writings were read in Germany with a con- 
tinually increasing eagerness, and numerous pamphlets 
in favor of the reform were daily inflicting some new 
blow on the Papacy. The nuncios were distracted at 
seeing this edict, the fruit of so many intrigues, pro- 
ducing so little effect. " The ink with which Charles V 
signed his arrest," said they bitterly, "is scarcely dry, 
and yet the imperial decree is everywhere torn in pieces." 
The people were becoming more and more attached to 
the admirable man who, heedless of the thunders of 
Charles and of the pope, had confessed his faith with the 
courage of a martyr. " He offered to retract," said they, 
"if he were refuted, and no one dared undertake the 
task. Does not this prove the truth of his doctrines ?" 
Thus the first movement of alarm was succeeded in Wit* 
tern berg and the whole empire by a movement of enthu- 
siasm. Even the archbishop of Mentz, witnessing this 
outburst of popular sympathy, dared not give the Cor- 
deliers permission to preach against the reformer. The 
university, that seemed on the point of being crushed, 
raised its head. The new doctrines were too firmly 
established for them to be shaken by Luther's absence , 
and the halls of tl\e academy could hardly contain the 
crowd of hearers.* 

* Scholastic! qaorun supra millia ibi tunc fueruat. Spalatia] 
Annales, 1521, October. 



LUTHEE IN THE WARTBITEO. 



29 



CHAPTER II 

Lather in the Wartburg-— Object of his captivity- -Anxiet/ — Sick- 
ness — Luther^s labors — On confession — Reply to Latomus — Hia 
daily walks. 

Meantime the knight George, for by that name Lu- 
ther was called in the Wartburg, lived solitary and 
unknown. " If you were to see me/' wrote he to Me- 
lancthon, " you would take me for a soldier, and even 
you would hardly recognize me."*^ Luther at first in- 
dulged in repose, enjoying a leisure which had not hith- 
erto been allowed him. He wandered freely through 
the fortress, but could not go beyond the walls.f All 
his wishes were attended to, and he had never been bet- 
ter treated.J A crowd of thoughts filled his soul ; but 
none had power to trouble him. By turns he looked 
down upon the forests that surrounded him, and raised 
his eyes towards heaven. "A strange prisoner am I," 
exclaimed he, " captive with and against my will."§ 

" Pray for me," wrote he to Spalatin ; " your prayers 
are the only thing I need. I do not grieve for any thing 
that may be said of me in the world. At last I am at 
rest."|| This letter, as well as many others of the same 
period, is dated from the island of Patmos. Luther com- 
pared the Wartburg to that celebrated island to which 
the wrath of Domitian in former times had banished the 
apostle John. 

In the midst of the dark forests of Thuringia, the 
reformer reposed from the violent struggles that had 
agitated his soul. There he studied Christian truth, not 
for the purpose of contending, but as a means of regen- 

* Equitem videres ac ipse vix agnosceres. L. Epp. 2. 11. 

t Nunc sum hie otiosus, sicut inter captives liber. Ibid. 2. 3. 
May 12. % Quanquam et hilariter et llbenter omnia mihi minis 
tret. Ibid. 13, August 15. § Ego mirabilis captlvus qui e* 

volens et nolens hic sedeo. Ibid. 4, May 12. || Tu fac ut pro 
me ores : hac una re opus mihi est. Qulcquid de me fit in publico, 
nihil mceror ; ego in quiete tandem sedeo. Ibid. June 10, 1521, 



30 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH 



eratidn and life. The beginning of the Reformation was 
of necessity polemical ; new times required new labors. 
After cutting down the thorns and the thickets, it was 
requisite to sow the word of God peaceably in the heart. 
If Luther had been incessantly called upon to fight fresh 
battles, he would not have accomplished a durable wov^ 
in the church. Thus by his captivity he escaped a dan- 
ger which might possibly have ruined the Reformation, 
that of always attacking and destroying, without ever 
defending or building up. 

This humble retreat had a still more precious result. 
Uplifted by his countrymen as on a shield, he was on 
the verge of the abyss ; the least giddiness might have 
plunged him into it headlong. Some of the first pro- 
moters of the Reformation, both in Germany and Swit- 
zerland, ran upon the shoal of spiritual pride and fanat- 
icism. Luther was a man very subject to the infirmities 
of our nature, and he was unable to escape altogether 
from these dangers. The hand of God, however, deliv- 
ered him for a time, by suddenly removing him from the 
sphere of intoxicating ovations, and throwing him into 
an unknown retreat. There his soul was wrapt in pious 
meditation at God's footstool ; it was again tempered in 
the waters of adversity ; its sufferings and humiliation 
compelled him to walk, for a time at least, with the 
humble ; and the principles of a Christian life were 
thenceforward evolved in his soul with greater energy 
and freedom. 

Luiher's calmness was not of long duration. Seated 
m loneliness on the ramparts of the Wartburg, he re- 
mained whole days lost in deep meditation. At one 
time the church appeared before him, displaying all her 
wretchedness ;* at another, directing his eyes hopefully 
towards heaven, he could exclaim, " Wherefore, 0 Lord, 
hast thou made all men in vain ?" Psalm 89 : 48. And 
then giving way to despair, he cried with dejection, 
''Alas, there is no one in this latter day of his anger^ to 
stand like a wall before the Lord, and save Israel.'' 

* Ego hie fiedens tota die faciem Ecclesiae ante me constituo h* 
Epp. 2. 1. 



LaTHER'S COURAaE AND ZEAL 



31 



Then recurring to his own destiny, he feared lest he 
should be accused of deserting the field of battle ;* and 
this supposition weighed down his soul. " I would 
rather," said he, be stretched on coals of fire, than lie 
here half dead."t 

Transporting himself in imagination to Worms and 
Wittemberg, into the midst of his adversaries, he regret- 
ted having yielded to the advice of his friends, that he 
had quitted the world, and that he had not presented hia 
bosom to the fury of men.| "Alas," said he, "there is 
nothing I desire more than to appear before my crudest 
enemies."§ 

Gentler thoughts, however, brought a truce to such 
anxiety. Every thing was not storm and tempest for 
Luther ; from time to time his agitated mind found tran- 
quillity and comfort. Next to the certainty of God's 
help, one thing consoled him in his sorrows : it was the 
recollection of Melancthon. " If 1 perish," wrote he, " the 
gospel will lose nothing :|| you will succeed me as Eli- 
sha did Elijah, with a double portion of my spirit." But 
calling to mind Philip's timidity, he exclaimed with en- 
ergy, "Minister of the word, keep the walls and towers 
of Jerusalem, until you are struck down by the enemy. 
As yet we stand alone upon the field of battle ; after 
me, they will aim thieir blows at you."^ 

The thought of the final attack Rome was about to 
make on the infant church, renewed his anxieties. The 
poor monk, solitary and a prisoner, had many a combat 
to fight alone. But a hope of deliverance speedily 
dawned upon him. It appeared to him that the assaults 
of the Papacy would raise the whole German nation, 
and that the victorious soldiers of the gospel would sur- 
round the Wartburg, and restore the prisoner to liberty* 

* Verebar ego ne aciem deserere viderer. L. Epp. 2. 1. 

t Mallem inter carbones vivos ardere, quam solus semivivufl, 
atque utinam Qon mortuus putere. Ibid. 10. t Cervicem esse 
objectandam publico furori. Ibid. 89. § Nihil magis opto, 

quam furoribus adversariorum occurrere, objecto jugulo. Ibid. L 

II Etiam si peream, nihil periblt Evaugelio. Ibid. 10. 

t N08 BoU adhuc stamus in acie : te quaerent post me. Ibid. Z* 



32 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH . 



''If the pope," said he, "lays his hand on all those who 
are on my side, there will be a disturbance in Germany ; 
the greater his haste to crush us, the sooner will come 
the end of the pope and his followers. And I .... I 
shall be restored to you.* God is awakening the hearts 
of many, and stirring up the nations. Only let our ene* 
CDies. clasp our affair in their arms and try to stiile it ; 
it will gather strength under their pressure, and come 
forth ten times more formidable." 

But sickness brought him down from those high 
places on which his courage and his faith had placed 
him. He had already suffered much at Worms ; his 
disease increased in solitude.f He could not endure 
the food at the Wartburg, which was less coarse than 
that of his convent ; they were compelled to give him 
the meagre diet to which he had been accustomed. He 
passed whole nights without sleep. Anxieties of mind 
were superadded to the pains of the body. No great 
work is ever accomplished without suffering and mar- 
tyrdom. Luther, alone upon his rock, endured in his 
strong frame a passion that the emancipation of the hu- 
man race rendered necessary. " Seated by night in my 
chamber, I uttered groans like a woman in her travail ; 
torn, wounded, and bleeding;" J . , . . then breaking off 
his complaints, touched with the thought that his suffer- 
ings are a blessing from God, he exclaimed with love, 
** Thanks be to thee, 0 Christ, that thou wilt not leave 
me without the precious marks of thy cross."§ But soon 
growing angry with himself, he cried out, " Madman and 
hard-hearted that I am. Woe is me. I pray seldom, I 
seldom wrestle with the Lord, I groan not for the church 
of God. II Instead of being fervent in spirit, my passions 
take fire ; I live in idleness, in sleep, and indolence.'' 
Then, not knowing to what he should attribute this 

• Quo citius id tentaverit, hoc citius et ipse et sui peribunt, ei 
e^o revertar. L. Epp. 2. 10. f Auctum est malum, quo Wor- 
maliae laborabam. Ibid. 17. t Sedeo dolens, sicut puerpera, 

lacer et saucius et cruentus. Ibid. 60, Sept. 9. § Gratias Chr'iB 
to, qui me sine reliquiis sanctae crucis noQ derelinquit. Ibii. 

II Nihil gemens pro ecclesia Dei. Ibid. 22, July 13. 



LUTHER'S LABORS. 



33 



state, and accustomed to expect every thing- fiom the 
affection of his brethren, he exclaimed in the desolation 
of his heart, " 0 my friends, do you then forget to pray 
for me, that God is thus far from me ?" 

Those who were around him, as well as his friends 
at Wittemberg and at the elector's court, were uneasy 
and alarmed at this state of suffering. They feared lest 
they should see the life they had rescued from the flames 
of the pope and the sword of Charles Y. decline sadly 
and expire. Was the Wartburg destined to be Luther's 
tomb ? "I fear," said Melancthon, that the grief he 
feels for the church will cause his death. A fire has 
been kindled by him in Israel ; if he dies, what hope 
will remain for us ? Would to God that, at the cost of 
my own wretched life, I could retain in the world that 
Boul which is its fairest ornament.* 0 what a man !" 
exclaimed he, as if already standing on the side of his 
grave ; we never appreciated him rightly." 

What Luther denominated the shameful indolence of 
his prison was a task that almost exceeded the strength 
of one man. " I am here all the day," wrote he on the 
14th of May, <'in idleness and pleasures" — alluding 
doubtless to the better diet that was provided him at 
first. " I am reading the Bible in Hebrew and Greek ; 
I am going to write a treatise in German on auricular 
confession ; I shall continue the translation of the Psalms, 
and compose a volume of sermons, so soon as I have 
received what I want from Wittemberg. I am writing 
without intermission."f And yet this was but a part of 
his labors. 

His enemies thought that, if he were not dead, at 
least they should hear no more of him ; but their joy 
was not of long duration, and there could be no douV>t 
that he was alive. A multitude of writings, composed 
in the Wartburg, succeeded each other rapidly^ and the 
beloved voice of the reformer was everywhere hailed 
with enthusiasm. Luther published simultaneously 

* Utinam hac vili auima mea ipsius vitam emere queam. Corp. 
Ret 1. 415, July 6, f Sine intermissioiie scribo. L. Epp 2 

3 



34 



HISTORY OF THE UEFORM A TION. 



wolks calculated to edify the church, and polemical 
tracts which troubled the too eager exultation of his 
enemies. For nearly a whole year, he by turns instruct* 
ed, exhorted, reproved, and thundered from his moun- 
tain retreat ; and his amazed adversaries askt 1 one 
another if there was not something supernatural, some 
mystery in this prodigious activity. " He could never 
have taken any rest," says Cochloeus.* 

But there was no other mystery than the imprudence 
of the partisans of Rome. They hastened to take advan- 
tage of the edict of Worms to strike a decisive blow at 
the Reformation ; and Luther, condemned, under the ban 
of the empire, and a prisoner in the Wartburg, under- 
took to defend the sound doctrine as if he were still vic- 
torious and at liberty. It was especially at the tribunal 
of penance that the priests endeavored to rivet the chains 
of their docile parishioners ; and accordingly the confes- 
sional was the object of Luther^s first attack. ''They 
bring forward," said he, " these words of St. James : 
* Confess your faults to one another.' Singular confes- 
sor ; his name is One Another. Whence it would follow 
that the confessors should also confess themselves to 
their penitents ; that each Christian should be, in his 
turn, pope, bishop, priest ; and that the pope himself 
should confess to all."f 

Luther had scarcely finished this tract when he be- 
gan another. A theologian of Lou vain, by name Lato- 
mus, already notorious by his opposition to Reuchlin 
and Erasmus, had attacked the reformer's opinions. In 
twelve days Luther's refutation was ready, and it is a 
masterpiece. He clears himself of the reproach that he 
was wanting in moderation. " The moderation of the 
day,'' said he, **is to bend the knee before sacrilegious 
pontifi:s, impious sophists, and to say to them, Giacioue 
lord ; excellent master. Then, when you have so done, 
you may put any one you please to death; ycu may 
even convulse the world, and you will be none the less 
a man of moderation. . . . Away with such moderation 

• Cum quiescere uon posset. Coch. Act. Luth. p. Sfl. f Uad 
3er Fabst miisse ihm beichten. L. 0pp. 17. 70X. 



A HUNTINa PAHTY. 



35 



I would rather be frank, and deceive no one. The shell 
may be hard, but the kernel is soft and tender.''* 

As Luther's health continued feeble, he thought of 
leaving the place of his confinement. But how could 
he manage it ? To appear in public would be exposing 
his life. The back of the mountain on which the fortress 
stood was crossed by numerous footways, bordered by 
tufts of strawberries. The heavy gate of the castle 
opened, and the prisoner ventured, not without fear, to 
gather some of the fruit.f By degrees he grew bolder, 
and in his knight's garb began to wander through the 
surrounding country, attended by one of the guards of 
the castle, a worthy but somewhat churlish man. One 
day, having entered an inn, Luther threw aside his sword, 
which encumbered him, and hastily took up some books 
that lay there. His nature got the better of his pru- 
dence. His guardian trembled for fear this movement, 
so extraordinary in a soldier, should excite suspicions 
that the doctor was not really a knight. At another 
time the two comrades alighted at the convent of Rein- 
hardsbrunn, where Luther had slept a few months be- 
fore on his road to Worms. | Suddenly one of the lay- 
brothers uttered a cry of surprise. Luther was recog- 
nized. His attendant perceived it, and dragged him 
hastily away ; and already they were galloping far from 
the cloister before the astonished brother had recovered 
from his amazement. 

The military life of the doctor had at intervals some- 
thing about it truly theological. One day the nets were 
made ready ; the gates of the fortress opened ; the long- 
eared dogs rushed forth. Luther desired to taste the 
pleasures of the chase. The huntsmen soon grew ani- 
jiated ; the dogs sprang forward, driving the game 
^om the covers. In the midst of all this uproar, the 
knight George stands motionless ; his mind is occupied 
with serious thoughts ; the objects around him fill his 

* Cortex meus esse potest durior, sed nucleus meus mollis 
et dulcis est. L. 0pp. Lat. 2. 213, f Zu Zeiten gehet ei 

In die Erdbeer am Schlossberg. Mathessius, p. 33w 

t Vol IL, p. m 



36 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



heart with sorrow.* "Is not this," says he, "the image 
of the devil setting on his dogs ; that is, the bishops, 
those representatives of antichrist, and urging them in 
pursuit of poor souls ?"f A young hare was taken : 
delighted at the prospect of liberating it, he wrapped it 
carefully in his cloak, and set it down in the miast of a 
thicket ; but^hardly had he taken a few steps before the 
dogs scented the animal and killed it. Luther, attracted 
by the noise, uttered a groan of sorrow, and exclaimed, 
" 0 pope, and thou too, Satan, it is thus ye endeavor to 
destroy even those souls that have been saved from 
death."J 

* Theologisabar etiam ibi inter et canes .... tantum misericor- 
diaB et doloris miscuit mysterium. L. Epp. 2. 43. f Quid enim 
ista imago, nisi Diabolum significat per insidias suas et impios ma 

gistros canes suos Ibid. t Sic saevit Papa et Satan ut 

fiorvatafl etiam ajiimas perdant. Ibid. 44. 



COMMENCEMENT OP THE EEPOEM 37 



CHAPTER III. 

ComTnencement of the reform — Marriage of Feldkirchen-^ The lna^ 
rlage of monks — Theses — Tract against monachism — Luther no 
longer a monk. 

While the doctor of Wittemberg, thus dead to the 
world, was seeking relaxation in these sports in the 
neighborhood of the Wartburg, the work was going on as 
if of itself : the reform was beginning ; it was no longer 
restricted to doctrine ; it entered deeply into men's ac- 
tions. Bernard Feldkirchen, pastor of Kemberg, the first 
under Luther's directions to attack the errors of Rome,* 
was also the first to throw off the yoke of its institu- 
tions. He married. 

The Germans are fond of social life and domestic 
joys ; and hence, of all the papal ordinances, compul* 
sory celibacy was that which produced the saddest con- 
sequences. This law, which had been first imposed on 
the heads of the clergy, had prevented the ecclesiastical 
fiefs from becoming hereditary. But when extended by 
Gregory VII. to the inferior clergy, it was attended with 
the most deplorable results. Many priests had evaded 
the obligations imposed upon them by the most scanda- 
lous disorders, and had drawn contempt and hatred on 
the whole body ; while those who had submitted to Hil- 
debrand's law were inwardly exasperated against the 
church, because, while conferring on its superior digni- 
taries so much power, wealth, and earthly enjoyment, it 
bound its humbler ministers, who were its most useful 
supporters, to a self-denial so contrary to the gospel. 

" Neither popes nor councils," said Feldkirchen and 
another pastor named Seidler, who had followed his ex 
ample, " can impose any commandment on the church 
that endangers body and soul. The obligation of keep- 
ing God's law compels me to violate the traditions o^ 
men."f The reestablishment of marriage in the six- 

• Vol I., p. 229. t Coegit me ergo ut humanas traditione^ 
Tiol&rem, necessitas servandi juris divini. Corp. Ref. 1. 441. 



38 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



teenth century was a homage paid to the moral law 
The ecclesiastical authority became alarmed, and imme- 
diately fulminated its decrees against these two priests. 
Seidler, who was in the territories of Duke George, was 
given up to his superiors, and died in prison. But the 
Elector Frederick refused to surrender Feldkirchen to 
the archbishop of Magdeburg. "His highness," said 
Spalatin, "declines to act the part of a constable." 
Feldkirchen therefore continued pastor of his flock, al- 
though a husband and a father. 

The first emotion of the reformer when he heard of 
this was to give way to exultation : " I admire this new 
bridegroom of Kemberg," said he, " who fears nothing, 
and hastens forward in the midst of the uproar." Luther 
was of opinion that priests ought to marry. But this 
question led to another — the marriage of monks ; and 
here Luther had to support one of those internal strug- 
gles of which his whole life was composed ; for every 
reform must first be won by a spiritual struggle. Me- 
lancthon and Carlstadt, the one a layman, the other a 
priest, thought that the liberty of contracting the bonds 
of wedlock should be as free for the monks as for the 
priests. The monk Luther did not think so at first. One 
day the governor of the Wartburg having brought him 
Carlstadfs theses on celibacy, "Gracious God," exclaim- 
ed he, " our Wittembergers then will give wives even 
to the monks." .... This thought surprised and con- 
founded him ; his heart was troubled. He rejected for 
himself the liberty that he claimed for others. " Ah," said 
he indignantly, " they will not force me at least to take 
a wife."* This expression is doubtless unknown to those 
who assert that Luther preached the Reformation tlial 
he might marry. Inquiring for truth, not with passion, 
but with uprightness of purpose, he maintained what 
seemed to him true, although contrary to the whole of 
his system. He walked in a mixture of error and tiuth, 
until error had fallen and truth remained alone. 

There was indeed a great diiBference between the two 
questions. The marriage of priests was not the destruo 
* At mihi uon obtrudent uxorem. L Epp. 2. 40. 



STRUaaLE WITH MONACHISM, 



39 



tion of the priesthood ; on the contrary, this of itself 
might restore to the secular clergy the respect of the 
people ; but the marriage of monks was the downfall of 
monachism. It became a question, therefore, whether it 
was desirable to disband and break up that powerful 
army which the popes had under their orders. " Priests," 
wrote Luther to Melancthon, are of divine appointment^ 
and consequently are free as regards human command- 
ments. But of their own free will the monks adopted 
celibacy ; they are not therefore at liberty to withdraw 
from the yoke they voluntarily imposed on themselves."* 

The reformer was destined to advance, and carry by 
a fresh struggle this new position of the enemy. Already 
had he trodden under foot a host of Roman abuses, and 
even Rome herself ; but monachism still remained stand- 
ing. Monachism, that had once carried life into so many 
deserts, and which, passing through so many centuries, 
was now filling the cloisters with sloth and often with 
licentiousness, seemed to have embodied itself and gone 
to defend its rights in that castle of Thuringia, where 
the question of its life and death was discussed in the 
conscience of one man. Luther struggled with it : at 
one moment he was on the point of gaining the victory, 
at another he was nearly overcome. At length, unable 
longer to maintain the contest, he flung himself in prayer 
at the feet of Jesus Christ, exclaiming, " Teach us, de- 
liver us, establish us by thy mercy in the liberty that 
belongs to us ; for of a surety we are thy people."f 

He had not long to wait for deliverance ; an impor- 
tant revolution was effected in the reformer's mind ; and 
again it was the doctrine of justification by faith that 
gave him victory. That arm which had overthrown the 
indulgences, the practices of Rome, and the pope liim- 
Belf, also wrought the downfall of the monks in Luther's 
mind and throughout Christendom. Luther saw that 

* Me enim vehementer movet, quod sacerdotum ordo, a Deo in- 
gtitutus, est l.ber, noa autem monachorum qui sua sponte statum 
eligerunt. L. Epp. 2. 34. f Dominus Jesus erudiat et liboret 
nos, per miser icordiam suam, in libertatem nostram. To Melano- 
thon, on celibacy, Aug. 6, 1521 Ibid. 40. 



40 HISTORY OF THE EEFOHMATION. 



monacliism was in violent opposition to the doctrine of 
salvation by grace, and that a monastic life was founded 
entirely on the pretended merits of man. Fo-eling con- 
vinced from that hour that Christ's glory was interested 
in this question, he heard a voice incessantly repeating 
in his conscience, ''Monachism must fall." "So long as 
the doctrine of justification by faith remains pure and 
undefiled in the church, no one can become a monk," said 
he.* This conviction daily grew stronger in his heart, 
and about the beginning of September he sent " to the 
bishops and deacons of the church of Wittemberg," the 
following theses, which were his declaration of war 
against a monastic life : 

" Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Rom. 14 : 23. 
Whosoever maketh a vow of virginity, chastity, of 
service to God without faith, maketh an impious and 
idolatrous vow, a vow to the devil himself. 

" To make such vows is worse than the priests of 
Cybele or the vestals of the pagans ; for the monks make 
their vows in the thought of being justified and saved by 
these vows ; and what ought to be ascribed solely to the 
mercy of God, is thus attributed to meritorious works. 

" We must utterly overthrow such convents, as be- 
ing the abodes of the devil. 

" There is but one order that is holy and makes man 
holy, and that is Christianity, or faith.f 

" For convents to be useful, they should be converted 
into schools, where children should be brought up to 
man's estate ; instead of which they are houses where 
adult men become children, and remain so for ever." 

We see that Luther would still have tolerated con* 
vents as places of education ; but erelong his attacks 
against these establishments became more violent. The 
immorality and shameful practices that prevailed in the 
cloisters recurred forcibly to his thoughts. " I am re*- 
solved," wrote he to Spalatin on the 11th of November, 
"to deliver the young from the hellish fires of celib- 

* L. 0pp. W. 22. 1466. f Es ist nicht mehr denn eine einigo 

(Jeistlichkeit, die da heilig ist, und heilig macht L. 0pp. 17 

718. 



LCJTHEIi REJECTS M0KAGHI8M. 41 



acy."* He now wrote a book against monastic vowS; 
which he dedicated to his father. 

" Do you desire," said he in his dedication to the old 
man at Mansfeldt, "do you still desire to rescue me 
from a monastic life ? You have the right, for you are 
still my father, and I am still your son. But that is no 
longer necessary: God has been beforehand with you, 
and has himself delivered me by his power. What mat- 
ters it whether I wear or lay aside the tonsure and the 
cowl ? Is it the cowl, is it the tonsure that makes the 
monk ? * All things are yours,' says St. Paul, * and you 
are Christ's.' I do not belong to the cowl, but the cowl 
to me. I am a monk, and yet not a monk ; I am a new 
creature, not of the pope, but of Jesus Christ. Christ 
alone and without any go-between, is my bishop, my 
abbot, my prior, my lord, my father, and my master ; 
and I know no other. What matters it to me if the 
pope should condemn me and put me to death? He can- 
not call me from the grave and kill me a second time. . . . 
The great day is drawing near in which the kingdom of 
abominations shall be overthrown. Would to God that 
it were worth while for the pope to put us all to death. 
Our blood would cry out to heaven against him, and 
thus his condemnation would be hastened, and his end 
be near."f 

The transformation had already been effected in Lu 
ther himself ; he was no longer a monk. It was not 
outward circumstances, or earthly passions, or carnal 
precipitation, that had wrought this change. There had 
been a «?truggle : at first Luther had taken the side of 
monachism ; but truth also had gone down into the lists, 
and monachism had fallen before it. The victories that 
passion gains are ephemeral ; those of truth are lasting 
and decisive. 

• Adolesceotes liberare ex isto inferno calibatus. L. Opp, 2. 95. 
f Dass unser Blut mocht schreien, und dringen sein Gericlit, 
dass aein bald ein Ende wiirde. L. Epp. 2. 106. 



42 



HISTOUT OP THS REFORMATIOK, 



CHAPTER IV. 

Archbishop Albert — The idol of Halle— Luther's indignation— 
Alarm of the court — Luther's letter to the archbishop — Albert's 
reply — Joachim of Brandenburg. 

While Luther was thus preparing the way for one of 
the greatest revolutions that were destined to be effected 
in the church, and the Reformation was beginning to 
enter powerfully into the lives of Christians, the Romish 
partisans, blind as those generally are who have long 
been in possession of power, imagined that, because 
Luther was in the Wartburg, the reform was dead and 
for ever extinct ; and fancied they should be able qui- 
etly to resume their ancient practices, that had been for 
a moment disturbed by the monk of Wittemberg. Al- 
bert, elector-archbishop of Mentz, was one of those weak 
men who, all things being equal, decide for the truth ; 
but who, as soon as their interest is put in the balance, 
are ready to take part with error. His most important 
aim was to have a court as brilliant as that of any 
prince in Germany, his equipages as rich, and his table 
as well furnished : the traffic in indulgences served ad- 
mirably to obtain this result. Accordingly the decree 
against Luther had scarcely issued from the imperial 
chancery, before Albert, who was then residing with his 
court at Halle, summoned the vendors of indulgences, 
who were still alarmed at the words of the reformer, 
and endeavored to encourage them by such language 
as this : " Fear nothing, we have silenced him : let us 
begin to shear the flock in peace ; the monk is a pris 
oner ; he is confined by bolts and bars : this time he 
will be very clever if he comes again to disturb us in 
our affairs.'' The market was reopened, the merchan- 
dise was displayed for sale, and again the churches of 
Halle reechoed with the speeches of the mountebanks. 

But Luther was still alive, and his voice was power- 
ful enough to pass beyond the walls and gratings behind 
which he had been hidden. Nothing could have routed 



THE IDOL OF HALLE 



43 



his indignation to a higher pitch. What ! the most vio- 
lent battles have been fought ; he has confronted every 
dagger ; the truth remained victorious, and yet they 
dai e trample it under foot, as if it had been vanquished 1 
. . . That voice shall again be heard, which has once 
already put an end to this criminal trafHc. shall en- 
jo3 no rest,-' wrote he to Spalatin, " until I have attacked 
the idol of Mentz with its brothel at Halle."* 

Luther set to work immediately : he cared little 
ab ;ut the mystery with which some sought to envelop 
hisi residence in the Wartburg. He was like Elijah in 
thij desert forging fresh thunderbolts against the impi- 
ous Ahab. On the first of November he finished his 
tieatise against the new idol of Halle. 

Intelligence of Luther's plans reached the archbishop. 
Alarmed and in emotion at the very idea, he sent, about 
the middle of October, two of his attendants, Capito and 
Auerbach, to Wittemberg to avert the storm. " Luther 
must moderate his impetuosity," said they to Melanc- 
thon, who received them cordially. But Melancthon, 
although mild himself, was not one of those who imag- 
ine that wisdom consists in perpetual concession, ter- 
giversation, and silence. " It is God who moves him," 
replied he, *'and our age needs a bitter and pungent 
salt."f Upon this Capito turned to Jonas, and endeav 
ored through him to act upon the court. The news of 
Luther's intention was already known there, and pro 
duced great amazement. What," said the courtiers, 
rekindle the fire that we have had so much trouble to 
extinguish? Luther can only be saved by being forgot- 
ten, and yet he is rising up against the first prince in the 
empire." I will not sufier Luther to write against the 
archbishop of Mentz, and thus disturb the public tran 
quillity," said the elector.^ 

Luther was annoyed when these words were repeat 
ed to him. Is it not enough to imprison his body, but 

* Non continebor quin idolom Moguntinum invadam, cum suo 
lupanari Hallensi. L. Epp. 2. 59, Oct. 7. f Huic seculo opua 
esse acerrimo sale. Corp. Ref. 1. 463. i Nou passurum prin- 

Cipem, scribi in Moguntinum. L. Epp. 2. 94. 



44 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



thoy will also enchain his mind, and the truth with it? 
.... Do they fancy that he hides himself through fear, 
and that his retirement is an avowal of defeat? He 
maintains that it is a victory. Who dared stand up 
against him at Worms and oppose the truth ? Accord- 
ingly when the captive in the Wartburg had read the 
chaplain's letter, informing him of the prince's senti- 
ments, he flung it aside, determined to make no reply. 
But he could not long contain himself ; he took up the 
epistle, and wrote to Spalatin : " The elector will not 
suffer ; . . . . and I too will not suffer the elector not to 
permit me to write Rather would I destroy your- 
self, the elector, nay, the whole world for ever.* If I 
have resisted the pope, who is the creator of your cardi- 
nal, why should I give way before his creature ? It is 
very fine, forsooth, to hear you say that we must not dis- 
turb the public tranquillity, while you allow the ever- 
lasting peace of God to be disturbed Spalatin, it 

shall not be so. Prince, it shall not be so.f I send you 
a book I had already prepared against the cardinal when 
I received your letter. Forward it to Melancthon." 

Spalatin trembled as he read this manuscript ; again 
he represented to the reformer how imprudent it would 
be to publish a work that would force the imperial gov- 
ernment to lay aside its apparent ignorance of Luther's 
fate, and punish a prisoner who dared attack the great- 
est prince in the empire and the church. If Luther per- 
severed in his designs, the tranquillity would again be 
disturbed, and the Reformation perhaps be lost. Luther 
consented to delay the publication of his treatise ; he 
even permitted Melancthon to erase the most violent 
passages.! But irritated at his friend's timidity, he 
wrote to the chaplain: **The Lord lives and reigns, thit 
Lord in whom you court-folks do not believe, unless he 
fio accommodate his works to your reason, that there is 
no longer any necessity to believe." He then resolved 
to write direct to the cardinal. 

• Potius te et principem ipsum perdam et omnem creaturam. 
L. Epp. 2. 94. t Non sic, Spalatine ; non sic, priacepa Ibid 
{ Ut acerbiora radat. Ibid. 110. 



LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP 



45 



It is the whole body of Romish bishops that Luther 
thus brings to the bar in the person of the German pri- 
mate. His words are those of a bold man, ardent in 
zeal for the truth, and who feels that he is speaking in 
the name of God himself. 

" Your electoral highness," wrote he from the depth 
of the retreat in which he was hidden, "has set up again 
it Halle the idol that swallows the money and the souls 
of poor Christians. You think, perhaps, that I am dis- 
abled, and that the emperor will easily stifle the cries of 

the poor monk But know that I shall discharge 

the duties that Christian charity has imposed upon me, 
without fearing the gates of hell, and much less the 
pope, his bishops, and cardinals. 

"For this reason my humble prayer is, that your 
electoral highness would remember the beginning of 
this affair — ^how a tiny spark kindled a terrible confla- 
gration. All the world was at that time in a state of 
security. This poor begging friar, thought they, who 
unaided would attack the pope, is too weak for such an 
undertaking. But God interposed ; and he caused the 
pope more labor and anxiety than he had ever felt since 
he had taken his place in the temple of God to tyrannize 
over the church. This same God still Kves : let none 
doubt it.* He will know how to withstand a cardinal 
of Mentz, even were he supported by four emperors ; for 
he is pleased above all things to hew down the lofty 
cedars, and to abase the haughty Pharaohs. 

"For this reason I inform your highness by letter, 
that if the idol is not thrown down, I must, in obedience 
to God's teaching, publicly attack your highness, as I 
have attacked the pope himself. Let your highness con- 
duct yourself in accordance with this advice ; I shall 
wait a fortnight for an early and favorable reply. Given 
in my wilderness, the Sunday after St. Catherine's-day, 
Nov. 15, 1621. 

"From your electoral highness' devoted and obedient 
oervant, "MARTIN LUTHEB.^^ 

• Derselbig Gott lebet noch, da zweifel nur memand ao. . • * 
L. Epp. 2. 113. 

/ 



46 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMaTIOK. 



This letter was sent to Wittemberg-, and from Wit- 
temberg to Halle, where the cardinal-elector was then 
residing ; for no one dared to intercept it, foreseeing the 
storm that would be aroused by so daring an act. But 
Melancthon accompanied it by a letter addressed to the 
prudent Capito, in which he endeavored to prepare the 
way for a favorable termination of this difficult business. 

I fc is impossible to describe the feelings of the youth- 
ful and weak archbishop on receiving the reformer's let* 
ter. The work announced against the idol of Halle was 
like a sword suspended over his head. And at the same 
time, what anger must have been kindled in his heart by 
the insolence of this peasant's son, this excommunicated 
monk, who dared make use of such language to a prince 
of the house of Brandenburg, the primate of the German 
church. Capito besought the archbishop to satisfy the 
monk. Alarm, pride, and the voice of conscience which 
lie could not stifle, struggled fearfully in Albert's bosom. 
At last dread of the book, and perhaps remorse also, 
prevailed ; he humbled himself ; he put together all he 
thought calculated to appease the man of the Wartburg, 
and a fortnight had barely elapsed when Luther received 
the following letter, still more astonishing than his own 
terrible epistle : 

"My DEAR Doctor — I have received and read your 
letter, and have taken it in good part. But I think the 
motive that has led you to write me such an epistle haa 
long ceased to exist. I desire, with God's help, to con- 
duct myself as a pious bishop and a Christian prince, 
and I confess my need of the grace of God. I do not 
deny that I am a sinner, liable to sin and error, siiming 
and erring daily. I am well assured that without God's 
grace I am worthless and offensive mire, even as other 
men, if not more so. In replying to your letter, I would 
not conceal this gracious disposition ; for I am mt re 
than desirous of shov/ing you all kindness and favor, for 
love of Christ. I know how to receive a Christian and 
fraternal rebuke. 

" With my own hand, "ALBERT." 



WEAKITESS AND STRENaTH. 



41 



Such was the lanp^uage addressed to the exsomrau- 
Bleated monk of the Wartburg by the elector-archbishop 
of Mentz and Magdeburg, commissioned to represent and 
maintain in Germany the constitution of the church. Did 
Albert, in writing it, obey the generous impulses of his 
conscience, or his slavish fears? In the first case, it 
is a noble letter ; in the second, it merits our contempt. 
We would rather suppose it originated in the better feel- 
ings of his heart. However that may be, it shows the 
imraeasurable superiority of God^s servants over all the 
great ones of the earth. While Luther alone, a prisoner 
and condemned, derived invincible courage from his faith, 
the archbishop, elector, and cardinal, environed with all 
the power and favors of the world, trembled on his throne. 
This contrast appears continually, and is the key to the 
strange enigma offered by the history of the Reformation 
The Christian is not called upon to count his forces, and 
to number his means of victory. The only thing he should 
be anxious about is to know whether the cause he up- 
holds is really that of God, and whether he looks only to 
his Master's glory. Unquestionably he has an inquiry to 
make ; but this is wholly spiritual : the Christian looks 
at the heart, and not the arm ; he weighs the justice of 
his cause, and not its outward strength. And when this 
question is once settled, his path is clear. He must move 
forward boldly, were it even against the world and all 
its armed hosts, in the unshaken conviction that God 
himself will fight for him. 

The enemies of the Reformation thus passed from ex- 
treme severity to extreme weakness ; they had already 
done the same at Worms ; and these sudden transitions 
are of continual occurrence in the battle that error wages 
against truth. Every cause destined to fall is attacked 
with an internal uneasiness which makes it tottering and 
uncertain, and drives it by turns from one pole to the 
other. Steadiness of purpose and energy are far better; 
they would thus perhaps precipitate its fall, but at least 
if it did fall it would fall with glory. 

One of Albert's brothers, Joachim I., elector of Bran- 
denburg, gave an examule of that streno-th of character 



48 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH. 



which is so rare, particularly in our own times. Immov 
able in his principles, firm in action, knowing how to 
resist when necessary the encroachments of the pope, he 
opposed an iron hand to the progress of the Keforraation. 
At Worms he had insisted that Luther should not be 
leard, and that he ought to be punished as a heretic, in 
despite of his safe-conduct. Scarcely had the edict of 
Worms been issued, when he ordered that it should be 
strictly enforced throughout his states. Luther could 
appreciate so energetic a character, and making a dis- 
tinction between Joachim and his other adversaries, he 
said, " We may still pray for the elector of Branden- 
burg."* The disposition of this prince seemed to have 
been communicated to his people. Berlin and Branden- 
burg long remained closed against the Reformation. 
But what is received slowly is held faithfully.f While 
other countries which then hailed the gospel with joy — 
Belgium for instance, and Westphalia — were soon to 
abandon it, Brandenburg, the last of the German states 
to enter on the narrow way of faith, was destined in 
after-years to stand in the foremost ranks of the Ref- 
ormation. 

Luther did not read Cardinal Albert's letter without 
a suspicion that it was dictated by hypocrisy, and in 
accordance with the advice of Capito. He kept silence, 
however, being content with declaring to the latter, that 
so long as the archbishop, who was hardly capable of 
managing a small parish, did not lay aside his cardinal's 
mask and episcopal pomp, and become a simple minister 
of the word, it was impossible that he could be in the 
way of salvation.;]; 

♦ Holwing, Gesh. der Brandeb. 2. 605. f Hoc enim proprium 
sat illorum hominum — ex March. Brandeburg — ut quam semel in 
religione sententiam approbaverint, noa facile deserant. Leutin- 
geri 0pp. 1. 41. t Larvam cardinalaturf et pompam episaopaJem 
ablegare. L. Epp. 2. 132. 



TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 



49 



CHAPTER V. 

Translation of the Bible — Wants of the church — Principles of tlse 
Reformation — Temptations of the devil — Luther's works con- 
demned by the Sorbonne — Melancthon's reply — Luther visitfi 
Wittemberg. 

While Luther was thus struggling against error as 
if he were still in the midst of the battle, he was also 
laboring in his retirement of the Wartburg as if he had 
no concern in what was going on in the world. The 
hour had come in which the Reformation, from being a 
mere theological question, was to become the life of the 
people ; and yet the great engine by which this prog- 
ress was to be effected was not yet in being. This pow- 
erful and mighty instrument, destined to hurl its thun- 
derbolts from every side against the proud edifice of 
Rome, throw down its walls, cast off the enormous 
weight of the Papacy under which the church lay sti- 
fled, and communicate an impulse to the whole human 
race which would not be lost until the end of time — this 
instrument was to go forth from the old castle of the 
Wartburg, and enter the world on the same day that 
terminated the reformer's captivity. 

The farther the church was removed from the time 
when Jesus, the true light of the world, was on tlie 
earth, the greater was her need of the torch of God's 
word, ordained to transmit the brightness of Jesus Christ 
to the men of the latter days. But this divine word waa 
at that time hidden from the people. Several unsuccess- 
ful attempts at translation from the Vulgate had been 
made in 1477, 1490, and in 1518 ; they were almost un- 
intelligible, and from their high price beyond the reac h 
nf the people. It had even been prohibited to gi\e the 
(lerman church the Bible in the vulgar tongue.* Be* 
sides which, the number of those who were able to read 
did not become considerable until there existed in the 
German language a book of lively and universal interest. 
• Codex Diplom Ecclesiae Magunt. 4. 460, 

IItotofRef.m. A 



50 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



Luther was called to present his nation with the 
Scriptures of God. That same God who had conducted 
St. John to Patruos, there to write his Revelation, had 
confined Luther in the Wartburg, there to translate his 
word. This great task, which it would have been diffi- 
cult for him to have undertaken in the midst of the cares 
and occupations of Wittemberg, was to establish the 
new building on the primitive rock, and after the lapse 
of so many ages, lead Christians back from the subtle- 
ties of the schoolmen to the pure fountainheadi of re- 
demption and salvation. 

The wants of the church spoke loudly ; they called 
for this great work ; and Luther, by his own inward 
experience, was to be led to perform it. In truth, he 
discovered in faith that repose of the soul which his agi- 
tated conscience and his monastic ideas had long induced 
him to seek in his own merits and holiness. The doc- 
trine of the church, the scholastic theology, knew noth- 
ing of the consolations that proceed from faith ; but the 
Scriptures proclaim them with great force, and there it 
was that he had found them. Faith in the word of God 
had made him free. By it he felt emancipated from the 
dogmatical authority of the church, from its hierarchy 
and traditions, from the opinions of the schoolmen, the 
power of prejudice, and from every human ordinance. 
Those strong and numerous bonds which for centuries 
had enchained and stifled Christendom, wete snapped 
asunder, broken in pieces, and scattered round him ; and 
he nobly raised his head, freed from all authority except 
that of the word. This independence of man, this sub- 
mission to God, which he had learned in the holy Scrip- 
tures, he desired to impart to the church. But before he 
could communicate them, it was necessary to set before 
it the revelations of God. A powerful hand was wauled 
to unlock the massive gates of that arsenal of God's wcrd 
from which Luther had taken his arms, and to open to the 
people against the day of battle those vaults and antique 
halls which for many ages no foot had ever trod. 

Luther had already translated several fragments of 
the holy Scripture ; the seven penitential Psalms had 



PKINCIPLES OF THE REFORK. 61 



been Lis first task.* John the Baptist, Christ himself, 
and the Reformation, had begun alike by calling men to 
repentance. It is the principle of every regeneration in 
the individual man, and in the whole human race. These 
essays had been eagerly received ; men longed to have 
more ; and this voice of the people was considered by 
Luther as the voice of God himself. He resolved to reply 
lo the call. He was a prisoner within those lofty walls ; 
what of that ? he will devote his leisure to translating 
the word of God into the language of his countrymen. 
Erelong this word will be seen descending from the 
Wartburg with him, circulating among the people of 
Germany, and putting them in possession of those spir- 
itual treasures hitherto shut up within the hearts of a 
few pious men. "Would that this one book," exclaimed 
Luther, "were in every language, in every hand, before 
the eyes, and in the ears and hearts of all men."f Ad- 
'Tiirable words, which, after a lapse of three centuries, an 
illustrious body, J translating the Bible into the mother- 
tongue of every nation upon earth, has undertaken to re- 
alize. " Scripture without any comment," said he again, 
" is the sun whence all teachers receive their light." 

Such are the principles of Christianity and of the Ref- 
ormation. According to these venerable words, we should 
not consult the fathers to throw light upon Scripture, but 
Scripture to explain the fathers. The reformers and the 
apostles set up the word of God as the only light, as they 
exalt the sacrifice of Christ as the only righteousness. 
By mingling any authority of man w^ith this absolute 
authority of God, or any human righteousness with this 
perfect righteousness of Christ, we vitiate both the foun- 
dations of Christianity. These are the two fundamental 
heresies of Rome ; and these, although doubtless in a 
smaller degree, some teachers were desirous of intro- 
ducing into the bosom of the Reformation. 

Luther opened the Greek originals of the evangelists 
and apostles, and undertook the difficult task of making 

• Psalms 6, 32, 38, 61, 102, 130, 147. f Et solus hie liber 

omnium lingua, manu, oculis, auribus, cordibus, versaretur. L. 
I^PI). 2. 116. t The Bible Society. 



52 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



these divine teachers speak his mother-tongue. Ittpor* 
tant crisis in the history of the Reformation ; from that 
time the Reformation was no longer in the hands of the 
reformer. The Bible came forward ; Luther withdrew. 
God appeared, and man disappeared. The reformer 
placed THE BOOK in the hands of his contemporaries. 
Each one may now hear the voice of God for himself ; 
as for Luther, henceforth he mingles with the crowd, 
and takes his station in the ranks of those who come to 
draw from the common fountain of light and life. 

In translating the holy Scriptures, Luther found that 
consolation and strength of which he stood so much in 
need. Solitary, in ill health, and saddened by the exer- 
tions of his enemies and the extravagances of some of 
his followers — seeing his life wearing away in the gloom 
of that old castle, he had occasionally to endure terrible 
struggles. In those times, men were inclined to carry 
into the visible world the conflicts that the soul sustains 
with its spiritual enemies. Luther^s lively imagination 
easily embodied the emotions of his heart, and the super- 
stitions of the middle ages had still sor 3 hold upon his 
mind, so that we might say of him, as it has been said 
of Calvin with regard to the punishment inflicted on her- 
etics, there was yet a remnant of popery in him.* Satan 
was not, in Luther's view, simply an invisible though real 
being ; he thought that this adversary of God appeared 
to men as he had appeared to Jesus Christ. Although 
the authenticity of many of the stories on this subject 
contained in the Table-talk and elsewhere is move than 
doubtful, history must still record this failing in the re- 
former. Never was he more assailed by these gloomy 
ideas than in the solitude of the Wartburg. In the days 
of his strength he had braved the devil in Worms ; but 
now all the reformer's powers seemed broken and his 
glory tarnished. He was thrown aside ; Satan was vic- 
torious in his turn, and in the anguish of his soul Luther 
imagined he saw his giant form standing before him, 
lifting his finger in threatening attitude, exulting with 

* Michelet, ia his Mimoiret de Luther^ devotes more than thirty 
pages to the various accounts of these Satauic visitsvtiooH 



JtrDGhMENT OF THE SORBONNE. 63 



a bitter and hellish sneer, and gnashing his teeth in feai> 
ful rage. One day especially, it is said, as Luther was 
engaged on his translation of the New Testament, he 
fancied he beheld Satan, filled with horror at his work, 
tormenting him, and prowling round him like a lion 
about to spring upon hi-s prey. Luther, alarmed and 
incensed, snatched up his inkstand and flung it at the 
head of his enemy. The figure disappeared, and the mis* 
sile was dashed in pieces against the wall.* 

Luther's sojourn in the Wartburg began to be insup- 
portable to him. He felt indignant at the timidity of his 
protectors. Sometimes he would remain a whole day 
plunged in deep and silent meditation, and awakened 
from it only to exclaim, " 0 that I were at Wittemberg I'' 
At length he could hold out no longer ; there has been 
caution enough ; he must see his friends again, hear 
them, and converse with them. True, he runs the risk 
of falling into the hands of his enemies, but nothing can 
stop him. About the end of November, he secretly quit- 
ted the Wartburg, and set out for Wittemberg.f 

A fresh storm had just burst upon him. At last the 
Sorbonne had spoken out. That celebrated school of 
Paris, the first authority in the church after the pope, 
the ancient and venerable source whence theological 
teaching had proceeded, had given its verdict against 
the Reformation. 

The following are some of the propositions con- 
demned by this learned body. Luther had said, " God 
ever pardons and remits sins gratuitously, and requires 
nothing of us in return, except that in future we should 
live according to righteousness.'' And he had added, 
" Of all deadly sins, this is the most deadly, namely, 
that any one should think he is not guilty of a damna- 
ble and deadly sin before God." He had said in another 
place, " Burning heretics is contrarv to the will of the 
Holy Ghost." 

To these three propositions, and to many ethers be- 

* The keeper of the Wartburg still carefully directs the travel- 
ler's attention to the spots made by Luther's inkstand. f Machete 
er Bich heimlich aus seiner Patmo auf. L. 0pp. 18. 238. 



64 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATIOIT. 



sides, which they quoted, the theological faculty cf Paris 
replied, Heresy ; let kim be accursed."* 

But a young man twenty-four years of age, of short 
stature, diffident, and plain in appearance, dared take up 
the gauntlet which the first college in the world had 
thrown down. They knew pretty well at Wittemberg 
what should be thought of these pompous censures; 
they knew that Rome had yielded to the suggestions of 
the Dominicans, and that the Sorbonne was led away by 
two or three fanatical doctors who were designated at 
Paris by satirical nicknames.f Accordingly, in his Apol- 
ogy, Melancthon did not confine himself to defending 
Luther ; but, with that boldness which characterizes his 
writings, he carried the war into the enemy's camp. 
'*You say he is a Manichean ; he is a Montanist : let 
fire and fagot repress his foolishness. And who is Mon- 
tanist? Luther, who would have us believe in holy 
Scripture alone ; or you, who would have men believe in 
the opinions of their fellow-creatures, rather than in the 
word of God?"! 

lo ascribe more importance to the word of a man 
than to the word of God was in very truth the heresy 
of Montanus, as it still is that of the pope and of all 
those who set the hierarchical authority of the church 
or the interior inspirations of mysticism above the pos- 
itive declarations of the sacred writings. Accordingly 
the youthful master of arts, who had said, "I would 
rather lay down my life than my faith,"§ did not stop 
there. He accused the Sorbonne of having obscured the 
gospel, extinguished faith, and substituted an empty 
philosophy in the place of Christianity. || After this work 
of Melancthon^s, the position of the dispute was changed ; 

* Determinatio theologorum Parisiensium super doctrina Luthe- 
rana. Corp. Ref. 1. 366-388. f DamnaruQt triumviri Beda, 

Quenus, et Christophorus, Nomina sunt horum raonstrorura etiam 
vulgo nunc nota Belua, Stercus, Christotomus, Zwinglii Epp. 1. 
176. X Corp. Ref. 1. 396. § Scias me positurum animam 
citius quam fidem. Ibid. || Evangelium obscuratura est, fides 

extincta Ex Christianismu, contra omnem sensum SpirituB, 

facta est quaedam priilosophica viv«ndi ratio. Ibid. 400. 



VISIT TO WITTSMBERa 



55 



he proved unanswerably that the heresy was at Paris and 
Rome, and the catholic truth at Wittemberg. 

Meanwhile Luther, caring little for the condemnations 
of the Sorbonne, was proceeding in his military equip' 
ment to the university. He was greatly distressed by 
various reports which reached him on the road of a spiiit 
of impatience and independence that was showing itself 
among some of his adherents."^ At length he arrived at 
Wittemberg without being recognized, and stopped at 
Amsdorff's house. Immediately all his friends were se- 
cretly called together,f and Melancthon among the first, 
who had so often said, I would rather die than lose 
him." J They came : what a meeting ; what joy 1 The 
captive of the Wartburg tasted in their society all the 
sweetness of Christian friendship. He learned the spread 
of the Reformation, the hopes of his brethren ; and de- 
lighted at what he saw and heard, § ofiered up a prayer, 
returned thanks to God, and then with brief delay re- 
turned to the Wartburg. 

* Per viam vexatus rumore vario de nostrorum quorundam im- 
portimitate. L. Epp. 2. 109. f Liess in der Stille seine Freunde 
fodern. L. 0pp. 18, 238. t Quo si mihi carendum est, mortem 
fortiue tuiero. Corp. Ref. 1. 453, 455. § Omnia vehemeat^r 

placent quae video et audio. L. Epp. 2. 109. 



56 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fresh reforms — Gabriel Zwilling on the mass — The nnivct^ity— 
Melancthon's propositions — The elector — Monastic institutioiij 
attacked — Emancipation of the monks — Disturbances — Chapter 
of the Augustine monks — Carlstadt and the mass — First celebra- 
tion of the Lord's supper— Importance of the mass in the Romish 
system. 

Luther's joy was well founded. The work of the 
Reformation then made a great stride. Feldkirchen, 
always in the van, had led the assault ; now the main 
body was in motion, and that power which carried the 
Reformation from the doctrine it had purified into the 
worship, life, and constitution of the church, now mani- 
fested itself by a new explosion, more formidable to the 
Papacy than even the first had been. 

Rome, having got rid of the reformer, thought the 
heresy was at an end. But in a short time every thing 
was changed. Death removed from the pontifical throne 
the man who had put Luther under the ban of the church. 
Disturbances occurred in Spain, and compelled Charles 
to visit his kingdom beyond the Pyrenees. War broke 
out between this prince and Francis L, and as if that 
were not enough to occupy the emperor, Soliman made 
an incursion into Hungary. Charles, thus attacked on 
all sides, was forced to forget the monk of Worms and 
his religious innovations. 

About the same time, the vessel of the Reformation, 
which, driven in every direction by contrary winds, was 
on the verge of foundering, righted itself, and floated 
proudly above the waters. 

It was in the convent of the Augustines at Wittem- 
berg that the Reformation broke out. We ought not to 
feel surprise at this : it is true the reformer was there 
no longer, but no human power could drive out the 
spirit that animated him 

For Bome time the church in which Luther had so 



ZWILLINa OK THE MASS. 



57 



often preached refe'choed with strange doctrines. Gabriel 
Zwilling, a zealous monk and chaplain to the convent, 
was there energetically proclaiming the Reformation. 
As if Luther, whose name was at that time everywhere 
celebrated, had become too strong and too illustrious, 
God selected feeble and obscure men to begin the ref- 
ormdtion which that renowned doctor had prepared. 
"Jesus Christ," said the preacher, "instituted the sac- 
rament of the altar in remembrance of his death, and 
not to make it an object of adoration. To worship it is 
a real idolatry. The priest who communicates alone 
commits a sin. No prior has the right to compel a monk 
to say mass alone. Let one, two, or three officiate, and 
let the others receive the Lord's sacrament under both 
kinds."* 

This is what friar Gabriel required, and this daring 
language was listened to approvingly by the other breth- 
ren, and particularly by those who came from the Low 
Countries. f They were disciples of the gospel, and why 
should they not conform in every thing to its commands ? 
Had not Luther himself written to Melancthon in the 
month of August, " Henceforth and for ever I will say 
no more private masses Thus the monks, the sol- 
diers of the hierarchy, emancipated by the word, boldly 
took part against Rome. 

At Wittemberg they met with a violent resistance 
from the prior. Calling to mind that all things should be 
done with order, they gave way, but with a declaration 
that to uphold the mass was to oppose the gospel of God. 

The prior had gained the day : one man had been 
stronger than them all. It might seem, therefore, that 
this movement of the Augustines was one of those ca- 
prices of insubordination so frequently occurring in mon- 
asteries. But it was in reality the Spirit of God itself 
which was then agitating all Christendom. A solitary 

♦ Einem 2 oder 3 befehlen Mess zu halten, und die andorn 12 
ron denen das Sacrament sub utraque specie mit empfahen. Corp 
Ref. 1. 460. + Der meiste Theil jener Parthei Niederlaader seyn. 
Ibid. 476. X Sed et ego amplius non faciam missam privatam io 
SBte/nura. L. Epp. 2. 36. 



68 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION^ . 



cry, uttered in the bosom of a convent, found its echo in 
a thousand voices ; and that which men would have de- 
sired to confine within the walls of a cloister, went forth 
and took a bodily form in the very midst of the city. 

Rumors of the dissensions among the friars soon 
spn^ad through the town. The citizens and students of 
the university took part, some with, some against the 
masn. The elector's court was troubled. Frederick in 
surprise sent his chancellor Pontanus to Wittemberg 
with orders to reduce the monks to obedience, by put- 
ting them, if necessary, on bread and water ;* and on 
the 12th of October, at seven in the morning, a deputa- 
tion from the professors, of which Melancthon formed a 
part, visited the convent, exhorting the brothers to at- 
tempt no innovations,f or at least to wait a little longer. 
Upon this all their zeal revived : as they were unanimous 
in their faith, except the prior who combated them, they 
appealed to Scripture, to the understanding of believers, 
and to the conscience of the theologians ; and two days 
after, handed in a written declaration. 

The doctors now examined the question more closely, 
and found that the monks had truth on their side. They 
had gone to convince, and were convinced themselves. 
What ought they to do ? Their consciences cried aloud ; 
their anxiety kept increasing : at last, after long hesita- 
tion, they formed a courageous resolution. 

On the 20th of October, the university made their re- 
port to the elector. " Let your electoral highness," said 
they, after setting forth the errors of the mass, " put an 
end to every abuse, lest Christ in the day of judgment 
should rebuke us as he did the people of Capernaum." 

Thus it is no longer a few obscure monks who are 
speaking ; it is that university which for several years 
has been hailed by all the wise as the school of the nation; 
and the very means employed to check the Reformation 
are those which will now contribute to its extension- 
Mel ancthon, with that boldness which he carried into 

' Wollen die Monche nicht Mess halten, sie wtvdoa's bald in dei 
Kiichen und Keller empfinden. . . . Corp. Ref. 1. 461. f 
Messhalten keine Neuerung machen Ibid. 



MELA^NCTHON'S PROPOSITIONS. 59 



learning, published fifty-five propositions calculated to 
enlighten men^s minds. 

"Just as looking at a cross/' said he, "is not per- 
forming a good work, but simply contemplating a sign 
that reminds us of Christ's death ; 

"Just as looking at the sun is not performing a good 
work, but simply contemplating a sign that reminds us 
of Christ and of his gospel ; 

" So, partaking of the I^ord's supper is not perform- 
ing a good work, but simply making use of a sign that 
reminds us of the grace that has been given us through 
Christ. 

" But here is the difference, namely, that the symbols 
invented by men simply remind us of what they signify; 
while the signs given us by God not only remind us of 
the things themselves, but assure our hearts of the will 
of God.* 

"As the sight of a cross does not justify, so the mass 
Joes not justify. 

"As the sight of a crass is not a sacrifice either for 
our sins or for the sins of others, so the mass is not a 
sacrifice. 

" There is but one sacrifice, but one satisfaction — 
Jesus Christ. Besides him, there is none. 

" Let such bishops as do not oppose the impiety of 
the mass be accursed.'' 

Thus spoke the pious and gentle Philip. 

The elector was amazed. He had desired to reduce 
some young friars, and now the whole university, and Me- 
lancthon himself, rose in their defence. To wait seemed 
to him in all things the surest means of success. He 
did not like sudden reforms, and desired that every opin- 
ion should make its way without obstruction. " Time 
alone," thought he, "clears up all things, and brings 
them to maturity." And yet in spite of him the Refor* 
mation was advancing with hasty steps, and threatened 
to carry every thing along with it. Frederick made 

• Signa ab hominibus reperta admonent tan turn ; signa a Deo 
trtvdita, praeterquam quod admonent, certilicant etiam cor de volunr 
tate Dei. Corp. Ref. 1. 478. 



fiO HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



every exertion to arrest its progress. His, authority, the 
infiuence of his character, the reasons that appeared to 
him the most convincing, were all set in operation. "Do 
not be too hasty," said he to the theologians ; " your 
number is too small to carry such a reform. If it is 
based upon the gospel, others will discover it also, and 
you will put an end to abuses with the aid of the whole 
church. Talk, debate, preach on these matters as much 
as you like, but keep up the ancient usages.'' 

Such was the battle fought on the subject of the mass 
The monks had bravely led the assault ; the theologians, 
undecided for a moment, had soon come to their support. 
The prince and his ministers alone defended the place. 
It has been asserted that the Reformation was accom- 
plished by the power and authority of the elector ; but 
far from that, the assailants shrunk back at the sound 
of his voice, and the mass was saved for a few days. 

The heat of the attack had been already directed 
against another point. Friar Gabriel still continued his 
heart-stirring sermons in the church of the Augustines. 
Monachism was now the object of his reiterated blows ; 
if the mass was the strong-hold of the Roman doctrines, 
the monastic orders were the support of her hierarchy. 
These, then, were the first two positions that must be 
carried. 

No one," said Gabriel, according to the prior's re- 
port, " no dweller in the convents keeps the command- 
ments of God ; no one can be saved under a cowl 
every man that enters a cloister, enters it in the name 
of the devil. The vows of chastity, poverty, and obedi- 
ence, are contrary to the gospel." 

This extraordinary language was reported to the 
prior, who avoided going to church for fear he should 
hear it. 

Gabriel," said they, "desires that every exertion 
should be made to empty the cloisters He says if a 
monk is met in the streets, the people should pull him 
by the frock, and laugh at him ; and that if they cannot 
be driven out of the convents by ridicule, they should be 
* Keiu Monch werde h der Kappe selig. Corp. Ref. 1. 433. 



MONACHISM ABANDONED. 



61 



expelled by force. Break open, pull down, utterly de- 
stroy the monasteries, says he, so that not a single trace 
of them may remain ; a^nd that not one of those stones 
that have contributed to shelter so much sloth and super- 
stition may be found in the spot they so long occupied."* 

The friars were astonished ; their consciences told 
them that Gabriel's words were but too true, that a 
monkish life was not in conformity with the will of God, 
and that no one could dispose of their persons better 
than themselves. 

Thirteen Augustines quitted the convent together, 
and laying aside the costume of their order, assumed a 
lay dress. Those who possessed any learning attended 
the lectures of the university, in order one day to be 
serviceable to the church ; and those whose minds were 
uncultivated, endeavored to gain a livelihood by the 
work of their own hands, according to the injunctions 
of the apostle, and the example of the good citizens of 
Wittemberg.f One of them, who understood the busi 
ness of a joiner, applied for the freedom of the city, and 
resolved to take a wife. 

If Luther's entry into the Augustine convent at Er- 
furth had been the germ of the Reformation, the depar- 
ture of these thirteen monks from the convent of the 
Augustines at Wittemberg was the signal of its enter- 
ing into possession of Christendom. For thirty years 
past Erasmus had been unveiling the uselessness, the 
folly, and the vices of the monks ; and all Europe laughed 
and grew angry with him : but sarcasm was required^lao 
longer. Thirteen high-minded and bold men returned 
into the midst of the world, to render themselves profit- 
able to society, and fulfil the commandments of God. 
Feldkirchen's marriage had been the first defeat of the 
hierarchy ; the emancipation of these thirteen Augus- 
tines was the second. Monachism, which had arisen at 
the time when the church entered upon its period of eii- 

* Dass maa nicht ob ein Stiick von einem Kloster da sey gestan- 
den, merken moge. Corp. Ref. 1. 483. f Etliche iinter den 

Biirgern, etliche unter den Studenten, says the prior in his com 
plaint to the electoi'. Ibi<|, 



62 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



sla vement and error, was destined to fall at the dawning 
of liberty and truth. 

This daring step excited universal ferment in Wit- 
temberg. Admiration was felt towards those men who 
thus came to take their part in the general labors, and 
they were received as brethren. At the same time a few 
outcries were heard against those who persisted in re- 
maining lazily sheltered behind the walls of their monas- 
tery. The monks who remained faithful to their prioi 
trembled in their cells ; and the latter, carried away by 
the general movement, stopped the celebration of the 
low masses. 

The smallest concession, in so critical a moment, of 
necessity precipitated the course of events. The prior's 
order created a great sensation in the town and univer- 
sity, and produced a sudden explosion. Among the stu- 
dents and citizens of Wittemberg were found some of 
those turbulent men whom the least excitement arouses 
and hurries into criminal disorders. They were exas- 
perated at the idea of the low masses, which even the 
superstitious prior had suspended, still being said in the 
parish church ; and on Tuesday, December 3, as the mass 
was about to be read, they ran up to the altars, took 
away the books, and drove the priests out of the chapel. 
The council and university were annoyed, and met to 
punish the authors of these misdeeds. But the passions 
once aroused are not easily quelled. The Cordeliers had 
not taken part in this movement of the Augustines. On 
the following day, the students posted a threatening 
placard on the gates of their convent ; after that, forty 
students entered their church, and although thoy re 
frained from violence, they ridiculed the monks, so that 
the latter dared not say mass except in the choir. Tow- 
ards evening the fathers were told to be upon tlieir 
guard : The students," it was said, " are resolved to 
attack the monastery." The frightened religioners, not 
knowing how to shelter themselves from these real or 
supposed attacks, hastily besought the council to pro- 
tect them ; a guard of soldiers vvas sent, but the enemy 
did not apoear. The university caused the students wuo 



MONASTERIES AND THE MASS 



63 



had taken part in these disturbances to be arrested. It 
was discovered that some were from Erfiirth, where they 
had become notorious for their insubordination.* The 
penalties of the university were inflicted upon them. 

And yet the necessity was felt of inquiring carefully 
into the lawfulness of monastic vows. A chapter ot 
A igustine monks from Misnia and Thuringia assembled 
at Wittemberg in the month of December. They came 
to the same opinion as Luther. On the one hand they 
declared that monastic vows were not criminal, but on 
the other that they were not obligatory. In Christ," 
said they, " there is neither layman nor monk ; each one 
is at liberty to quit the monastery, or to stay in it. Let 
him who goes forth beware lest he abuse his liberty ; let 
him who remains obey his superiors, but through love." 
They next abolished mendicancy and the saying of masses 
for money ; they also decreed that the best instructed 
among them should devote themselves to the teaching 
of the word of God, and that the rest should support 
their brethren by the work of their own hands.f 

Thus the question of vows appeared settled : but 
that of the mass was undecided. The elector still re- 
sisted the torrent, and protected an institution which he 
saw standing in all Christendom. The orders of so in- 
dulgent a prince could not long restrain the public feel- 
ing. Carlstadt's head in particular was turning in the 
midst of the general ferment. Zealous, upright, and 
bold, ready, like Luther, to sacrifice every thing for the 
truth, he was inferior to the reformer in wisdom and 
moderation ; he was not entirely exempt from vainglory, 
and with a disposition inclined to examine matters to 
the bottom, he was defective in judgment and in clear- 
ness of ideas. Luther had dragged him from the mire of 
scholasticism, and directed him to the study of Scripture; 
but Carlstadt had not acknowledged with his friend the 
all-sufficiency of the word of God. Accordingly he was 

* In Bumma : es soUen die Aufruhr etliche Studenten von Erf- 
forth erweckt haben. Corp. Ref. 1. 490. f Corp. Ref. 1. 456. 

The editors assign this decree to the month of October, before the 
friars had auitted the convent at Wittemberg. 



64 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



often seen adopting the most singular interpretations. 
So long as Luther was at his side, the superiority of the 
master kept the scholar within due bounds. But now 
Carlstadt was free. In the university, in the churchy 
everywhere in Wittemberg, this little dark-featurt<i niiin, 
who had never excelled in eloquence, might be heard 
proclaiming with great fervor ideas that were sometimes 
profound, but often enthusiastic and exaggerated. "What 
madness," exclaimed he, " to think that one must leave 
the Reformation to God's working alone. A new order 
of things is beginning. The hand of man should inter- 
fere. Woe be to him who lags behind, and does not 
climb the breach in the cause of the Almighty." 

The archdeacon's language communicated to others 
the impatience he felt himself. " All that the popes have 
ordained is impious," said certain upright and sincere 
men who followed his example. " Let us not become 
partakers in those abominations by allowing them to 
subsist any longer. What is condemned by the word 
of God ought to be put down in the whole of Christen- 
dom, whatever may be the ordinances of men. If the 
heads of the state and of the church will not do their 
duty, let us do ours. Let us renounce all negotiations, 
conferences, theses, and disputations, and let us apply 
the effectual remedy to so many evils. We need a sec- 
ond Elijah to throw down the altars of Baal." 

The reestablishment of the Lord's supper, in this mo- 
ment of ferment and enthusiasm, unquestionably could 
not present the solemnity and holiness of its first insti- 
tution by the Son of God, on the eve of his death, and 
almost at the foot of the cross. But if God now made 
use of weak and perhaps passionate men, it was never- 
theless his hand that revived in the church the feast of 
his love. 

In the previous October, Carlstadt had already cele- 
brated the Lord's supper in private with twelve of his 
friends, in accordance with Christ's institution. On the 
Sunday before Christmas, he gave out fn^m the pulpit 
that on the day of our Lord's circumcision —the first 
daj- of the year — he would distribute the eucharist in 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 



65 



both kinds — ^brcad and wine — to all who presented 
themselves at the altar ; that he would omit all useless 
forms,* and in celebrating this mass would wear neither 
cope nor chasuble. 

The affrighted council entreated the councillor Beyer 
to prevent such a flagrant irregularity ; and upon this 
Carlstadt resolved not to wait until the appointed day. 
On Christmas-day, 1521, he preached i'n the parish church 
on the necessity of quitting the mass and receiving the 
sacrament in both kinds. After the sermon he went to 
the altar, pronounced the words of consecration in Ger- 
man, and then turning towards the attentive people, said 
with a solemn voice, "Whosoever feels the burden of his 
sins, and hungers and thirsts for the grace of God, let 
him come and receive the body and blood of our Lord."f 
And then, without elevating the host, he distributed the 
bread and wine to all, saying, " This is the cup of my 
blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant." 

Antagonistic sentiments prevailed in the assembly. 
Some, feeling that a new grace from God had been given 
to the church, approached the altar in silence and emo- 
tion. Others, attracted chiefly by the novelty, drew nigh 
with a certain sense of agitation and impatience. Five 
communicants alone had presented themselves in the 
confessional ; the rest simply took part in the public con- 
fession of sins. Carlstadt gave a public absolution to 
all, imposing on them no other penance than this : "Sin 
no more." They finished by singing the Agnus Dei.X 

No one opposed Carlstadt ; these reforms had already 
obtained general assent. The archdeacon administered 
the Lord^s supper again on New-year's-day, and on the 
Sunday following, and from that time it was regularly 
celebrated. Einsidlen, one of the elector's councillors, 
having reproached Carlstadt with seeking his own glory, 
rather than the salvation of his hearers, "Mighty lord," 
replied he, "there is no form of death that can make me 

* Und die anderen Schirymstege alle aussen lassen, Corp. Ref. 
1. 612. t Wer mit Siinden beschwert und nach der Gnade Gottea 
hungrig und durstig. Ibid. 540, X Wenn man communicirt hat, 
•0 eingt man Agntis Dei carmen. Ibid. 

5 



66 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



withdraw from Scripture. The word has come upon me 
with such promptitude. . . . Woe be to me if I preach it 
not.''* Shortly after, Carlstadt married. 

In the month of January, 1522, the council and uni- 
versity of Wittemberg regulated the celebration of the 
Lord's supper according to the new ritual. They were, 
at the same time, engaged on the means of reviving the 
moral influence of religion ; for the Reformation wag 
destined to restore simultaneously faith, worship, and 
morality. It was decreed not to tolerate mendicants, 
whether they were begging friars or not ; and that in 
every street there should be some pious man commis- 
sioned to take care of the poor, and summon open sin- 
ners before the university and the council. f 

Thus fell the mass, the principal bulwark of Rome ; 
thus the Reformation passed from simple teaching into 
public worship. For three centuries the mass and 
transubstantiation had been peremptorily established.;}; 
From that period every thing in the church had taken a 
new direction ; all things tended to the glory of man 
and the worship of the priest. The holy sacrament had 
been adored ; festivals had been instituted in honor of 
the sublimest of miracles ; the adoration of Mary had 
acquired a high importance ; the priest who, on his con- 
secration, received the wonderful power of " making the 
body of Christ," had been separated from the laity, and 
had become, according to Thomas Aquinas, a mediator 
between God and man ;§ celibacy had been proclaimed 
as an inviolable law ; auricular confession had been 
enforced upon the people, and the cup denied them ; for 
how could humble laymen be placed in the same rank 
as priests invested with the most august ministry? The 
mass was an insult to the Son of God ; it was opposed 
to the perfect grace of his cross, and the spotless glory 
of his everlasting kingdom. But if it lowered the Sav- 

* Mir ist das Wort fast in grosser Geschwindigkeit eingefallen. 

Corp. Ref. 1. 545. t Keinea ofif'enbaren Sunder zu dulden 

Ibid. 540. t By the council of Lateran, in 1215. § Sacerdoa 
constituitur medius inter Deum et populum. Th. Aquin. Summa, 



fiOMISH EREORS ABOLISHED. 



67 



iour, it exalted the priest, whom it invested with the 
unparalleled power of reproducing in his hand, and at 
his will, the sovereign Creator. From that time the 
church seemed to exist, not to preach the gospel, but 
simply to reproduce Christ bodily."^ The Roman pon- 
tiff, whose humblest servants created at pleasure the 
body of God himself, sat as God in the temple of God, 
and claimed a spiritual treasure, from which he drew at 
will indulgences for the pardon of souls. 

Such were the gross errors which, for three centuries, 
had been imposed on the church in conjunction with the 
mass. When the Reformation abolished this institution 
of man, it abolished these abuses also. The step taken 
by the archdeacon of Wittemberg was therefore one of 
a very exteaded range. The splendid festivals that used 
to amuse the people, the worship of the Virgin, the pride 
of the priesthood, the authority of the pope, all tottered 
with the mass. The glory was withdrawn from the 
priests, to return to Jesus Christ, and the Reformation 
took an immense stride in advance. 

* Perfectio hujus sacramenti non est in usu fidelium, sed in con- 
seoratione materiae. Th. Aquin. Summa, 3. 22, Quest. 80. 



68 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 

\ 

CHAPTER VII. 

False reform — The new prophets — The prophets at Wittemberg - 
Melancthon — The elector — Luther — Carlstadt and the images— 
Disturbances — Luther is called for — He does not hesitate — Dan- 
gers. 

Prejudiced men might have seen nothing in the work 
that was going on but the effects of an empty enthusi- 
asm. The very facts were to prove the contrary, and 
demonstrate that there is a wide gulf between a Ret 
ormation based on the word of God and a fanatical ex- 
citement. 

Whenever a great religious ferment takes place in 
the church, some impure elements always appear with 
the manifestations of truth. We see the rise of one or 
more false reforms proceeding from man, and which 
serve as a testimony or countersign to the real reform. 
Thus many false messiahs in the time of Christ testified 
that the real Messiah had appeared. The Reformation 
of the sixteenth century could not be accomplished with- 
out presenting a similar phenomenon. In the small town 
of Zwickau it was first manifested. 

In that place there lived a few men who, agitated by 
the great events that were then stirring all Christendom, 
aspired at direct revelations from the Deity, instead of 
meekly desiring sanctification of heart, and who assert- 
ed that they were called to complete the Reformation 
80 feebly sketched out by Luther. " What is the use,'' 
said they, " of clinging so closely to the Bible ? The 
Bible ; always the Bible. Can the Bible preach to us ? 
Is it sufiicient for our instruction ? If God had designed 
to instruct us by a book, would he not have sent us a 
Bible from heaven ? It is by the Spirit alone that we 
can be enlightened. God himself speaks to us. God 
himself reveals to us what we should do, and what we 
should preach." Thus did these fanatics, like the adher- 
ent of Rome, attack the fundamental principle on which 



THE KEW PROPHETS. 



the entire Reformation is founded, the all-safficiency of 
the word of God. 

A simple clothier, Nicholas Storch by name, announc- 
ed that the angel Gabriel had appeared to him during 
the night,* and that after communicating matters which 
he could not yet reveal, said to him, " Thou shalt sit on 
my throne." A former student of Wittemberg, one Mark 
Stubner, joined Storch, and immediately forsook his stud- 
ies ; for he had received direct from God, said he, the 
gift of interpreting the holy Scriptures. Another weaver, 
Mark Thomas, added to their number ; and a new adept, 
Thomas Munzer, a man of fanatical character, gave a 
regular organization to this rising sect. Storch, desirous 
of following Christ's example, selected from among his 
followers twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples. All 
loudly declared, as a sect in our days has done, that apos- 
tles and prophets were at length restored to the church 
of God.t 

The new prophets, pretending to walk in the foot- 
steps of those of old, began to proclaim their mission : 
"Woe, woe," said they ; "a church governed by men so 
corrupt as the bishops cannot be the church of Christ. 
The impious rulers of Christendom will be overthrown. 
In five, six, or seven years, a universal desolation will 
come upon the world. The Turk will seize upon Ger- 
many ; all the priests will be put to death, even those 
who are married. No ungodly man, no sinner will re- 
main alive ; and after the earth has been purified by 
blood, God will then set up a kingdom ; Storch will be 
put in possession of the supreme authority, and commit 
the government of the nations to the saints. | Then there 
will be one only faith, one only baptism. The day of the 
Lord is at hand, and the end of the world draweth nigh. 
Woe, woe, woe I" Then declaring that infant baptism 
was valueless, the new prophets called upon all men to 

* Advolasse Gabrielem Angelum. Camerarii Vita Mel. p. 48. 

t Breviter, de sese praedioant viros esse propheticos et apostoli- 
eos. Corp. Ref. 1. 514. The author alludes to the followers of Ir- 
ving. Tr. i Ut rerum potiatur et instauret sacra et respublioaa 
tradet Sanctis viris tenendas. Camerarii Vita Mel. p. 45 



70 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



come and receive from thoir hands the true baptism, as a 
sign of their introduction into the new church of God. 

This language made a deep impression on the peo- 
ple. Many pious souls were stirred by the thought that 
prophets were again restored to the church, and all those 
who were fond of the marvellous threw themselves into 
the arms of the extravagants of Zwickau. 

But scarcel3'' had this old delusion, which had alread;^ 
appeared in the days of Montanism and in the middle 
ages, found followers, when it met with a powerful an- 
tagonist in the Reformation. Nicholas Hausmann, of 
whom Luther gave this powerful testimony, " What we 
preach, he practises,"* was pastor of Zwickau. This 
good man did not allow himself to be misled by the pre- 
tensions of the false prophets. He checked the innova- 
tions that Storch and his followers desired to introduce, 
and his two deacons acted in unison with him. The fa- 
natics, rejected by the ministers of the church, fell into 
another extravagance. They formed meetings in which 
revolutionary doctrines were professed. The people 
were agitated, and disturbances broke out. A priest, 
carrying the host, was pelted with stones ;f the civil 
authority interfered, and cast the ringleaders into pris- 
on.J Exasperated by this proceeding, and eager to vin- 
dicate themselves and to obtain redress, Storch, Mark 
Thomas, and Stubner repaired to Wittemberg.§ 

They arrived there on the 2tth of December, 1521. 
Storch led the way with the gait and bearing of a troop- 
er. || Mark Thomas and Stubner followed him. The dis- 
order then prevailing in Wittemberg was favorable to 
their designs. The youths of the academy and the citi- 
zens, already profoundly agitated and in a state of ex- 
citement, were a soil well fitted to receive these new 
prophets. 

* Quod no8 docemus, ille facit. f Einen Priester der das 

Venerabile getragea mit Steinen geworfen. Seek. p. 482. 

X Sunt et illic in vincula conjecti. Mel. Corp. Ref. 1. 613. 

§ Hue advolarunt tres viri, duo lanifices, literarum rudes, lite- 
ratus tertiuB est. Ibid. || Incedens more et habitu militum laio- 
nim quo8 Lanzknecht dioimus. L. Epp. 2. 246. 



THE NEW PROPHETS AT WITTEMBERa. 71 



Tliinkirig themselves sure of support, they immedi 
ately called on the professors of the university, in ordei 
to obtain their sanction. " We are sent by God to in« 
struct the people," said they. " We have held familiar 
conversations with the Lord ; we know what will hap- 
pen ;* in a word, we are apostles and prophets, and 
ftl)p()al to Dr. Luther." This strange language astou* 
ished the professors. 

" Who has commissioned you to preach ?" asked 
lancthon of his old pupil Stubner, whom he received into 
his house. " The Lord our God." " Have you written 
any books ?" " The Lord our God has forbidden me to 
do so." Melancthon was agitated ; he grew alarmed 
and astonished. 

"There are indeed extraordinary spirits in these 
men," said he ; " but what spirits ? . . . . Luther alone 
can decide. On the one hand, let us beware of quench- 
ing the Spirit of God, and on the other, of being led 
astray by the spirit of Satan." 

Storch, being of a restless disposition, soon quitted 
Wittemberg. Stubner remained. Animated by an eager 
spirit of proselytibm, he went through the city, speaking 
now to one, then to another ; and many acknowledged 
him as a prophet from God. He addressed himself more 
particularly to a Swabian named Cellarius, a friend of 
Melanclshon's, who kept a school in which he used to in- 
struct a great number of young people, and who soon 
fully acknowledged the mission of the new prophets. 

Melancthon now became still more perplexed and 
uneasy. It was not so much the visions of the Zwickau 
prophets that disturbed him, as their new doctrine on 
baptism. It seemed to him conformable with reasop^, 
and he thought that it was deserving examination ; "for,'-^^ 
said he, " we must neither admit nor reject any thing 
Iightly."t 

Such is the spirit of the Reformation. Melancthon's 

* Esse sibi cum Deo familiaria coUoquia, videre fiitura. . . . Mel. 
Electori, Dec. 27, 1521. Corp. Ref. 1. 514. f Ceneebat enim 

aeque admittendum neque r^jiciendom quicquam temer^. C&mer. 
ViteMeLp 4d. 



V 



72 



HISTORY OV THB lEFCEMATIOK 



hesitation and anxiety are a proof of the uprightness of 
his heart, more honorable to him, perhaps, than any sys- 
tematic opposition would have been. 

The elector himself, whom Melancthon styled " the 
lamp of Israel,"* hesitated. Prophets and apostles in 
the electorate of Saxony as in Jerusalem of old ! " This 
is a great matter," said he ; *'and as a layman, I cannot 
aiiderstand it. But rather than fight against God, I would 
take a staff in my hand, and descend from my throne." 

At length he informed the professors, by his council- 
lors, that they had sufficient trouble in hand at Wittem- 
berg ; that in all probability these pretensions of the 
Zwickau prophets were only a temptation of the devil ; 
and that the wisest course, in his opinion, would be to 
let the matter drop of itself; nevertheless that, under 
all circumstances, whenever his highness should clearly 
perceive God^s will, he would take counsel of neither 
brother nor mother, and that he was ready to suffer 
every thing in the cause of truth.f 

Luther in the Wartburg was apprized of the agitation 
prevailing in the court and at Wittemberg. Strange 
men had appeared, and the source whence their mission 
proceeded was unknown. He saw immediately that God 
had permitted these afilicting events to humble his ser- 
vants, and to excite them by trials to strive more ear- 
nestly after sanctification. 

''Your electoral grace," wrote he to Frederick, "has 
for many years been collecting relics from every country. 
God has satisfied your desire, and has sent you, without 
cost or trouble, a whole cross, with nails, spears, and 

scourges Health and prosperity to the new relic. 

.... Only let your highness fearlessly stretch out your 

arm, and suffer the nails to enter your flesh I always 

expected that Satan would send us this plague." 

But at the same time nothing appeared to him more 
argent than to secure for others the liberty that he 
claimed for himself. He had not two weights and two 
caeasures. "Beware of throwing them into prison," 

• Electori lucernse Israel. Camer. Vita Mel. p. 613. 

t DikTuber auch leiden waE S. 0. G. leiden soUt. Ibid. 53X. 



CiltLStAB!!: AND THE iMAa-ES. 7S 

wrote he to Spalatin. " Let not the prince dip his nand 
in the blood of these new prophets/^* Luther went far 
beyond his age, and even beyond many other reformers, 
on the subject of religious liberty. 

Circumstances were becoming every day more seri- 
aus in Wittemberg.f 

Carlstadt rejected many of the doctrines of the new 
prophets, and particularly their sentiments on b«.ptism ; 
Dut there is a contagion in religious enthusiasm that a 
head like his could not easily resist. From the arrival 
of the men of Zwickau in Wittemberg, Carlstadt accel- 
erated his movements in the direction of violent reforms. 

We must fall upon every ungodly practice, and over- 
throw them all in a day," said he. J He brought together 
all the passages of Scripture against images, and in- 
veighed with increasing energy against the idolatry of 
Rome. They faK down, they crawl before these idols," 
exclaimed he ; "they burn tapers before them, and make 
them offerings. . . . Let ue arise and tear them from the 
altars." 

These words were not i ttered in vain before the peo- 
ple. They entered the churches, carried away the im- 
ages, broke them in pieces, and burned them.§ It would 
have been better to wait until their abolition had been 
legally proclaimed ; but some thought that the caution 
of the chiefs would compromise the Reformation itself 

To judge by the language of these enthusiasts, there 
were no true Christians in Wittemberg, save those who 
went not to confession, who attacked the priests, and 
who ate meat on fast-days. If any one was suspected 
of not rejecting all the rites of the church as an inven- 
tion of the devil, he was set down as a worshipper of 
Baal. " We ndust form a church," cried they, "composed 
saints only." 

The citizens of Wittemberg laid before the council 
Dertain articles, which it was forced to accept. Many 

* Ne princeps manus cruentet in prophetis. L. Epp. 2. 135. 
t Ubi fiebant omnia in dies difficiliora. Gamer. Vila Mel. p. 49, 
t Irruendum et demoliendum statim. Ibid. § Die Bildei 

BU Btiirmen und aus den Kirchen t^m wert'en. Math. p. 31. 

Hin.ofR«f. IIL 



74 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



of the articles were conformable to evangelical inorala 
They required more particularly that all houses of pub- 
lic amusement shouM be closed. 

But Carlstadt soon went still farther : he began to 
despise learning ; and the old professor was heard from 
Lis chair advising his pupils to return home, to take up 
the spade, to guide the plough, and quietly cultivate the 
earth, because man was to eat bread in the sweat of his ^ 
brow. George Mohr, the master of the boys' school at 
Wittemberg, led away by the same fanaticism, called to 
the assembled citizens from the window of his school- 
room to come and take away their children. Why should 
they study, since Storch and Stubner had never been at 
the university, and yet they were prophets ? . . . A me- 
chanic, therefore, was as good as all the doctors in the 
w^orld, and perhaps better, to preach the gospel. 

Thus arose doctrines in direct opposition to the Ref- 
ormation, which had been prepared by the revival of 
(etters. It was with the weapon of theological learning 
that Luther had attacked Rome ; and the enthusiasts of 
Wittemberg, like the fanatical monks with whom Eras- 
mus and Reuchlin had contended, presumed to trample 
all human learning under foot. If this vandalism suc- 
ceeded in holding its ground, the hopes of the world were 
lost ; and another irruption of barbarians would extin- 
guish the light that God had kindled in Christendom. 

The results of these strange discourses soon showed 
themselves. Men's minds were prejudiced, agitated, di- 
verted from the gospel ; the university became disorgar 
ized ; the demoralized students broke the bonds of dis- 
cipline, and dispersed ; and the governments of Germany 
recalled their subjects.* Thus the men who desired to 
reform and vivify every thing, were on the point of ruin- 
ing all.f One struggle more, exclaimed the friends of 
Rome, who on all sides were regaining their confidence, 
one last struggle, and all will be ours. 

Promptly to check the excesses of these fanatics wag 
the only means of saving the Reformation. But whc 

♦ Etliche Fiirsteii ihre Bewandten abgefordert. Corp. Ref. 1 
660. t Perdita et fundi tus diruta. Camer. Vita MeL p. 62 « 



LUTHER CALLED FOR. 



75 



oould do it? Melanctbon? He was too young, too 
weak, too much agitated himself by these strange appa- 
ritions. The elector ? He was the most pacific man of 
his age. To build castles at Altenburg, Weimar, Lo- 
chau, and Coburg ; to adorn churches with the beautiful 
pictures of Lucas Cranach ; to improve the singing in 
the chapels ; to advance the prosperity of his universi' 
ty ; to promote the happiness of his subjects ; to stop in 
the midst of the children whom he met playing in the 
Btreets, and give them little presents — such were the 
gentle occupations of his life. And now in his advanced 
age, would he contend with fanatics ; would he oppose 
violence to violence ? How could the good and pious 
Frederick make up his mind to this ? 

The disease continued to spread, and no one stood 
forward to check it. Luther was far from Wittemberg. 
Confusion and ruin had taken hold of the city. The Ref- 
ormation had seen an enemy spring from its own bosom 
more formidable than popes and emperors. It was on 
the very verge of the abyss. 

Luther, Luther, was the general and unanimous cvy 
at Wittemberg. The citizens called for him earnestly ; 
the professors desired his advice ; the prophets them- 
selves appealed to him. All entreated him to return.* 

We may imagine what was passing in the reformer's 
mind. All the terrors of Rome were nothing in compar- 
ison with what now wrung his heart. It is from the 
very midst of the Reformation that its enemies have 
gone forth. It is preying upon its own vitals ; and that 
doctrine which alone gave peace to his troubled heart 
becomes the occasion of fatal disorders in the church. 

"If I knew," he had once said, "that my doctrine 
iiijured one man, one single man, however lowly and 
obscure — which it cannot, for it is the gospel itself — I 
would rather die ten times than not retract it /'f And 
DOW a whole city, and that city Wittemberg, is falling 
into disorder. True, his doctrine has no share in this ; 

* Lutherum revocavimus ex eremo suo mag Jis de causis. Corp. 
Bef. 1. 666. t Mochte ich ehe zehn Tode lejden. WiederEot 
•er. L 0pp. 18.613. 



76 HISTOUT OF THE REFOEMATIOIT 



but from every quarter of Gerniany voices are heard 
acc using him of it. Pains more keen than he had ever 
felt before assail him now, and new temptations agitate 
him. " Can such then be the end of this great work of 
the Reformation ?" said he to himself. Impossible. He 
rejects these doubts. God has begun, .... God will 
perfect the work. " I creep in deep humility to the 
grace of the Lord,"* exclaimed he, " and beseech him 
that his name may remain attached to this work ; and 
that if any thing impure be mixed up with it, he will 
remember that I am a sinful man." 

The news communicated to Luther of the inspiration 
of these new prophets, and of their sublime interviews 
with God, did not stagger him one moment. He knew 
the depth, the anguish, the humiliation of the spiritual 
life : at Erfurth and Wittemberg he had made trial of 
the power of God, which did not so easily permit him to 
believe that God appeared to his creatures and con- 
versed with them. **Ask these prophets," wrote he to 
Melancthon, " whether they have felt those spiritual tor- 
ments, those creations of God, that death and hell which 
accompany a real regeneration.f . . . And if they speak 
to you only of agreeable things, of tranquil impressions, 
of devotion and piety, as they say, do not believe them, 
although they should pretend to have been transported 
to the third heaven. Before Christ could attain his glo- 
ry, he was compelled to suffer death ; and in like man- 
ner the believer must go through the bitterness of sin 
before he can obtain peace. Do you desire to know the 
time, place, and manner in which God talks with men ? 
Listen : * As a lion, so hath he broken all my bones ; I 
am cast out from before his face, and my soul is abased 
even to the gates of holl.' . . . No ; the divine Majesty, 
as they pretend, does not speak directly, so that men 
may see ; for *no man can see my face, and live.'" 

But his firm conviction of the delusion under which 
these prophets were laboring, served but to augment 

* Ich krieche zii seiner Gnaden. L. 0pp. 18. C15. t Quaeraa 
Qom experti sint splrituales illas angustias et nativitates diFina% 
nortes mferaosque. L. Epp. 2. 215 



LUTHER'S DANaER. 



TJ 



Luther's grief. Has the great truth of salvation by 
grace so quickly lost its charms, that men turn aside 
from it to follow fables ? He begins to feel that the 
work is not so easy as he had thought at first. He 
stumbles at the first stone that the deceitfulness of the 
human heart had placed in his path ; he is bowed down 
by giief and anxiety. He resolves, at the hazard of his 
life, to remove it out of the way of his people, and de- 
cides on returning to Wittemberg. 

At that time he was threatened by imminent dan- 
gers. The enemies of the Reformation fancied them- 
selves on the very eve of destroying it. George of 
Saxony, equally indisposed towards Rome and Wittem- 
berg, had written, as early as the 16th of October, 1521, 
to Duke John, the elector's brother, to draw him over to 
the side of the enemies of the Reformation. "Some,^ 
said he, " deny that the soul is immortal. Others — and 
these are monks — attach bells to swine, and set them to 
drag the relics of St. Anthony through the streets, and 
then throw them into the mire.* All this is the fruit of 
Luther's teaching. Entreat your brother the elector 
either to punish the ungodly authors of these innova- 
tions, or at least publicly to declare his opinion of them. 
Our changing beard and hair remind us that we have 
reached the latter portion of our course, and urge us to 
put an end to such great evils." 

After this, George departed to take his seat in the 
imperial government at Nuremberg. He had scarcely 
arrived when he made every exertion to urge it to adopt 
measures of severity. In effect, on the 21st of January, 
this body passed an edict, in which it complained bit- 
terly that the priests said mass without being robed in 
their sacerdotal garments, consecrated the sacrament in 
German, administered it without having received the 
requisite confession from the communicants, placed it 
in the hands of laymen,f and were not even careful to 
ascertain that those who stood forward to receive i# 
were fasting. 

* Mit Schweinen und Schellen .... in Koth geworfeu. Weimar. 
Aim. Seek. 482. f In ihre iaische Hande reiche. L. 0pp. 18. 285 



78 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



Accordingly the imperial governraeut desired tha 
oishops to seek out and punish severely all the innova- 
tors within their respective dioceses. The latter has- 
tened to comply with these orders. 

Such was the moment selected by Luther for his 
reappearance on the stage. He saw the danger ; he 
foreboded incalculable disasters. " Erelong," said he, 
"there will be a disturbance in the empire, carrying 
princes, magistrates, and bishops before it. The people 
have eyes : they will not, they cannot be led by force. 
All Germany will run blood.* Let ns stand up as a 
wall to preserve our nation in this dreadful day of God's 
anger." 

* Germaoiain in sanguine natare. L. Epp. 2. 157. 



LUTHER LEAVES THE WAUTBURvJ- 



79 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Departure from the Wartlurg— New position — Luther and primi- 
tive Catholicism — Meeting at the Black Bear— Luther's letter to 
the elector— Return to Wittemberg — Sermon at Wittemberg— 
Charity —The word— How the Reformation was brought about — 
Faith in Christ — Its effects — Didymus — Carlstadt — The prophets 
—Interview with Luther— End of the struggle. 

Such were Luther's thoughts ; but he beheld a still 
more imminent danger. At Wittemberg, the conflagra- 
tion, far from dying away, became fiercer every day= 
From the heights of the Wartburg, Luther could per- 
ceive in the horizon the frightful gleams, the signal of 
devastation, shooting at intervals through the air. Is 
not he the only one who can give aid in this extremity? 
Shall he not throw himself into the midst of the flames 
to quench their fury ? In vain his enemies prepare to 
strike the decisive blow ; in vain the elector entreats 
nim not to leave the Wartburg, and to prepare his justi- 
fication against the next diet. He has a more important 
task to perform — to justify the gospel itself. **More 
serious intelligence reaches me every day," wrote he. 

I shall set out : circumstances positively require me 
to do so."* 

Accordingly he rose, on the 3d of March, with the de- 
termination of leaving the Wartburg for ever. He bade 
adieu to its time-worn towers and gloomy forests. He 
passed beyond those walls where the excommunications 
of Leo X. and the sword of Charles V. were unable to 
reach him. He descended the mountain. The world 
that lay at his feet, and in the midst of which he is 
about to appear again, would soon perhaps call loudly 
for his death. But it matters not : he goes forwaid 
rejoicing ; for in the name of the Lord he is returning 
among his fellow-men.f 

* Ita enim res postulat ipsa. L, Epp 2. 135 f So machtc 
er sich mit unglaublicher Freudigkeit des Geistes, im Nabmen Goi 
les auf den Weg. Seok. p. 458. 



80 HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATION. 



Time had moved on. Luther was quitting the "Wart- 
burg for a cause very different from that for which he 
had entered it. He had gone thither as the assailant of 
the old tradition and of the ancient doctors ; he left it 
as the defender of the doctrine of the apostles against 
n^w adversaries. He had entered it as an innovator, 
and as an irapugner of the ancient hierarchy ; he left it 
as a conservative and champion of the faith of Chris- 
tians. Hitherto Luther had seen but one thing in his 
work — the triumph of justification by faith ; and with 
this weapon he had thrown down mighty superstitions. 
But if there was a time for destroyin^g, there was also a 
time for building up. Beneath those mins with which his 
strong drm had strewn the plain ; beneath those crum- 
pled letters of indulgence, those broken tiaras and tat- 
tered cowls ; beneath so many Roman abuses and errors 
that lay in confusion upon the field of battle, he discerned 
and discovered the primitive catholic church, reappear- 
ing still the same, and coming forth as from a k»ng period 
of trial, with its unchangeable doctrines and heavenly 
accents. He could distinguish it from Rome, welcoming 
and embracing it with joy. Luther effected nothing new 
in the world, as he has been falsely charged ; he did not 
raise a building for the future that had no connection 
with the past : he uncovered, he opened to the light of 
day the ancient foundations, on which thorns and this- 
tles had sprung up, and continuing the construction of 
the temple, he built simply on the foundations laid by 
the apostles. Luther perceived that the ancient and 
primitive church of the apostles must, on the one hand, 
be restored in opposition to the Papacy, by which it had 
been so long oppressed ; and on the other, be defended 
against enthusiasts and unbelievers, who pretended to 
disown it, and who, regardless of all that God had done 
in times past, were desirous of beginning an entirely 
new work. Luther was no longer exclusively the man 
of one doctrine, that of justificatioi*. although he always 
assigned it the highest place ; he became the man of 
the whole Christian theology ; and while he still believ- 
ed that the church was essentially the congregation of 



MEETINa AT THE BLACK liEAE. 81 



saints, be was careful not to despise the visible cfcnrch, 
and acknowledged the assembly of the elect as the king- 
dom of God. Thus was a great change effected, at this 
tirjc, in Luther^s heart, in his theology, and in the work 
of renovation that God was carrying on in the world. 
The Roman hierarchy might perhaps have driven the 
reformer to extremes ; the sects which then so boldly 
raised their heads brought him back to the true path of 
moderation. The sojourn in the Wartburg divides the 
history of the Reformation into two periods. 

Luther was riding slowly on the road to Wittem- 
berg : it was already the second day of his journey, and 
Shrove-Tuesday. Towards evening a terrible storm 
burst forth, and the roads \^ere flooded. Two Swiss 
youths, who were travelling in the same direction as 
himself, were hastening onwards to find a shelter in the 
city of Jena. They had studied at Basle, and the celeb 
rity of Wittemberg attracted them to that university. 
Travelling on foot, fatigued, and wet through, John Kess- 
ler of St. Gall and his companion quickened their steps. 
The city was all in commotion with the amusements of 
the carnival ; balls, masquerades, and noisy feasting 
engrossed the people of Jena ; and when the two travel- 
lers arrived, they could find no room at any of the inns. 
At last they were directed to the Black Bear^ outside the 
city gates. Dejected and harassed, they repaired thither 
slowly. The landlord received them kindly.* They took 
their seats near the open door of the public room, asham- 
ed of the state in which the storm had placed them, and 
not daring to go in. At one of the tables sat a solitary 
man in a knight's dress, wearing a red cap on his head, 
and breeches over which fell the skirts of his doublet ; 
his right hand rested on the pommel of his sword, his 
left grasped the hilt ; and before him lay an open book, 
which he appeared to be reading with great attention.f 

* See the narrative of Kessler, with all its details, and in the 
simple language of the times, in Bernet, Johann Kessler, p. 27 
Hahnhard Erzahlungen, 3. 300, and Marheinecke Gesch. der Ref. 2. 
821, 2d edition. f In einem rothen Schlopli, in blossen Hosen 
au4 Wamms. .... Ibid. 

6 



62 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



At the noise made by the entrance of these two young 
men, he raised his head, saluted them affably, and invit- 
ed them to come and sit at his table ; then presenting 
them with a glass of beer, and alluding to their accent, 
he said, "You are Swiss, I perceive ; but from what can- 
ton " From St. Gall." " If you are going to W it tern- 
berg, you will there meet with a fellow-countryman, Dr. 
Schurff." Encouraged by this kind reception, they add- 
ed, "Sir, could you inform us where Martin Luther is at 
present?" "I know for certain," replied the knight, 
" that he is not at Wittemberg ; but he will be there 
shortly. Philip Melancthon is there. Study Greek and 
Hebrew, that you may clearly understand the holy Scrip- 
tures." " If God spare our lives," observed one of the 
young men, " we will not return home without having 
seen and heard Dr. Luther ; for it is on his account that 
we have undertaken this long journey. We know that 
he desires to abolish the priesthood and the mass ; and 
as our parents destined us to the priesthood from our 
infancy, wc should like to know clearly on what grounds 
he rests his proposition." The knight was silent for a 
moment, and then resumed : " Where have you been 
studying hitherto ?" " At Basle." " Is Erasmus of Rot- 
terdam still there ? what is he doing ?" They replied to 
his questions, and there was another pause. The two 
Swiss knew not what to think. "Is it not strange," 
thought they, " that this knight talks to us of Schurff, 
Melancthon, and Erasmus, and on the necessity of learn- 
ing Greek and Hebrew." "My dear friends," said the 
unknown suddenly, " what do they think of Luther in 
Switzerland?" "Sir," replied Kessler, "opinions are 
very divided about him there as everywhere else. . Some 
cannot extol him enough, and others condemn him as an 
abominable heretic." "Ha, the priests, no doubt," said 
the stranger. 

The knight's cordiality had put the students at their 
ease. They longed to know what book he was reading 
at the moment of their arrival. The knight had closed 
it, and placed it by his side. At last Kessler^s compan- 
ipu ventured to take it up. To the great a^tomshmei^t 



GUESTS AT THE BLACK BEAR. 83 



of the two young men, it was the Hebrew Psalter. The 
student laid it down immediately, and as if to divert 
attention from the liberty he had taken, said, " I would 
willingly give one of my fingers to know that language/ 
" Yc u will attain your wish," said the stranger, " if yor 
will only take the trouble to learn it." 

A few minutes after, Kessler heard the landlord call- 
ing him : the poor Swiss youth feared something had 
gone wrong ; but the host whispered to him, "I perceive 
fiiat you have a great desire to see and hear Luther ; 
well, it is he who is seated beside you." Kessler took 
this for a joke, and said, "Mr. Landlord, you want to 
make a fool of me." " It is he, in very truth," replied 
the host ; " but do not let him see that you know him." 
Kessler made no answer, but returned to the room and 
took his seat at the table, burning to repeat to his com- 
rade what he had just heard. But how could he manage 
it ? At last he thought of leaning forward, as if he were 
looking towards the door, and then whispered into his 
friend's ear, " The landlord assures me that this man is 
Luther." "Perhaps he said Hiitten," replied his com- 
rade ; " you did not hear him distinctly." " It may be 
80," returned Kessler ; " the host said. It is Hiitten ; the 
two names are pretty much alike, and I mistook one for 
the other." 

At that moment the noise of horses was heard before 
the inn : two merchants, who desired a lodging, entered 
the room ; they took off their spurs, laid down their 
cloaks, and one of them placed beside him on the table 
an unbound book, which soon attracted the knight's 
notice. "What book is that?" asked he. " A commen- 
tary 01 some of the gospels and epistles by Dr. Luther,'' 
replied the merchant ; " it is just published." " I shall 
procure it shortly," said the knight. 

At this moment the host came to announce that sup- 
per was ready. The two students, fearing the expense 
of such a meal in company with the knight Ulrich of 
Hiitten and two wealthy merchants, took the landlord 
aside, and begged him to serve them with something 
apart " Gome along, my friends," repliod tho landlord 



84 



HISTORy OF THE JIEFORMATIOK. 



of the Black Bear ; ** take your place at table beside this 
gentleman ; 1 will charge you moderately." " Come 
along," said the knight, " I will settle the score." 

During this meal the stranger knight uttered many 
simple and edifying remarks. The students and the 
merchants were all ears, and paid more attention to his 
words than to the dishes set before them. "Luther must 
either be an angel from heaven or a devil from hell," 
Baid one of the merchants in course of conversation; "I 
would readily give ten florins if I could meet Luther, 
and confess to him." 

When supper was over, the merchants left the table ; 
the two Swiss remained alone with the knight, who, tak- 
ing a large glass of beer, rose and said solemnly, after 
the mannei of the country, " Swiss, one glass more for 
thanks." As Kessler was about to take the glass, the 
unknown set it down again, and offered him one filled 
with wine, saying, " You are not accustomed to beer." 

He then rose, flung a military cloak over his shoul- 
ders, and extending his hand to the students, said to * 
them, " When you reach Wittemberg, salute Dr. Schurfl' 
on my part." " Most willingly," replied they ; *'but what 
name shall we give?" "Tell him simply," added Luther, 
"He that is to come, salutes you." With these words he 
quitted the room, leaving them full of admiration at his 
kindness and good-nature. 

Luther, for it was really he, continued his journey. 
It will be remembered that he had been laid under the 
ban of the empire ; whoever met and recognized him, 
might seize him. But at the time when he was engaged 
in an undertaking that exposed him to every risk, he 
was calm and serene, aL.d conversed cheerfully with 
those whom he met on the road. 

It was not that he deceived himself : he saw the fu- 
ture lig with storms. "Satan," said he, "is enraged, 
and all around are plotting death and hell.* Neverthe- 
less, I go forward, and throw myself in the way of the 
emperor and of the pope, having no protector save God 
• Furit Satanas ; et fremunt vicini undique, nescio q^uot mortir 
bus et infercis. L. £pp. 2. 163. 



LUTHEU TO THE ELECTOR. 85 

in heaven. Power has been given to all men to kill me 
wherever they find me. But Christ is the Lord of all ; 
if it be his will that I be put to death, so be it " 

On that same day, Ash-Wednesday, Luthei reached 
Borna, a small town near Leipsic. He felt it his duty 
to inform the prince of the bold step he was about to 
take ; and accordingly alighted at the Guide Hutel and 
wrote the following letter : 

" Grace and peace from God our Father, and from 
lur Lord Jesus Christ. 

"Most serene Elector, gracious Lord — The events 
that have taken place at Wittemberg, to the great re- 
proach of the gospel, have caused me such pain, that if 
I were not confident of the truth of our cause, I should 
have given way to despair. 

"Your highness knows this, or if not, be it known to 
you now, that I received the gospel not from men, but 
from heaven, through our Lord Jesus Christ. If I called 
for discussion, it was not because I had any doubts of 
the truth, but in humility, and in the hope to win over 
others. But since my humility is turned against the 
gospel, my conscience compels me now to act other* 
wise. I have sufficiently given way to your highness 
by passing this year in retirement. The devil knows 
well that I did so not through fear. I should have en- 
tered Worms had there been as many devils in the city 
as tiles on the house-tops. Now Duke George, with 
whom your highness frightens me, is yet much less to 
be feared than a single devil. If that which is passing 
at Wittemberg were taking place at Leipsic," the duke's 
residence, "I would immediately mount my horse to go 
thither, although — may your highness pardon these 
words — for nine whole days together it were to rain 
nothing but Duke Georges, and each one nine timfjs 
more furious than he is. What does he think of in at- 
tacking me ? Does he take Christ my Lord for a man 
of straw?* 0 Lord, be pleased to avert the terrible judg- 
ment which is impending over him. 

* Er halt meineQ Herrn Christum fiir ein Mann aus Strob go* 
fiochten. L. Epp. 2. 139. 



86 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



" Be it known to your highness that I am going to 
Wittemberg under a protection far higher than that of 
princes and electors. I think not of soliciting your high- 
ness' support, and far from desiring your protection, I 
would rather protect you myself. If I knew that your 
highness could or would protect me, I would not go to 
Wittemberg at all. There is no sword that can further 
this cause. God alone must do every thing, without the 
help or concurrence of man. He who has the greatest 
faith is he who is most able to protect. But I observe 
that your highness is still weak in faith. 

" But since your highness desires to know what you 
have to do, I will answer, with all deference. Your high- 
ness has already done too much, and ought to do noth- 
ing at all. God will not and cannot endure either your 
cares and labors or mine. Let your highness' conduct 
be guided by this. 

" As for what concerns me, your highness must act 
as an elector ; you must let the orders of his imperial 
majesty take their course in your towns and rural dis- 
tricts. You must offer no resistance, if men desire to 
seize or kill me ;* for no one should resist dominions 
except He who has established them. 

"Let your highness leave the gates open, and respect 
safe-conducts, if my enemies in person or their envoys 
come in search of me into your highness' states. Every 
thing shall be done without trouble or danger to your 
self 

" I have written this letter in haste, that you may 
not be made uneasy at hearing of my arrival. I have 
to do with a very different man from Duke George. He 
knows me well, and I know him pretty well. 

" Given at Borna, at the inn of the Guide, this Ash- 
Wednesday, 1622. 

" Your electoral highness' 

" Very humble servant, 

MARTIN LUTHER.'' 

* Und ja nicbt webreo ... sir mich fahen oder todtcu will 
L. Epp. 2. 140. 



LUTH>:U AT WniEMBERa. 



87 



It was thus Luther drew nigh to Wittemberg. He 
wrote to his prince, but not to excuse himself. An im- 
perturbable confidence filled his heart. He saw the hand 
of God in this cause, and that was sufficient for him. 
The heroism of faith can never be carried farther. One 
of the editions of Luther^s works has the following re- 
mark in the margin of this letter : ^'This is a wonderful 
writiiig of the third and last Elias."* 

Luther reentered Wittemberg on Friday, March 7, 
having been five days on the way from Eisenach. Doc- 
tors, students, and citizens, all broke forth in rejoicings ; 
for they had recovered the pilot who alone could extricate 
the vessel from the reefs among which it was entangled. 

The elector, who was at Lockau with his court, felt 
great emotion as he read the reformer's letter He was 
desirous of vindicating him before the vMet. •* Let him 
address me a letter," wrote the prince to Schurff*, ex- 
plaining the motives of his return to Wittemberg, and 
let him say also, that he returned without my permis- 
sion." Luther consented. 

"1 am ready to incur the displeasure of your high- 
ness and the anger of the whole world," wrote he to the 
prince * Are not the Wittembeigers my sheep? Uslh 
God not intrusted them to me ? And ought 1 not, if nec 
essary, to expose myself to death for their sakes ? Be 
sides, 1 fear to see a terrible outbreak in Germany, by 
which God will punish our nation. Let your highness 
be well assured, and doubt not that the decrees of heaven 
ai'e very different from those of Nuremberg."f This let- 
ter was written on the very day of Luther's arrival at 
Wittemberg. 

The following daj', being the eve of the first Sunday / 
in Lent, Luther visited Jerome Schurff. Melancthon, 
Jonas, Amsdorff, and Augustin Schurff, Jerome's broth- 
er, were there assembled. Luther eagerly questioned 
them, and they were informing him of all that had taken 
pla^e, when two foreign students T^ere announced, de- 

* Der wahre, dritte und lezte Elias. . . . L. 0pp. L. 18. 271. 
t L. Epp. 2. 143. Luther was forced to alter this expression e 
the elector's request. 



88 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



siring to speak with Dr. Jerome. On entering this aasem 
bly of doctors, the two young men of St. Gall were at 
first abashed ; but they soon recovered themselves on 
discovering the knight of the Black Bear among them. 
The latter immediately went up to them, greeted them 
as old acquaintances, and smiling said, as he pointed to 
ono of the doctors, "This is Philip Melancthon, whon. I 
mentioned to you." The two Swiss remained all day 
with the doctors of Wittemberg, in remembrance of the 
meeting at Jena. 

One great thought absorbed the reformer's mind, and 
checked the jo}^ he felt at meeting his friends once more 
Unquestionably the character in which he was now to 
appear was obscure ; he was about to raise his voice in 
a small town of Saxony, and yet his undertaking had all 
the importance of an event which was to influence the 
destinies of the world. Many nations and many ages 
were to feel its effects. It was a question whether that 
doctrine which he had derived from the word of God, 
and which was ordained to exert so mighty an influence 
on the future development of the human race, would be 
stronger than the destructive principles that threatened 
its existence. It was a question whether it were pos 
sible to reform without destroying, and clear the way 
to new developments without annihilating the old. To 
silence fanatical men inspired by the energy of a first 
enthusiasm ; to master an unbridled multitude, to calm 
it down, to lead it back to order, peace, and truth ; to 
break the course of the impetuous torrent which threat- 
ened to overthrow the rising edifice of the Reformation, 
and to scatter its ruins far and wide — such wa« the 
tssk for which Luther had returned to Wittemberg, But 
would his influence be sufficient for this ? The event 
alone can show. 

The reformer's heart shuddered at the thought of the 
struggle that awaited him. He raised his head as a lion 
provoked to fight shakes his long mane. " We must 
now trample Satan under foot, and contend against the 
angel of darkness," said he. If our adversaries do not 
•letire of their own accord, Christ will know how to com- 



LUTHER IN THE PULPIT 



89 



pel them. We who trust in the Lord of life and of 
death, are ourselves lords of life and of death."* 

But at the same time the impetuous reformer, as if 
restrained by a superior po\\er, refused to employ the 
anathemas and thunders of the word, and became a hum- 
bh) pastor, a gentle shepherd of souls. It is with the 
word that we must fight,'' said he ; " by the word must 
we overthrow and destroy what has been set up by vio* 
lence. I will not make use of force against the supersti- 
tious and unbelieving. Let him who believeth draw nigh; 
let him who believeth not keep afar off ; no one must be 
constrained. Liberty is the very essence of faith."f 

The next day was Sunday. On that day the doctor, 
whom for nearly a year the lofty ramparts of the Wart- 
burg have concealed from every eye, will reappear before 
the people in the pulpit of the church. It was rumored 
in Wittemberg that Luther was come back, that he was , 
going to preach. This news alone, passing from mouth 
to mouth, had already given a powerful diversion to the 
ideas by w^hich the people were misled. They are going 
to see the hero of Worms. The people crowded togeth- 
er, and were affected by various emotions. On Sunday 
morning the church was filled with an attentive and 
excited crowd. 

Luther divines all the sentiments of his congregation; 
he goes up into the pulpit ; there he stands in the pres- 
ence of the flock that he had once led as a docile sheep, 
but which had broken from him like an untamed bull. 
His language was fyimple, noble, yet full of strength and 
gentleness : one might have supposed him to be a tender 
father returning to his children, inquiring into their con- 
duct, and kindly telling them what report he had heard 
about them. He candidly acknowledged the progress 
they had made in faith ; and by this means prepared and 
captivated their minds. He then continued in these 
"Words • 

But we need something more than faith ; we need 
charity. If a man who bears a sword in his hand be 

* Domini enim sumus vitfe et mortis. L. Epp. 2. 150. f Non 
onim ad fidem et ad ea quae fidei sunt, uUus cogendus est . Ih 16L 



90 HISTORY OF THE REFCRMATION. 



alone, it is of little consequence whether it be sheathed 
cr n'>t ; but if he is in the midst of a crowd, he should 
act 80 as to wound nobody. 

" What does a mother do to her infant? At first she 
gives it milk, then some very light food. If she were to 
begin by giving it meat and wine, what would be the 
consequence ? . . . . 

" So should we act towards our brethren. My friend, 
have you been long enough at the breast ? It is well ; 
but permit your brother to drink as long as yourself. 

"Observe the sun. He dispenses two things, light 
and heat. There is no king so powerful as to bend aside 
his rays ; they come straight to us ; but heat is radiated 
and communicated in every direction. Thus faith, like 
light, should always be straight and inflexible ; but char- 
ity, like heat, should radiate on every side, and bend to 
all the wants of our brethren." 

Luther having thus prepared his hearers, began to 
press them more closely : 

" The abolition of the mass, say you, is in conformity 
with Scripture. Agreed. But what order, what decency 
have you observed ? It behooved you to offer up fervent 
prayers to the Lord, and apply to the public authority ; 
then might every man have acknowledged that the thing 
was of God." 

Thus spoKe Luther. This dauntless man, who at 
Worms had withstood the princes of the earth, produced 
a deep impression on the minds of his hearers by these 
words of wisdom and of peace, Carlstadt and the proph- 
ets of Zwickau, so great and powerful for a few weeks, 
and who had tyrannized over and agitated Wittemberg, 
had shrunk into pigmies beside the captive of the Wart- 
burg. 

" The mass," continued he, is a bad thing ; God is 
opposed to it ; it ought to be abolished ; and 1 would 
that throughout the whole world it were replaced by the 
supper of the gospel. But let no one be torn from it by 
force. We must leave the matter in God^s hands. His 
word must act, and not we. And w\j so ? you will ask. 
Because 1 do not hold men's hearts in my hand, as the 



POWEU OF THE WOUD. 



91 



potter holds the clay. We have a right to speak : we 
have not the right to act. Let us preach ; the rest be- 
longs unto God. Were I to employ force, what should 
I gain ? Grimace, formality, apings, human ordinances, 

and hypocrisy But there would be no sincerity of 

heart, nor faith, nor charity. Where these three are 
wanting, all is wanting, and I would not give a pear 
stalk for such a result.* 

"Our first object must be to win men's hearts ; and 
fcr that purpose we must preach the gospel. To-day 
the word will fall in one heart, to-morrow in another, 
and it will operate in such a manner that each one will 
withdraw from the mass and abandon it. God does 
more by his word alone than you and I and all the world 
by our united strength. God lays hold upon the heart ; 
and when the heart is taken, all is won. 

" I do not say this for the restoration of the mass. 
Since it is down, in God's name there let it lie. But 
should you have gone to work as you did ? Paul, arriv- 
ing one day in the powerful city of Athens, found there 
altars raised to false gods. He went from one to the 
other, and observed them without touching one. But he 
walked peaceably to the middle of the market-place, and 
declared to the people that all their gods were idols. His 
language took possession of their hearts, and the idols 
fell without PauPs having touched them. 

" I will preach, discuss, and write ; but I will con- 
strain none, for faith is a voluntary act. See what I 
have done. I stood up against the pope, indulgences, 
and papists, but without violence or tumult. I put for- 
ward God's word ; I preached and wrote — this was all I 
did. And yet while 1 was asleep, or seated familiarly at 
table with Amsdorff and Melancthon, drinking and gos- 
siping over our Wittemberg beer, the word that I had 
preached overthrew Popery, so that neither prince nor 
emperor has done it so much harm. And yet I did noth* 
ing ; the word alone did all. If I had wished to appeal 
to force, the whole of Germany would perhaps have been 
deluged with blood. But what would h^ve been the 

* Ich wollte nioht einen Bimstiel draof geben. L. 0pp. L. 18. 225k 



92 



HISTOEY OF T:IE REFORMATIOK. 



result ? Ruin and desolation both to body and soul. 1 
therefore kept quiet, and left the word to run through 
the world alone. Do you know what the devil thinks 
when he sees men resort to violence. to propagate tt.e 
gospel through the world? Seated with folded arms 
behind the fire of hell, Satan says, with malignant lookp 
and frightful grin, * Ah, how wise these madmen are to 
play my game.' But when he sees the word running 
and contending alone on the field of battle, then he is 
troubled, and his knees knock together ; he shudders 
and faints with fear." 

Luther went into the pulpit again on Tuesday ; and 
his powerful voice resounded once more through the agi 
tated crowd. He preached again on the five succeeding 
days. He took a review of the destruction of images, 
distinction of meats, the institution of the Lord's supper 
the restoration of the cup, the abolition of confession 
He showed that these points were of far less importance 
than the mass, and that the originators of the disorders 
that had taken place in Wittemberg had grossly abused 
their liberty. He employed by turns the language of 
Christian charity and bursts of holy indignation. 

He inveighed more especially against those who par- 
took thoughtlessly of Christ's supper. "It is not the 
outwarii manducation that maketh a Christian," said he, 
"but the inward and spiritual eating that worketh by 
faith, and without which all forms are mere show and 
grimace. Now this faith consists in a firm belief that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God ; that having taken our 
sins and iniquities upon himself, and having borne them 
on the cross, he is himself their sole and almighty atone- 
ment ; that he stands continually before God, that he 
reconcileth us with the Father, and that he hath given 
us the sacrament of his body to strengthen our faith in 
this unspeakable mercy. If I believe in these things, 
God is my defeuder ; with him, I brave sin, death, hell, 
and devils ; they can do me no harm, nor disturb a sin- 
gle hair of my head. This spiritual bread is the consola- 
tion of the afflicted, health to the sick, life to the dying, 
food to the hungry, riches to the poor. He who does not 



EFFECT OF LUTHER'S ELOQUENCE. 93 



groan under his sins must not approach that altar : what 
can he do there ? Ah, let our conscience accuse us, let 
our hearts be rent in twain at the thought of our sins, 
and then we shall not so presumptuously approach the 
holy sacrament.'' 

The crowd ceased not to fill the temple ; people flock- 
ed from the neighboring towns to hear the new Elijah. 
Among others, Capito spent two days at Wittemberg, 
and heard two of the doctor's sermons. Never had Lu- 
ther and Cardinal Albert's chaplain been so well agreed. 
'Melancthon, the magistrates, the professors, and all the 
inhabitants, were delighted.* Schurff, charmed at the 
result of so gloomy an affair, hastened to communicate 
it to the elector. On Friday, March 15, the day on which 
Luther delivered his sixth sermon, he wrote, " 0 what joy 
has Dr. Martin's return diffused among us. His words, 
through divine mercy, every day are bringing back our 
poor misguided people into the way of truth. It is cleai 
as the sun that the Spirit of God is in him, and that by 
His special providence he returned to Wittemberg."f 

In truth, these sermons are models of popular elo- 
quence, but not of that which in the times of Demosthe- 
nes, or even of Savonarola, fired men's hearts. The task 
of the Wittemberg orator was more difficult. It is easier 
to rouse the fury of a wild beast than to allay it. Luther 
had to soothe a fanaticized multitude, to tame its unbri- 
dled passions ; and in this he succeeded. In his eight 
discourses, the reformer did not allow one offensive word 
to escape him against the originators of these disordars, 
Qot one unpleasant allusion. But the greater his moaer- 
ation, the greater also was his strength ; the more cau- 
tion he used towards these deluded men, the more pow- 
erful was his vindication of offended truth. How could 
the people of Wittemberg resist his powerful eloquence ? 
Men usually ascribe to timidity, fear, and compromise, 
!liose speeches that advocate moderation. Here there 
was nothing of the sort. Luther appeared before the 

* Grosse Freude und Frohlockea unter Gelahrlen und Ungelahr- 
ten. L. 0pp. 18. 266. f Aus souderlicher ScMckun^ de8 4.11 
ioacbtigen. .... Ibi4. 



04 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



inhabitants of Wittemberg, braving the excommunic^' 
lion of the pope and the proscription of the emperor 
He had returned in despite of the prohibition of the elec- 
tor, who had declared his inability to defend him. Even 
at Worms, Luther had not shown so much courage. He 
confronted the most imminent dangers ; and accordingly 
his words were not disregarded : the man who braved 
the scaffold had a right to exhort to submission. That 
man may boldly speak of obedience to God, who, to do 
so, defies all the persecution of man. At Luther's voice 
all objections vanished, the tumult subsided, seditious * 
cries were heard no longer, and the citizens of Wittem* 
berg returned quietly to their dwellings. 

Gabriel Didymus, who had shown himself the most 
enthusiastic of all the Augustine friars, did not lose one 
of the reformer's words. " Do you not think Luther a 
wonderful teacher ?" asked a hearer in great emotion. 
"Ah," replied he, "I seem to listen to the voice, not of 
a man, but of an angel."* Erelong Didymus openly 
acknowledged that he had been deceived. " He is quite 
another man," said Luther.f 

It was not so at first with Carlstadt. Despising 
learning, pretending to frequent the workshops of the 
Wittemberg mechanics to receive understanding of the 
holy Scriptures, he was mortified at seeing his work 
crumble away at Luther's appearance.J In his eyes 
this was checking the reform itself. Hence his air was 
always dejected, gloomy, and dissatisfied. Yet he sacri- 
ficed his self-love for the sake of peace ; he restrained 
his desires of vengeance, and became reconciled, out- 
wardly at least, with his colleague, and shortly after 
resumed his lectures in the university.§ 

The chief prophets were not at Wittemberg when Lu- 
ther returned. Nicholas Storch was wandering through 
thj country ; Mark Stubner had quitted Melancthon's 
hospitable roof. Perhaps their prophetic spirit had dis- 

• Imo. ".aquit, angeli, non hominis vocem mihi audisse videor. 
Camer. p. 12. f In alium virum mutatus est. L. Epp. 2 156. 

t Ego Carlstadium offendi, quod ordinationes suas cessavi Ih 
177. § PhlUppi et Carlstadii lectioues, ut 31111 1 optimae. lb. 284 



THE IMPOSTURE UNMASKED. 95 



appeared, and they had "neither voice nor answer'* — 
1 Kings 18 : 29 — so soon as they learned that the new 
Elijah was directing his steps towards this new Carmel. 
The old school-master Cellarius alone had remained 
Stubner, however, being informed that the sheep of his 
fold were scattered, hastily returned. Those who were . 
still faithful to "the heavenly prophecy," gathered round 
their master, reported Luther's speeches to him, and 
asked him anxiously what they were to think and do * 
Stubner exhorted them to remain firm in their faith. 
" Let him appear," cried Cellarius, " let him grant ua a 
conference, let him only permit us to set forth our doc- 
trine, and then we shall see." .... 

Luther cared little to meet such men as these ; he 
knew them to be of violent, impatient, and haughty dis- 
position, who could not endure even kind admonition, 
and who required that every one should submit at the 
first word, as to a supreme authority.f Such are enthu- 
siasts in every age. And yet, as they desired an inter- 
view, the doctor could not refuse it. Besides, it might 
be of use to the weak ones ( f the flock were he to un- 
mask the imposture of the prophets. The conference 
took place. Stubner opened the proceedings, explaining 
in what manner he desired to regenerate the church and 
transform the world. Luther listened to him with great 
calmness.^ "Nothing that you have advanced," replied 
he at last gravely, " is based upon holy Scripture. It 
is all a mere fable." At these words Cellarius could con- 
tain himself no longer ; he raised his voice, gesticulated 
like a madman, stamped, aad struck the table with his 
fist,§ and exclaimed, in a passion, that it was an insult 
to speak thus to a man of God. Upon this Luther ob- 
served, " St. Paul declares that the proofs of his apostle- 
ship were made known by miracles ; prove yours in 
like manner." "We will do so," answered the proph- 

* Rursum ad ipsum confluere. . . , Gamer, p. 62. f Vebo 

menter superbus et impatiens .... credi vult plena auctoritate, ad 
primam vocem. . . . L. Epp. 2. 179. t Audivit Lutherus pla^ 

oide. Gamer, p. 52. § Gum et solum pedibus et propositam 

mensulam mauibus feriret. IbI4. 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



ets.* "The God whom I worship," said Luther, "will 
know how to bridle your gods." Stubner, who had 
preserved his tranquillity, then fixed his eyes on the 
reformer, and said to him with an air of inspiration, 
^'Martin I.uther, I will declare what is now passing io 
thy soul ... Thou art beginning to believe that my 
dootriae is true." Luther, after a brief pause, exclaimed, 
* God tiiastise thee, Satan." At these words all the 
prophets were as if distracted. "The spirit, the spirit," 
cried they. Luther, adopting that cool tone of contempt 
and cutting and homely language so familiar to him, 
Baid, " I slap your spirit on the snout."f Their clamors 
now increased ; Cellarius, in particular, distinguished 
himself by his violence. He foamed and trembled with 
anger.J They could not hear one another in the room 
where they met in conference. At length the three 
prophets abandoned the field, and left Wittemberg the 
same day. 

Thus had Luther accomplished the work for which 
he had left his retreat. He had made a stand against 
fanaticism, and expelled fr( tm the bosom of the renovated 
church the enthusiasm and disorder by which it had been 
invaded. If with one hand the Reformation threw down 
the dusty decretals of Rome, with the other it rejected 
the assumptions of the mystics, and established on the 
ground it had won the living and unchangeable word of 
God. The character of the Reformation was thus firmly 
settled. It was destined to walk for ever between these 
two extremes, equally remote from the convulsions of 
the fanatics and the death-like torpor of the Papacy. 

A whole population excited, deluded, and unrestrain- 
ed, had at once become tranquil, calm, and submissive ; 
and the most perfect quiet again reigned in that city 
which a few days before had been like the troubled sea. 

Perfect liberty was immediately established at Wit» 
fcembcrg. Luther still continued to reside in the con- 
sent and wear his monastic dress ; but every one was 

* Quid pollicentes de mirabilibus affectionibus. Camer. p. 53. 
t Ihrea Geist haue er iiber die Schnauze. L. 0pp. Altenburg 
A.usg. 3. 37. X Spumabat et fremebat et furebat L. Epp. 2. 17^ 



THE CONTEST ENDED. 



97 



free to do otherwise. In communicating at the Lord's 
table, a general absolution was sufficient, or a particular 
one might be obtained. It was laid down as a principle, 
to reject nothing but what was opposed to a clear and 
formal declaration of holy Scripture."* This was not 
indifference ; on the contrary, religion was thus restored 
to what constitutes its very essence : the sentiment of 
ifeligion withdrew from the accessory forw?, in which it 
had well-nigh perished, and transferred itself to its true 
basis. Thus the Reformation was saved, p^f its teach- 
ing ei>abled to continue its development in bosom of 
the church in charity and truth 

* Oans klare and grundliche Schrift. 



98 



HISTORY OF THE EEPOEMATIOH. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Translation of*the New Testament — Faith and Scripture — Oppoiri* 
tion — Importance of this publication — Necessity for a systematic 
arrangement — Melancthon's Loci Communes— Original sin ~ Sal- 
vatiou — Free-will — Effects of the Loci Communes. 

Tranquillity was hardly establialied when the re- 
former turned to his dear Melancthon, and demanded his 
assistance in the final revision of the New Testament 
which he had brought with him from the Wartburg.* 
As early as the year 1519, Melancthon had laid down 
the grand principle, that the fathers must be explained 
according to Scripture, and not Scripture according to 
the fathers. f Meditating more profoundly every day 
on the books of the New Testament, he felt at once 
charmed by their simplicity and impressed by their 
depth. " There alone can we find the true food of the 
soul," boldly asserted this man so familiajr with all the 
philosophy of the ancients. Accordingly he readily com- 
plied with Luther^s invitation ; and from that time the 
two friends passed many long hours together studying 
and translating the inspired word. Often would they 
pause in their laborious researches to give way to their 
admiration. Luther said one day, " Reason thinks. Oh, 
if I could once hear God speak, I would run from one 
end of the world to the other to hear him. . . . Listen 
then, my brother man. God, the Creator of the heavens 
and the earth, speaks to thee." 

The printing of the New Testament was carried on 
with unexampled zeal. J One would have said that the 
very workmen felt the importance of the task in which 
they were engaged. Three presses were employed in 
this labor, and ten thousand sheets, says Luther, were 
printed daily. § 

* Verum omnia nunc elimare c<jupimus, Philippus et ego. L. 
Bpp. 2. 176. t See Vol. 11., p. 75. J Ingenti labore et 

etudic L. Epp. 2. 236. § Ante Michaelis non absolvet^ir, 

quanquam singulis diebus deciefe miUiij chartarum sub tribus prelis 



THE KEW TRANSLATION. 



99 



At length, on the 21st of September, 1522, appeared 
^he complete edition of three thousand copies, in two 
folio volumes, with this simple title : The New Testa- 
ment—German — Wittemberg. It bore no name of man. 
Every German might henceforward procure the word 
ci God at a moderate price.* 

Tht no'W translation, written in the very tone of the 
koly writings, in a language yet in its youthful vigor, 
and which for the first time displayed its great beauties, 
interested, charmed, and moved the lowest as well as 
the highest ranks. It was a national work — the book 
of the people ; nay, more, it was in very truth the Book 
of God. Even opponents could not refuse their appro- 
bation to this wonderful work, and some indiscreet 
friends of the reformer, impressed by the beauty of the 
translation, imagined they could recognize in it a sec- 
ond inspiration. This version served more than all Lu- 
ther's writings to the spread of Christian piety. The 
work of the sixteenth century was thus placed on a 
foundation where nothing could shake it. The Bible, 
given to the people, recalled the mind of man, which 
had been wandering for ages in the tortuous labyrinth 
of scholasticism, to the divine fountain of salvation. 
Accordingly the success of this work was prodigious. 
In a short time every copy was sold. A second edition 
appeared in the month of December ; and in 1533, sev- 
enteen editions had been printed at Wittemberg, thir- 
teen at Augsburg, twelve at Basle, one at Erfurth, one 
at Grim ma, one at Leipsic, and thirteen at Strasburg.f 
Such were the powerful levers that uplifted and trans- 
formed the church and the world. 

While the first edition of the New Testament was 
going through the press, Luther undertook a translation 
of the Old. This labor, begun in 1522, was continued 
ifs-ithout interruption. He published this translation in 
parts as they were finished, the more speedily to gratify 
pul>lic impatience, and to enable the poor to procure the 
book. 

• A florin and a half ; about half a crown, or sixty cents, 
t GrMch. d. deutsch. Bibel-Uebersetzung. 



100 HISTOB.Y OP THE REFOKMATIOH. 

From Scripture and faith, two sources which in real- 
ity are but one, the life of the gospel has flowed, and is 
still spreading over the world. These two principles 
combi^ ved two fundamental errors. Faith was opposed 
to the Pelagian tendency of Roman-catholicism ; Scrip- 
ture, to the theory of tradition and the authority of Rome. 
Scripture led man to faith, and faith led him back to 
Scripture. Man can do no meritorious work ; the free 
grace of God, which he receives by faith in Christ, alone 
saves him.'' Such was the doctrine proclaimed in Chris- 
tendom. But this doctrine could not fail to impel Chris- 
tendom to the study of Scripture. In truth, if faith in 
Christ is every thing in Christianity, if the practices and 
ordinances of the church are nothing, it is not to the 
teaching of the church that we should adhere, but to the 
teaching of Christ. The bond that unites to Christ will 
become every thing to the believer. What matters tc 
him the outward link that connects him with an outward 
church enslaved by the opinions of men ? . . . Thus, as 
the doctrine of the Bible had impelled Luther's contem- 
poraries towards Jesus Christ, so in turn the love they 
felt to Jesus Christ impelled them to the Bible. It was 
not, as has been supposed in our days, from a philo- 
sophical principle, or in consequence of doubt, or from 
the necessity of inquiry, that they returned to Scripture ; 
it was because they there found the word of Him they 
loved. " You have preached Christ to us," said they to 
the reformer, " let us now hear him himself." And they 
seized the pages that were spread before them, as a 
letter coming from heaven. 

But if the Bible was thus gladly received by those 
who loved Christ, it was scornfully rejected by those 
who preferred the traditions and observances of men. 
k vi^)lent persecution was waged against this work of 
the reformer's. At the news of Luther's publication, 
Some trembled. The pen which had transcribed the 
sacred oracles was really that which Frederick had seen 
in his dream, and which, reaching to the Seven Hills, 
bad shaken the tiara of the papacy.* The monk in hia 

• Vol. I., p. 277. 



THE KEW TESTAMEKT BUENT. 101 



cell, the prince on his throne, uttered a cry of anger. 
Ignorant priests shuddered at the thought that every 
citizen, nay, every peasant would now be able to dispute 
with them on the precepts of our Lord. The king of 
England denounced the work to the elector Frederick, 
and to Duke George of Saxony. But as early as the 
month of November the duke had ordered his subjectB 
to deposit every copy of Luther's New Testament in the 
hands of the magistrates. Bavaria, Brandenburg, Aus- 
tria, and all the states devoted to Rome, published simi- 
lar decrees. In some places they made sacrilegious 
bonfires of these sacred books in the public places.* 
Thus did Rome in the sixteenth century renew the efforts 
by which paganism had attempted to destroy the relig- 
ion of Jesus Christ, at the moment when the dominion 
was escaping from the priests and their idols. But 
who can check the triumphant progress of the gospel ? 
"Even after my prohibition,'' wrote Duke George, "many 
thousand copies were sold and read in my states.'' 

God even made use cf those hands to circulate his 
wor tl at were endeavoring to destroy it. The Roman- 
ist theologians, seeing that they could not prohibit the 
reformer's work, published a translation of the New 
Testament. It was Luther's version, altered here and 
there by the publishers. There was no hinderance to 
its being read. Rome as yet knew not that wherever 
the word of God is established, there her power is shaken. 
Joachim of Brandenburg permitted all his subjects to 
read any translation of the Bible, in Latin or in German, 
provided it did not come from Wittemberg. The people 
of Germany, and those of Brandenburg in particular, iinr 
made great progress in the knowledge of the truth. 

Tlie publication of the New Testament in the vulgar 
tongue is an important epoch in the Refoimation. If 
Feldkirchen's marriage was the first step in the progress 
of the Reformation from doctrine into social life ; if the 
abolition of monastic vows was the second ; if the re- 
establishment of the Lord's supper was the third, the 
publication of the New Testament was perhaps the most 

^ Qui alicuDi in unum cougesti rogum publice oombuati sunt. 



102 HIStOET OP THE EEFOEMATIOIT. 

important of all. It worked an entire change in societj: 
not only in the presbytery of the priest, in the monk's 
cell, and in the sanctuary of our Lord ; but also in the 
mansions of the great, in the houses of the citizens, and 
cottages of the peasants. When the Bible began to be 
read in the families of Christendom, Christendom itself 
was changed. Then arose other habits, other manners, 
ether conversations, and another life. With the publi- 
cation of the New Testament, the Eeformation left the 
school and the church to take possession of the hearths 
of the people. 

The effect produced was immense. The Christianity 
of the primitive church, drawn by the publication of the 
holy Scriptures from the oblivion of centuries in which 
it had lain, was thus presented before the eyes of the 
nation ; and this view was sufficient to justify the at- 
tacks that had been made against Eome. The simplest 
men, provided they knew how to read, women, mechan- 
ics — our informant is a contemporary and violent oppo- 
nent of the Reformation — eagerly studied the New Tes- 
tament.* They carried it about with them ; soon they 
knew it by heart, and the pages of this book loudly pro- 
claimed the perfect unison of Luther's Eeformation with 
the divine revelation. 

And yet it was only by fragments that the doctrine 
of the Bible and of the Reformation had been set forth 
hitherto. A certain truth had been put forward in one 
writing ; a certain error attacked in another. On one 
vast plain lay scattered and confused the ruins of the 
old edifice and the materials of the new ; but the new 
edifice was wanting. The publication of the New Tes- 
lament undoubtedly satisfied this want. The Eeforma- 
tion could say, as it gave this book : Here is my sys- 
tem. But as every man is at liberty to assert that his 
system is that of the Bible, the Eeformation was called 
to arrange what it had found in Scripture. And this 
Melanctlion now did in its name. 

He had walked with regular but confident steps in 
• Ut Butores, mulieres, et quilibet idiotso . . . avidissim^^ legtnren* 
Clochlceus, p. 60. 



KELANCTHON^S COMMOK-PLACES. 103 

the development of his theology, and had from time to 
time published the results of his inquiries. Before this, 
in 1520, he had declared that in several of the seven 
sacraments he could see nothing but an imitation of the 
Jewish ceremonies ; and in the infallibility of the pope, 
a liaughty presumption equally opposed to the holy Scrip 
tures and to good sense. " To contend a j iiust these 
doctrines," he had said, "we require more than oue Her* 
cules."* Thus had Melancthon reached the same point 
as Luther, afthough by a calmer and more scientific pro- 
cess. The time had come in which he was to confess his 
faith in his turn. 

In 1521, during Luther's captivity, Melancthon's cel- 
ebrated work, On the Common-places of Theology^ had 
presented to Christian Europe a body of doctrine of solid 
foundation and admirable proportion. A simple and 
majestic unity appeared before the astonished eyes of 
the new generation. The translation of the Testament 
justified the Reformation to the people ; Melancthon's 
Common-places justified it in the opinion of the learned. 

For fifteen centuries the church had existed, and had 
never seen such a work. Forsaking the ordinary devel- 
opments of scholastic theology, Luther's friend at last 
gave the world a theological system derived solely from 
Scripture. In it there reigned a breath of life, a vital- 
ity of understanding, a strength of conviction, and a sim- 
plicity of statement, forming a striking contrast with the 
subtle and pedantic systems of the schools. The meet 
philosophical minds, as well as the strictest theologians, 
were equally filled with admiration > 

Erasmus entitled this work a wondrous army drawn 
up in battle array against the tyrannous battalions of 
the false doctors ;f and while he avowed his dissent 
from the author on several points, he added, that al- 
though he had always loved him, he had never loved 
him so much as after reading this work. " So true it 
is," said Calvin when presenting it subsequently to 

* Adversus quas non uno nobis, ut ita dicam, Hercule opus est 
Ck)rp. Ref. 1. 137. t Video dogmatum aciem pulchi'e instructwa 
adver&us tTiannidem pharisaicam. £r. £pp. p. 949. 



104 HISTORT OF THE REPOEMATIOK. 



France, "that the greatest simplicity is the greatest 
virtue in treating of the Christian doctrine."* 

But no one felt such joy as Luther. Throughout life 
this work was the object of his admiration. The discon- 
nected sounds that his hand, in the deep emotion of his 
soul, had drawn from the harp of the prophets and apo® 
ties, were here blended together in one enchanting hajp- 
mony. Those scattered stones which he had laboriously 
hewn from the quarries of Scripture, were now combined 
into a majestic edifice. Hence he never ceased recom- 
mending the study of this work to the youths who came 
to Wittemberg in search of knowledge : "If you desire to 
become theologians," he would say, "read Melancthon."f 

According to Melancthon, a deep conviction of the 
wretched state to which man is reduced by sin is the 
foundation on which the edifice of Christian theology 
should be raised. This universal evil is the primary 
fact, the leading idea on which the science is based ; it 
is the characteristic that distinguishes theology from 
those sciences whose only instrument is reason. 

The Christian divine, diving into the heart of man, 
explains its laws and mysterious attractions as another 
philosopher in after-years explained the laws and attrac- 
tion of bodies. " Original sin," said he, " is an inclina- 
tion born with us, a certain impulse which is agreeable 
to us, a certain force leading us to sin, and which has 
been communicated by Adam to all his posterity. As in 
fire there is a native energy impelling it to mount up- 
ward ; as there is in the loadstone a natural quality by 
which iron is attracted ; so also there is in man a prim- 
itive force that inclines him to evil. I grant that in Soc- 
rates, Xenocrates, and Zeno were found temperance, firm- 
ness, and chastity ; these shadows of virtues were found 
in impure hearts, and originated in self-love. This is 
vhy we should regard them not as real virtues, but as 
vices."! This language may seem harsh ; but not so if 

* La Somme de Theologie, par Philippe Melancthon, Geneve, 
1651, Jehan Calvin aux Lecteurs. f Librum in vie turn, said he 
on another occafiion, non solum immortalitate sed et canone eccle- 
p^tioo dignum. De Servo ArbitrU> t Loci Comiuuuee Theo' 



SALVATION-PBEEWILL. 



we apprehend Melancthon's meaning aright. No one 
was more willing than himself to acknowledge virtues 
in the pagans that entitled them to the esteem of man ; 
but he laid down this great truth, that the sovereign law 
given by God to all his creatures, is to love him above 
all things. Now if man, in doing that which God com- 
mands, does it not from love to God, but from love of 
self, call God accept him for daring to substitute himself 
In the place of his infinite Majesty? and can there be no 
sinfulness in an action that is express rebellion against 
the supreme Deity ? 

The Wittemberg divine then proceeds to show how 
man is saved from this wretchedness. " The apostle,'' 
said he, "invites thee to contemplate the Son of God 
sitting at the right hand of the Father, mediating and 
interceding for us ;* and calls upon thee to feel assured 
that thy sins are forgiven thee, that thou art reputed 
righteous, and accepted by the Father for the sake of 
that Son who suffered for us on the cross/' 

The first edition of the Cammon-places is especially 
remarkable for the manner in which the theologian of 
Germany speaks of freewill. He saw more clearly per- 
haps than Luther, for he was a better theologian than 
he, that this doctrine could not be separated from that 
which constituted the very essence of the Reformation. 
Man's justification before God proceeds from faith alone : 
this is the first point. This faith enters man's heart by 
the grace of God alone : here is the second. Melancthon 
saw clearly that if he allowed that man had any natural 
ability to believe, he would be throwing down in the 
second point that great doctrine of grace which he had 
stated in the first. He had too much discernment and 
understanding of the holy Scriptures to be mistaken in 
so important a matter. But he went too far. Instead of 
confining himself within the limits of the religious ques- 
tion, ha entered upon metaphysics. He established a 

logic!. Basle, 1521, p. 35. This edition is very rare. For the sub- 
eequeat revisions, consult that of Erlangen, 1828, founded on that 
of Basle, 1561. * Vult te intueri Filium Dei sedentem ad dex- 
tram FatriB, mediatorem interpellantem pro nobis. Ibid. 



106 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 



fatalism which might tend to represent God as the an* 
thor of evil, a doctrine which has no foundation in Scrip* 
ture. ** As all things which happen," said he, " happen 
necessarily, according to the divine predestination, there 
is no such thing as liberty in our wills."* 

But the object Melancthon had particularly in view 
was to present theology as a system of piety. I'he 
schoolmen had so dried up the doctrine as to leave no 
traces of vitality in it. The task of the Reformation was 
therefore to reanimate this lifeless doctrine. In the sub- 
sequent editions, Melancthon felt the necessity of ex- 
pounding these doctrines with greater clearness.f Bu* 
such was not precisely the case in 1521. "To know 
Christ," said he, " is to know his blessings.^ Paul, in 
his epistle to the Romans, desiring to give a summary 
of the Christian doctrines, does not philosophize on the 
mystery of the Trinity, on the mode of incarnation, on 
active or passive creation ; of what then does he speak ? 
Of the law, of sin, of grace. On this our knowledge of 
Christ depends." 

The publication of this body of theology was of ines- 
timable value to the cause of truth. Calumnies were 
refuted ; prejudices swept away. In the churches, pal- 
aces, and universities, Melancthon's genius found admir- 
ers, who esteemed the graces of his character. Even 
those who knew not the author were attracted to his 
creed by his book. The roughness and occasional vio- 
lence of Luther's language had often repelled many. 
But here was a man who explained those mighty truths 
whose sudden explosion had shaken the world, with 
great elegance of style, exquisite taste, admirable per- 

* Quandoquidem omnia quae eveniunt, necessario eveniunt juxta 
divinam praedostinationem, nulla est voluntatis nostras libertas. 
Loc. Com. Theul. Basle. 1521, p. 35. f See the edition of 1561, 
reprinted in 1829, p. 14-44, the several chapters : De tribus perso- 
nis ; De divinitate Filii ; De duabus naturis in Christo ; Testimonia 
quod Filius sit persona ; Testimonia refutantia Arianos ; De discer- 
nendis proprietatibus humanae et divinae nature Christi ; De Spiritu 
Banc to, etc. X Hoc est Christum cognoscere, beueficia ejus cog* 
acsccre. Ibid. 



EFFECT OF THE COMMON-PLACES. 107 



Bpicuity, and perfect order. The work was sought aftei 
and read with avidity, and studied with ardor. Such 
gentleness and moderation won all hearts ; such nobil- 
ity and force commanded their respect ; and the superior 
classes of society, hitherto undecided, were gaiLcd ever 
by a wisdom that made use of such beautiful language. 

On the other hand, the adversaries of truth, whom 
Luther's terrible blows had not yet humbled, remained 
for a time silent and disconcerted at the appearance of 
Melancthon's treatise. They saw that there was another 
man as worthy of their hatred as Luther himself. "Alas," 
exclaimed they, " unhappy Germany, to what extremity 
wilt thou be brought by this new birth I"* 

Between the years 1521 and 1595 the Common-places 
passed tLrough sixty-seven editions, without including 
translations. Next to the Bible, this is the book that 
has possibly contributed most to the establishment ol 
the evangelical doctrine. 

* Heal infelioem hoc novo parta GennaniamI Cochlaeaa. 



108 HISXOEY OF THE REFORMATIO*. 



CHAPTER X. 

Opposition — Henry VIII. — Wolsey — The queen — Fisher — Thomas 
More — Luther's books burned — Henry's attack on Luther — Pie- 
sented to the pope — Its effect on Luther — Energy and violence 
— Luther's reply — Answer by the bishop of Rochester — Reply of 
Thomas More — Henry's proceedings. 

While the "grammarian" Melancthon was contrib- 
uting by these gentle strains a powerful support to Lu- 
ther, men of authority, enemies to the reformer, were 
turning violently against him. He had escaped from 
the Wartburg, and reappeared on the stage of the world; 
and at this news the rage of his former adversaries was 
revived. 

Luther had been three months and a half at Wittem- 
berg when a rumor, increased by the thousand tongues 
of fame, brought intelligence that one of the greatest 
kings of Christendom had risen against him. Henry 
VIIL, head of the house of Tudor, a prince descended 
from the families of York and Lancaster, and in whose 
person, after so much bloodshed, the red and white roses 
were at length united, the mighty king of England, who 
claimed to refe'stablish on the continent, and especially 
in France, the former influence of his crown, had just 
written a book against the poor monk of Wittemberg. 
"There is much boasting about a little book by the king 
of England," wrote Luther to Lange on the 26th of June, 
1522.* 

Henry was then thirty-one years old ; " he was tall, 
strong built and proportioned, and had an air of author 
ity and empire."f His countenance expressed the vivac- 
ity of his mind ; vehement, presuming to make every 
thing give way to the violence of his passions, and 

* Jactant libellum regis Augliae ; sed leum ilium suspicor sub 
pelle tectum : an allusion to Lee, th^ king's chaplain, and a pun oiX 
the word leo^ a lion. L. Epp. 2. 213. f Collier, BccL Hist. qI 
Great Britain. foL 2. 1 



HEKET THE EiaHTH. 



109 



thirsting for glory, he at first concealed his faults under 
a certain impctaosity that is peculiar to youth, and flat- 
terers were not wanting to encourage them. He would 
often visit, in company with his courtiers, the house of 
his chaplain, Thomap Wolsey, the son of an Ipswich 
butcher. Endowed with great skill, of overweening 
ambition, and of unbounded audacity, this man, protect- 
ed by the bishop of Winchester, chancellor of the king- 
dom, had rapidly advanced in his master's favor, and 
allured him to his residence by the attractions of pleas- 
ures and disorders in which the young prince would 
not have ventured to indulge in his own palace. This 
is recorded by Polydore Virgil, at that time papal sub- 
collector in England.* In these dissolute meetings, the 
chaplain surpassed the licentiousness of the young cour- 
tiers who attended Henry VIII. Forgetful of the deco- 
rum befitting a minister of the church, he would sing, 
dance, laugh, play the fool, fence, and indulge in obscene 
conversation.f By these means he succeeded in obtain- 
ing the first place in the king's councils, and as sole 
minister, all the princes of Christendom were forced to 
purchase his favor. 

Henry lived in the midst of balls, banquets, and 
jousting, and madly squandered the treasures his father 
had slowly accumulated. Magnificent tournaments suc- 
ceeded each other without interval. In these sports the 
king, who was distinguished above all the combatants 
by his manly beauty, played the chief part.| If the 

* Domi suae voluptatum omnium sacrarium fecit, quo regem fre- 
quenter ducebat. Polyd. Virgilius, Angl. Hist., Basle, 1670, folio, 
p. 633. Polydore appears to have suffered from Wolsey pride, 
and rather inclined to exaggerate the minister's faults. 

t Cum illis adolescentibus una psallebat, saltabat, sermones le» 
|K ris plenos habebat, ridebat, jocabatur, etc. Ibid. t Exinrda 
corporis forma praeditus, in qua etiam regiae majestatis auguflta 
quaedam species elucebat. Sanderus de Schismate Anglicano, p. 4. 
This work of Sanders, papal nuncio in Ireland, should be read very 
cautiously ; for it abounds in false and calumnious assertions, aa 
has been remarked by Cardinal Quirini and the Roman-catholio 
Doctor Lingard, See the History of England by the latter, voL 6, 
173. 



110 HISTORY OF THE RE FORMATION. 



contest appeared for a moment doubtful, the strength 
and address of the young monarch, or the artful policy 
of his opponents, gave him the victory, and the lists 
resounded with shouts and applause in his honor. The 
vacity of the youthf ul prince was inflated by these easy 
trii Diphs, and there was no success in the world to which 
h(5 thought he might not aspire. The queen was often 
seen among the spectators. Her serious features and 
sad look, her absent and dejected air, contrasted strongly 
with the noise and glitter of these festivities. Shortly 
after his accession to the throne, Henry VIII. had es- 
poused, for reasons of state, Catherine of Aragon, his 
senior by eight years : she was his brother Arthur's 
widow, and aunt to Charles Y. While her husband fol- 
lowed his pleasures, the virtuous Catherine, whose piety 
was truly Spanish, would leave her bed in the middle 
of the night to take a silent part in the prayers of the 
monks.* She would kneel down without cushion or 
carpet. At five in the morning, after taking a little 
rest, she would again rise, and putting on the Francis- 
can dress, for she had been admitted into the tertiary 
order of St. Francis, and hastily throwing the royal gar- 
ments around her,f would repair to church at six o- clock 
to join in the service. 

Two beings living in such different spheres, could 
not long continue together. 

Romish piety had other representatives besides Cath- 
erine in the court of Henry VIII. John Fisher, bishop 
of Rochester, then nearly seventy years of age, as dis- 
tinguished for learning as for the austerity of his man- 
ners, was the object of universal admiration. He had 
been the oldest councillor of Henry VI L, and the duchess 
of Richmond, grandmother to Henry VIII, calling him to 
her bedside, had commended to his care the youth and 
inexperience of her gr.^ndson. The king, in the midst 
of his irregularities, long continued to revere the aged 
bishop as a father. 

* Surgebat media nocte ut nocturais religiosorum precibus intei^ 
efl»et. Saaderus de Schismate Anglicano, p. 5. f Sub leQ^o 

veeiitu Divi Francisci habitu utebatur. Ibid. 



CARDINAL WOLSET. 



Ill 



A man much younger than Fisher, a layman and 
lawyer, had before this attracted general attention by 
his genius and noble character. His name was Thomas 
More, son of one of the judges of the King's Bench. He 
was poor, austere, and diligent. At the age of twenty 
he liad endeavored to quench the passions of youth by 
wearing a shirt of haircljth, and by self-scourging. 
Ob one occasion, being sunmioned by Henry Vlll. while 
he was attending mass, he replied, that God's service 
was before the king's. Wolsey introduced him to Hen- 
ry, who employed him on various embassies, and showed 
him much kindness. He would often send for him, and 
converse with him on astronomy, on Wolsey, and on 
divinity. 

In truth, the king himself was not unacquainted with 
the Romish doctrines. It would appear, that if Arthur 
had lived, Henry was destined for the archiepiscopal see 
of Canterbury. Thomas Aquinas,* St. Bonaventure, 
tournaments, banquets, Elizabeth Blunt and others of 
his mistresses— all were mixed up in the mind and life 
of this prince, who had masses of his own composition 
sung in his chapel. 

As soon as Henry had heard talk of Luther, he be- 
came indignant against him ; and hardly was the decree 
of the diet of Worms known in England, before he or- 
dered the pontilf's bull against the reformer's works to 
be put in execution.f On the 12th of May, 1521, Thomas 
Wolsey, who, together with the office of chancellor of 
England, combined those of cardinal and legate of Rome, 
went in solemn procession to St. Paul's. This man, 
whose pride had attained the highest pitch, thought him- 
self the equal of kings. He used to sit in a chair of 
gold, sleep in a golden bed, and a cover of cloth of gold 
was spread on a table at his meals.J On this occasion 
he displayed great magnificence. His household, cou- 

Legebat studiose libros divi Thomae Aqiiiaatis. Pol. Virg. p. 
634. t Primum libros Lutheranos, quorum magnus jam auDie* 
ru8 pervenerat in manus suorum Anglorum, combureudos ra^ it. 
Ibid. 664. X Uti sella aurea, uti pulvino aureo, uti velo au^ Ml 
id meosaia. Ibid. 



112 HISTORY OP TRE REFORMATIO!, 

eisting of eight hundred persons, among whom wer€ 
barons, knights, and sons of the most distinguished fam- 
ilies, who hoped by serving him to obtain public office, 
surrounded this haughty prelate. Silk and gold glit* 
tered not only on his garments — he was the first ecclesi- 
astic who ventured to dress so sumptuously*- — but even 
on the housings and harness of the horses. Before him 
walked a tall priest bearing a silver column terminated 
by a cross ; behind him, another ecclesiastic of similar 
height carried the archiepiscopal crozier of York ; a no- 
bleman at his side held the cardinaPs hat.f Lords, pre- 
lates, ambassadors from the pope and emperor, accom- 
panied him, followed by a long line of mules bearing 
chests covered with the richest and most brilliant hang- 
ings. It was this magnificent procession that was car- 
rying to the burning pile the writings of the poor monk 
of Wittemberg. When they reached the cathedral, the 
insolent priest placed his cardinaPs hat on the altar. 
The virtuous bishop of Rochester stationed himself at 
the foot of the cross, and with agitated voice preached 
earnestly against the heresy. After this the impious 
books of the heresiarch were brought together and de- 
voutly burned in the presence of an immense crowd. 
Such was the first intelligence that England received of 
the Reformation. 

Henry would not stop here. This prince, whose 
hand was ever upraised against his adversaries, his 
wives, or his favorites, wrote to the elector-palatine, "It 
is the devil, who, by Luther's means, has kindled this 
immense conflagration. If Luther will not be converted, 
let him and his writings be burned together."^ 

This was not enough. Having been convinced that 
the progress of heresy was owing to the extreme igno- 
rance of the German princes, Henry thought the moment 
had arrived for showing his learning. The victories of 
his battle-axe did not permit him to doubt of those that 

* Primus episcoporum et cardinalium, vestitum exteriorem seri- 
cum sibi induit Pol. Virg. p. 633. f Galerum curdinaluun> 

ordinis insiguem, sublime a ministro praeferebat .... eaper aJtaxe 
eoUooabat. Ibid. 645. X Knapp's Nachlese, 2. 458. 



HENST»S BOOK AOAINST LUTHER. 118 



were reserved for his pen. But another passion, vanity^ 
ever greatest in the smallest minds, spurred the king 
onward. He was humiliated at having no title to op- 
pose to that of " Catholic," and Most Christian," borne 
by the kings of Spain and France, and he had long 
been begging a similar distinction from the court of 
Rome. What would be more likely to procure it than 
an attack upon heresy? Henry therefore threw aside 
the kingly purple, and descended from his throne into 
the arena of theological discussion. He enlisted Thom^as 
Aquinas, Peter Lombard, Alexander Hales, and Bona- 
venture into his service ; and the world beheld the pub- 
lication of the Defence of the Seven Sacraments against 
Martin Luther^ by the most invincible King of England 
and France^ Lord of Ireland, Henry the Eighth of that 
name. 

**I will rush in front of the church to save her," said 
the king of England in this treatise ; " I will receive in 
my bosom the poisoned arrows of her assailants.* The 
present state of things calls me to do so. Every servant 
of Christ, whatever be his age, sex, or rank, should rise 
up against the common enemy of Christendom.,*!* 

" Let us put on a twofold breastplate — the heavenly 
breastplate, to conouer by the weapons of truth him 
who combats with those of error ; but also an earthly 
breastplate, that if he shows himself obstinate in his 
malice, the hand of the executioner n>ay constrain him 
to be silent, and that once at least he may be useful to 
the world, by the terrible example of his death.";}; 

Henry VIIL was unable to hide the contempt he felt > 
towards his feeble adversary. " This man," said the 
crowned theologian, " seems to be in the pangs of child- 
birth ; after a travail without precedent, he produces 
nothing but wind.§ Eemove the daring envelope of tlie 

* Meque ad versus venenata jacula hostis earn oppugnantis objl- 
oerem. Assertio septem sacramentorum adv. M. Luthenim, in pro» 
logo. t Omnis Christi eervus, omnis setas, omnis sexus, omnia 

ordo consurgat. Ibid. { Et qui nocuit verbo malitiae, supplioii 

prosit exemplo. Ibid. § Mirum est quanto nixu parturient, 

quam nihil peperit, nisi merum ventum. Ibid. 

8 



114 HISTORY OF THE REFOilMATIOlf. 



insolent verbiage with which he clothes his absurditios, 
as an ape is clothed in purple, and what remains ? . . . , 
a wretched and empty sophism.** 

The king defends successively the mass, penance, 
confirmation, marriage, orders, and extreme unction ; he 
is not sparing of abusive language towards his oppo- 
nent ; he calls him by turns a wolf of hell, a poisonous 
viper, a limb of the devil. Even Luther's sincerity is 
attacked. Henry VIII. crushes the mendicant monk 
with his royal anger, and writes as 't were with bis 
Bceptre," says a histoHan.* 

And yet it must be confessed that his work was not 
bad, considering the author and his age. The style is 
not altogether without force ; but the public of the day 
did not confine themselves to paying it due justice. The 
theological treatise of the powerful king of England was 
received with a torrent of adulation. **The most learned 
work the sun ever saw,'' cried some.f **We can only 
compare it," reechoed others, *^to the works of Augus- 
tine. He is a Constantino, a Charlemagne." "He is 
more," said others ; " he is a second Solomon." 

These flatteries soon extended beyond the limits of 
England. Henry desired John Clarke, dean of Windsor, 
his ambassador at Rome, to present his book to the sov- 
ereign pontiff. Leo X. received the envoy in full consis- 
tory. Clarke laid the royal work before him, saying, 
"The king my master assures you that, having now 
refuted Luther's errors with the pen, he is ready to com- 
bat his adherents with the sword." Leo, touched with 
this promise, replied, that the king's book could not have 
been written without the aid of the Holy Ghost, and con- 
fern ^.d upon Henry the title of Defender of the Faiths 
which is still borne by the sovereigns of England. 

The reception which this volume met with at Rome 
contributed greatly to increase the number of its read- 
ers. In a few months many ^»housand copies were 
issued from different presses.| "The whole Christian 

• Coliyer, Eccl. Hist. p. 17. f Burnet, Hist. Ref of Eng- 

land, 1 30. X Intra paucos menses, liber ejus a multis chalco- 
graphis in multa miliia multiplicatns. CocblcEUs, p. 44. 



EFFECT ON LUTHER. 



115 



world," says CochlcBus, "was filled with admiration and 
joy."* 

Such extravagant panegyrics augmented the insuf- 
ferable vanity of this chief of the Tudors. He himself 
seemed to have no doubt that he was inspired by the 
Holy Gliost.f From that time he would suffer no con- 
tradiction. His papacy was no longer at Rome, but at 
Greenwich ; infallibility reposed on his shoulders : at a 
subsequent period this contributed greatly to the Ref- 
ormation of England. 

Luther read Henry's book with a smile mingled with 
disdain, impatience, and indignation. The falsehood a*nd 
the abuse it contained, but especially the air of con- 
tempt and compassion which the king assumed, irritated 
the Wittemberg doctor to the highest degree. The 
thought that the pope had crowned this work, and that 
on all sides the enemies of the gospel were triumphing 
over the Reformation and the reformer as already over- 
thrown and vanquished, increased his indignation. Be* 
sides, what reason had he to temporize ? Was he not 
fighting in the cause of a King greater than all the 
kings of the earth ? The meekness of the gospel ap- 
peared to him unseasonable. An eye for an eye, a tooth 
for a tooth. He went beyond all bounds. Persecuted, 
insulted, hunted down, wounded, the furious lion turned 
round, and proudly roused himself to crush his enemy 
The elector, Spalatin, Melancthon, and Bugenhagen, 
strove in vain to pacify him. They would have pre- 
vented his replying ; but nothing could stop him. " I 
will not be gentle towards the king of England," said 
he *'I know that it is vain for me to humble myself, 
to give way, to entreat, to try peaceful methods. At 
length I will show myself more terrible towards these 
furious beasts, who goad me every day with their horns. 
I will t urn mine upon them. I will provoke Satan until 
he falls down lifeless and exhausted.^ If this heretic 

* Ut totum orbem christiaaain et gaudio et admlratione reple- 
rerit Cochloeus, p. 44. 

t He was brought to fancy it was written with some degree o2 
inspiration. Burnet, Preface. | Mea in ipsos ej^erpebp cornuo. 



116 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATION. 



does not recant, says Henry VIII. the new Thomap, he 
must be burned alive. Such are the weapons they are 
now employing against me : the fury of stupid asses 
and swine of the brood of Thomas Aquinas ; and then 
the stake.* Well, then, be it so. Let these hogs ad- 
vance if they dare, and let them burn me. Here I am 
waiting for them. After my death, though my ashes 
should be thrown into a thousand seas, they will rise, 
pursue, and swallow up this abominable herd. Living, 
I shall be the enemy of the Papacy ; burned, I shall be 
its destruction. Go then, swine of St. Thomas, do what 
seemeth good to you. You will ever find Luther like a 
bear upon your way, and as a lion in your path. He 
will spring upon you whithersoever you go, and will 
never leave you at peace, until he has broken your iron 
heads, and ground your brazen foreheads i*nto dust." 

Luther first reproaches Henry VIII. with having sup- 
ported his doctrines solely by the decrees and opinions 
of men. **As for me," says he, "I never cease crying, 
The gospel, the gospel I Christ, Christ 1 And my adver- 
saries continue to reply. Custom, custom ; ordinances, 
ordinances ; fathers, fathers. St. Paul says, * Let not 
your faith stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power 
of God.' 1 Cor. 2 : 5. And the apostle by this thun- 
derclap from heaven overthrows and disperses, as the 
wind scatters the dust, all the hobgoblins of this Henry. 
Frightened and confounded, these Thomists, Papists, and 
Henrys fall prostrate before the thunder of these words."f 

He then refutes the king's book in detail, and over- 
turns his arguments one after the other, with a perspi- 
cuity, spirit, and knowledge of the holy Scriptures and 

irritaturus Satanam, donee effusis viribus et conatibus corruat in se 
Ipse. L. Epp. 2. 236. * Ignis et furor insulsissimorum asi no- 

rum et Thomisticorum porcorum. Contra Henricum Regem, Opp„ 
Lat. 2. 331. This language reminds us of the Irish agitator. There 
is,lii)wever, greater force and nobility in the orator of the sixteenth, 
than in h.m of the nineteenth century. See Revue Britannique for 
November, 1835. Le Begne (VO^Connel. ''Soaped swine of civil- 
ized society," etc., p. 30. Confusi et prostrati jaceat a facie 
Wborum istiiis tonitrui. Ibid. 536. 



LUTHER'S REPLY TO HENRY. 117 



the listory c f the church, but also with an assurance, 
disdain, and sometimes violence, that ought not to sur- 
prise us. 

Having reached the end of his confutation, Luther 
again becomes indignant that his opponent should de- 
rive his arguments from the fathers only : this was the 
basis of the whole controversy. To all the words of 
the fathers and of men, of angels and of devils," said he, 
" I oppose, not old customs, not the multitude of men, 
but the word of eternal Majesty, the gospel, which even 
my adversaries are obliged to recognize. To this I hold 
fast, on this I repose, in this I boast, in this I exult and 
triumph over the Papists, the Thomists, the Henrys, the 
sophists, and all the swine of hell.* The King of heaven 
is with me ; for this reason I fear nothing, although a 
thousand Augustines, a thousand Cyprians, and a tiiou- 
sand of these churches which Henry defends, should rise 
up against me. It is a small matter that I should de- 
spise and revile a king of the earth, since he himself does 
not fear in his writings to blaspheme the King of heaven, 
and to profane his holy name by the most impudent 
falsehoods.^f 

" Papists," exclaimed he in conclusion, "will ye never 
cease from your idle attacks ? Do what you please. Nev- 
ertheless, before that gospel which I preach, down must 
come popes, bishops, priests, monks, princes, devils, 
death, sin, and all that is not Christ or in Christ."^ 

Thus spoke the poor monk. His violence certainly 
cannot be 3xcused, if we judge it by the rule to which 
he himself appealed — by the word of God. It cannot 
even be justified by alleging either the grossness of the 
age — for Melancthon knew how to observe decorum 
in his writings — or the energy of his character; for 
if this energy had any influence over his language, pas- 
sion also exerted more. It is better, then, that we 
should condemn it. And yet, that we may be just, we 
should observe, that in the sixteenth century this vio- 

* Hie sto, hie sedeo, hie maneo, hie glorior, hie triumphor, hia 
Insulto papistis. . . . 0pp. Lat. 2. 342. f Nee magnuu* si ego 
teg«in terree contcnmo. lb. 344, yerso. t L. 0pp. Leipa ..b 209 



118 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATIOK . 



lence did not appear so strange as it would nowadays 
The learned were then an estate, as well as the princes. 
By becoming a writer, Henry had attacked Luther. Lu- 
ther replied according to the established law in the re- 
public of letters, that we must consider the truth of what 
is said, and not the quality of him who says it. Let us 
add also, that when this same king turned against the 
pope, the abuse which the Romish writers and the pope 
himself poured upon him, far exceeded all that Luther 
had ever said. 

Besides, if Luther called Dr. Eck an ass and Henry 
Vin. a hog, he indignantly rejected the intervention of 
the secular arm ; while Eck was writing a dissertation 
to prove that heretics ought to be burned, and Henry 
was erecting scaffolds that he might conform with the 
precepts of the chancellor of Ingolstadt. 

Great was the emotion at the king's court ; Surrey, 
Wolsey, and the crowd of courtiers, put a stop to the 
festivities and pageantry at Greenwich to vent their 
indignation in abuse and sarcasm. The venerable bishop 
of Rochester, who had been delighted to see the young 
prince, formerly confided to his care, breaking a lance in 
defence of the church, was deeply wounded by the attack 
of the monk. He replied to it immediately. His words 
distinctly characterize the age and the church. " Take 
us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, says 
Christ in the Song of songs. This teaches us," said 
Fisher, "that we must take the heretics before they 
grow big Now Luther has become a big fox, so old, 
80 cunning, and so sly, that he is very difficult to catch. 
What do I say ? . . . a fox ? He is a mad dog, a raven- 
ing wolf, a cruel bear ; or rather, all those animals in one; 
for the monster includes many beasts within him."* 

Thomas More also descended into the arena to con- 
tend with the monk of Wittemberg. Although a lay- 
man, his zeal against the Reformation amounted to fanat- 
icism, if it did not even urge him to shed blood. When 
young nobles undertake the defence of the Papacy, theii 

* Canem dixissem rabidam, imo lupum rapacissimum, aut aoeyis 
fiimam quandam orsam. Gochlceus, p. 60. 



SIR THOMAS MORE 



119 



violence often exceeds even that of the ecclesiastics. 
"Reverend brother, father, tippler, Luther, riumji^ate of 
the order of St. Augustine, misshapen bacchanal of either 
faculty, unlearned doctor of theology."* Such is the 
language addressed to the reformer by one of the nif st 
illustrious men of his age. He then proceeds to explain 
the manner in which Luther had composed his l(ofe 
against Henry VllL : He called his conp^anions to- 
gether, and desired them to go each his own way and 
pick up all sorts of abuse and scurrility. One frequent- 
ed the public carriages and boats ; another the baths 
and gambling-houses ; a third the taverns and barbers' 
shops ; a fourth the mills and brothels. They noted 
down in their tablets all the most insolent, filthy, and 
infamous things they heard ; and bringing back all these 
abominations and impurities, they discharged them into 
that filthy kennel which is called Luther^s mind. If he 
retracts his falsehoods and calumnies," continues More, 
" if he lays aside his folly and his madness, if he swal- 
lows his own iilth,f .... he will find one who will seri- 
ously discuss with him. But if he proceeds as he has 
begun, joking, teasing, fooling, calumniating, vomiting 
sewers and cesspools, J ... let others do what they please; 
as for me, 1 should prefer leaving the little friar to his 
own fury and filth. "§ More would have done t)etter to 
have restrained his own. Luther never degraded his 
style to so low a degree. He made no reply. 

This writing still further increased Henry's attach- 
ment to More. He would often visit him in his humble 
dwelling at Chelsea. After dinner, the king, leaning on 

* Reverendas frater, pater, potator, Lutherus. Cochloeus, p 61. 

t Si ... . suas resorbeat et sua relingat stercora. Ibid. 62. 

t Sentinas, cioacas, latrinas, .... stercora. Ibid. 63. 

§ Cum suis . . . . et stercoribus .... relinquere. Ibid. Ccchloeug 
la ieiighted at quoting these passages, selecting what according to 
his taste are the finest parts in More-s reply. M. Nisard, on the con- 
trary, confesses in his article on More, whom he defends with great 
warmth and erudit on, that in this writing ** the impurities dictated 
by the anger ot the Catholic are such that all attempt at translatioq 
is impossiblo." Revue dee deux Mondes, 5. 692. 



120 HISTOlti OF THE REFOEMATlOlT. 



his favorite's shoulder, would walk in the garden, while 
Mistress More and her children, concealed behind a win 
dow, could not turn away their astonished eyes. After 
one of these walks, More, who knew his man well, said 
to his wife, "If my head could win him a single castle 
in France, he would not hesitate to cut it off." 

The king, thus defended by the bishop of Rochester 
Brd by his future chancellor, had no need to resume his 
pen. Confounded at finding himself treated in the face 
of Europe as a common writer, Henry VIII. abandoned 
the dangerous position he had taken, and throwing away 
the pen of the theologian, had recourse to the more 
effectual means of diplomacy. 

An ambassador was despatched from the court of 
Greenwich with a letter for the elector and dukes of 
Saxony. " Luther, the real serpent fallen from heaven," 
wrote he, " is pouring out his floods of venom upon the 
earth. He is stirring up revolts in the churcn of Jesus 
Christ, abolishing laws, insulting the powers that be, 
inflaming the laity against the priests, and laymen and 
priests against the pope, subjects against their sove- 
reigns, and desires nothing better than to see Christians 
fighting and destroying one another, and the enemies of 
our faith hailing this scene of carnage with a frightful 
grin.* 

" What is this doctrine which he calls evangelical, if 
it be not Wickliffe's ? Now, most honored uncles, I know 
what your ancestors have done to destroy it. In Bohe- 
mia they hunted it down like a wild beast, and driving 
it into a pit, they shut it up and kept it fast. You will 
not allow it to escape through your negligence, lest, 
creeping into Saxony, and beoooiing master of the whole 
of Germany, its smoking nostrils should pour forth the 
flames of hell, spreading that conflagration far and wide 
which your nation hath so often wished to extinguish in 
its blood.f 

* So ei;gie8st er, gleich wie eine F ^klang vom Himmel geworfen 
. . L. 0pp. 18. 212. The original is in Latin : Velut e ccelo de 
jectus serpens, virus effundit in terras. f Und durch sein schad 
lich Anbla^en das hoUlscho Feaer ausspriihe. Ibid. 218. 



THE kEPLY TO MENEY. 



121 



" For this reason, most worthy princes, I feel obliged 
to exhort you and even to entreat yoa in the name cf all 
that is most sacred, promptly to extinguish the cursed 
sect of Luther : put no one to death, if that can be avoid- 
ed ; bat if this heretical obstinacy continues, then shed 
tlood without hesitation, in order that the abominable 
liaresy may disappear from under heaven."* 

The elector and his brother referred the king to the 
approaching council. Thus Henry VIII. was far from 
attaining his end. " So great a name mixed up m the 
dispute," said Paul Sarpi, " served to render it more 
curious, and to conciliate general favor towards Luther, 
as usually happens in combats and tournaments, where 
tiie spectators have always a leaning to the weaker 
party, and take delight in exaggerating the merit of hia 
£tctions."f 

• Oder aber auch mit Blut vergiessen. L. 0pp. 18. 218, 
t H5st. Council of Trent, pp. 16, 16. 



HISTORY OF THE REPOUMATlON. 



CHAPTER XI, 

General movement — The monks — How the Reformation was carried 
on — Unlearned believers — The old and the new doctors — Printing 
and literature — Bookselling and colportage 

A GREAT moveinent was going on. The Reformation, 
which, after the diet of Worms, had been thought to be 
confined with its first teacher in the narrow chamber of 
a strong castle, was breaking forth in every part of the 
empire, and so to speak, throughout Christendom. The 
two classes, hitherto mixed up together, were ndw be- 
ginning to separate ; and the partisans of a monk, whose 
only defence was his tongue, now took their stand fear- 
lessly in the face of the servants of Charles V. and Leo 
X. Luther had scarcely left the walls of the Wartburg, 
the pope had excommunicated all his adherents, the im- 
perial diet had just condemned his doctrine, the princes 
were endeavoring to crush it in most of the German 
states, the ministers of Rome were lowering it in the 
eyes of the people by their violent invectives, the other 
states of Christendom were calling upon Germany to 
sacrifice a man whose assaults they feared even at a 
distance, and yet this new sect, few in numbers, and 
among whose members there was no organization, no 
bond of union, nothing in short that concentrated their 
common power, was already frightening the vast, an- 
cient, and powerful sovereignty of Rome by the energy 
of its faith and the rapidity of its conquests. On all 
sides, as in the first warm days of spring, the seed was 
bursting from the earth spontaneously and without eflbi"t. 
Every day showed some new progress. Individuals, 
villages, towns^ whole cities, joined in this new confes* 
sion of the name of Jesus Christ. There was unpitying 
opposition, there were terrible persecutions, but the 
mysterious power that urged forward all these people 
was irresistible ; and the persecuted, quickening their 
steps, going forward through exile, imprisonment, and 



THE MONKS. 



123 



the burning pile, everywhere prevailed over their per- 
secutors. 

The monastic orders that Rome had spread over 
Christendom, like a net intended to catch souls and keep 
them prisoners, were the first to break their bonds, and 
rapidly to pp.jpagate the new doctrine throughout the 
church The Augustines of Saxony had walked with 
Luther, and felt that inward experience of the holy word 
which, by putting them in possession of God himself, 
dethroned Rome and her lofty assumptions. But in the 
other convents of the order, evangelical light had dawned 
in like manner. Sometimes they were old men, who, 
like Staupitz, had preserved the sound doctrines of truth 
hi the midst of deluded Christendom, and who now be- 
sought God to permit them to depart in peace, for their 
eyes had seen his salvation. At other times, they were 
young men, who had received Luther's teaching with 
the eagerness peculiar to their age. The Augustine 
convents at Nuremberg, Osnabruck, Dillingen, Ratisbon, 
Strasburg, and Antwerp, with those in Hesse and Wur- 
temburg, turned towards Jesus Christ, and by their 
courage excited the wrath of Rome. 

But this movement was not confined to the Augus- 
tines only. High-spirited men imitated them in the 
monasteries of otiier orders, and notwithstanding the 
clamors of the monks who would not abandon their car- 
nal observances, notwithstanding the anger, contempt, 
sentences, discipline, and imprisonments of the cloister, 
they fearlessly raised their voices in behalf of that holy 
and precious truth which they had found at last, after so 
man 7 painful inquiries, such despair and doubt, and such 
inward struggle. In the majority of the cloisters, the 
most spiritual, pious, and learned monks declared for 
the Reformation. In the Franciscan convent at Ulm, 
Eberlin and Kettenbach attacked the slavish works of 
monasticism, and the superstitious observances of the 
church, with an eloquence capable of moving the whole 
nation ; and they called for the immediate abolition of 
the monasteries and houses of ill-fame. Another Fran- 
ciscan, Stephen Kempe, preached the gospel at Hamburg, 



124 HISTORY OF THE REFORHATIOW. 



and alone presented a firm front to the hatred, envy 
menaces, snares, and attacks of the priests, who were 
irritated at seeing the crowd abandon their altars, and 
flock with enthusiasm to hear his sermons.* 

Frequently the superiors of the convents were the 
6rst led away in the path of reform. At Halberstadtj 
Neuenwerk, Halle, and Sagan, the priors set the exam* 
pie to their monks, or at least declared that if a monk 
felt his conscience burdened by the weight of monastic 
vows, far from detaining him in the convent, they would 
take him by the shoulders and thrust him out of doors.f 

Indeed, throughout all Germany the monks were seen 
laying down their frocks and cowls at the gates of the 
monasteries. Some were expelled by the violence of 
the brethren or the abbots ; others, of mild and pacific 
character, could no longer endure the continual disputes, 
abuse, clamor, and hatred which pursued them even in 
their slumbers ; the majority were convinced that the 
monastic life was opposed to the will of God and to a 
Christian life: some had arrived at this conviction by 
degrees ; others suddenly, by reading a passage in the 
Bible. The sloth, grossness, ignorance, and degrada- 
tion that constituted the very nature of the mendicant 
orders, inspired with indescribable disgust all men of 
elevated mind, who could no longer support the society 
of their vulgar associates. One day a Franciscan going 
his rounds, stopped with the box in his hand begging 
alms at a blacksmith's forge in Nuremberg: "Why,'' 
said the smith, **do you not gain your bread by the 
work of your own hands ?" At these words the sturdy 
monk threw away his staff, and seizing the hammer, plied 
it vigorously on the anvil. The useless mendicant had 
become an honest workman. His box and frock wero 
sent back to the monastery.f 

The monks were not the only persons who rallird 
round the standard of the gospel ; priests in still greater 

♦ Der iibrigen Prediger Feindschaflft, Neid, Nachstellungen. Pr»- 
ticken, und Schreckea. Seckendorff, p. 559. f Seckendorffj 

p. 811 ; Steutzel, Script. Rer. Siles. 1. 457. X Raoke, Deutsche 
Geecliichte, 2. 70. 



SPREAD OF THE REFORMATIOIT 125 



aumber began to preach the new doctrines. But preach- 
ers were not required for its propagation ; it frequently 
acted on men's minds, and aroused them from their deep 
dumber without any one having spoken. 

Luther's writings were read in cities, towns, and 
even villages ; at night by the fireside the schoolmaster 
would often read them aloud to an attentive audience, 
6('me of the hearers were affected by their perusal ; they 
would take up the Bible to clear away their doubts, and 
were struck with surprise at the astonishing contrast 
between the Christianity of the Bible and their own. 
After oscillating between Rome and Scripture, they soon 
took refuge with that living word which shed so new 
and sweet a radiance on their hearts. While they were 
in this state, some evangelical preacher, probably a 
priest or a monk, would arrive. He spoke eloquently, 
and with conviction he announced that Christ had 
made full atonement for the sins of his people ; he dem- 
onstrated by holy Scripture the vanity of works and 
human penances. A terrible opposition would then 
break out ; the clergy, and sometimes the magistrates, 
would strain every nerve to bring back the souls they 
were about to lose. But there was in the new preach- 
ing a harmony with Scripture and a hidden force that 
won all hearts, and subdued even the most rebellious. 
At the peril of their goods, and of their life if need be, 
they ranged themselves on the side of the gospel, and 
forsook the lifeless and fanatical orators of the papacy.f 
Sometimes the people, incensed at being so long misled, 
compelled them to retire ; more frequently the priests, 
deserted by their flocks, without tithes or offerings, de- 
parted voluntarily and in sadness to seek a livelihood 
elsewhere.J And while the supporters of the ancient 
hierarchy returned from these places sorrowful and de« 
jected, and sometimes bidding farewell to their old flocks 
in the language of anathema, the people, transportc'd 

• Eaque omnia prompte, alacrit^r, eloquent^r. Cochloeiis, p. 52 
t Populo odibiles cathoUci concionatores. Ibid. J Ad 

extremani redacti inopiam, aliunde aibi victum quaerere oogerentur. 

Ibid. p. 5a 



126 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 



with joy by peace and liberty, surrounded the ne^ 
preachers with their applause, and thirsting for the 
word of God, carried them iu triumph into the church 
and into the pulpit.* 

A word of power, proceeding from God, was at that 
time regenerating society. The people, or their leaders, 
would frequently invite some man celebrated for his 
faith to come and enlighten them ; and instantly, for 
love of the gospel, he abandoned his interests and his 
family, his country and friends.f The persecution often 
compelled the partisans of the Reformation to leave their 
homes : they reached some spot where it was as yet un- 
known ; here they would enter a house that offered an 
asylum to poor travellers ; there they would speak of 
the gospel, read a chapter to the attentive hearers, and 
perhaps, at the request of their new friends, obtained 
permission to preach once publicly in the church. . . 
Upon this a vast uproar would break out in the city, 
and the greatest exertions were ineffectual to quench 
it.J If they could not preach in the church, they found 
some other spot. Every place became a temple. At 
Husum in Holstein, Hermann Tast, who was returning 
from Wittemberg, and against whom the clergy of the 
parish had closed the church doors, preached to an im- 
mense crowd in the cemetery, beneath the shade of two 
large trees, not far from the spot where, seven centuries 
before, Anschar had proclaimed the gospel to the hea- 
then. At Arnstadt, Gaspard Giittel, an Augustine monk, 
preached in the market-place. At Dantzic, the gospel 
was announced on a little hill without the city. At 
Gosslar, a Wittemberg student taught the new doctrines 
in a meadow planted with lime-trees : whence the evan- 
gelical Christians were denominated the lime-tree breth* 
reu." 

While the priests were exhibiting a sordid covetous- 

♦ Triumphantibus novis praedicatoribus qui sequacem populum 
vsrbo novi Evangelii sui ducebant. Cochloeus, p. 53. f Multi, 
omlssa re domestica, in speciem veri Evangelii, parentes et amicus 
celinquebant. Ibid. t Ubi vero aliqnos nacti fuissent amicQ* 
\jx ea civitate. . . . Ibid. p. 54. 



unlearjsted believers. 



127 



ness before the eyes of the people, the new preachers 
said to them, " Freely we have received, freely do we 
give."* The idea often published by the new preachers 
fiom the pulpit, that Rome had formerly sent the Ger- 
mans a corrupted gospel, and that now for the first time 
Germany heard the word of Christ in its heavenly and 
primal beauty, produced a deep impression on men's 
minds, f And the noble thought of the equality of aU 
men, of a universal brotherhood in Jesus Christ, laid 
strong hold upon those souls which for so long a period 
had groaned beneath the yoke of feudalism and of the 
papacy of the middle ages.J 

Often would unlearned Christians, with the New 
Testament in their hands, undertake to justify the doc- 
trine of the Reformation. The Catholics who remained 
faithful to Rome withdrew in affright ; for to priests 
and monks alone had been assigned the task of study- 
hg sacred literature. The latter were therefore com- 
pelled to come forward : the conference began ; but ere- 
long, overwhelmed by the declarations of holy Scripture 
cited by these laymen, the priests and monks knew not 
how to reply.§ ... " Unhappily Luther had persuaded 
his followers,'' says Cochloeus, " to put no faith in any 
other oracle than the holy Scriptures." A shout was 
raised in the assembly, and proclaimed the scandalous 
ignorance of these old theologians, who had hitherto 
been reputed such great scholars by their own party.|| 

Men of the lowest station, and even the weaker sex, 
with the aid of God's word, persuaded and led away 
men's hearts. Extraordinary works are the result of 
extraordinary times. At Ingolstadt, under the eyes of 
Dr. Eck, a young weaver read Luther's works to the 
assembled crowd. In this very city, the university hav- 
ing resolved to compel a disciple of Melancthon to re- 
tract, a woman named Argula de Staufen undertook his 

* Mira eis erat liberalitas. Cochloeus, p. 53. f Earn usque 
diem nunquam Germane praedicatam. Ibid. t Omnes ajqualea 
et fratres in Christo. Ibid. § A laicis Lutheranis, plures Scrip- 
turao locos, quam a monachis et presbyteris. Ibid. p. 54. 

!l Eeputabantur catholic! ab illls ignari Scripturarumu Ibid. 



128 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



defence, and challenged the doctors to a public disputa- 
tion. Women and children, artisans and soldiers, kne«r 
more of the Bible than the doctors of the schools or the 
priests of the altars. 

Cliristendom was divided into two hostile bodies, and 
tluiir aspects were strikingly contrasted. Opposed to 
the old champions of the hierarchy, who had neglect-ed 
tlio study of languages and the cultivation of literature, 
as one of their own body informs us, were generouah 
minded youths, devoted to study, investigating Scrip- 
ture, and familiarizing themselves with the masterpieces 
of antiquity.* Possessing an active mind, an elevated 
soul, and intrepid heart, these young men soon acquired 
such knowledge, that for a long period none could com- 
pete with them. It was not only the vitality of their 
faith which rendered them superior to their contempora- 
ries, but an elegance of style, a perfume of antiquity, a 
sound philosophy, a knowledge of the world, completely 
foreign to the theologians " of the old leaven," as Coch- 
Iceus himself terms them.f Accordingly when these 
youthful defenders of the Reformation met the Romish 
doctors in any assembly, they attacked them with such 
ease and confidence, that these ignorant men hesitated, 
became embarrassed, and fell into a contempt merited 
in the eyes of all. 

The ancient edifice was crumbling under the load of 
superstition and ignorance ; the new one was rising on 
the foundations of faith and knowledge. New elements 
entered deep into the lives of the people. Torpor and 
dulness were in all parts succeeded by a spirit of inquiry 
and a thirst for instruction. An active, enlightened, and 
living faith took the place of superstitious devotion and 
asr,etic meditations. Works of piety succeeded bigoted 
observances and penances. The pulpit prevailed over 
th(^ ceremonies of the altar ; and the ancient and sove- 
reign authority of God's word was at length restored in 
the church. 

• Totam vero juventutem, eloquentiae litteris. lingiiarumque sto 

dio deditam in partem suam traxit. CochlcBUS, p. 54. 

t Veteris fariaee. 



LlTEEATUitE ABL THE PHESS. 



129 



The printing-press, that powerful machine discovered 
in the fifteenth century, came to the support of all these 
exertions, and its terrible missiles were continually bat- 
tering the walls of the enemy. 

The impulse which the Reformation gave to popular 
literature in Germany was immense. While in the year 
1513 only thirty-five publications had appeared, and 
thirty-seven in 1617, the number of books increased with 
astonishing rapidity after the appearance of Luther's 
theses. In 1618 we find seventy-one different works ; in 
1519, one hundred and eleven; in 1520, two hundred 
a^id eight ; in. 1621, two hundred and eleven ; in 1622, 
three hundred and forty-seven ; and in 1523, four hun- 
dred and ninety-eight And where were all these 

published? For the most part at Wittemberg. And 
who were their authors ? Generally bather and his 
friends. In 1522, one hundred and thirty of the reform- 
er's writings were published ; and in the year following, 
one hundred and eighty-three. In this same year only 
twenty Rom^n-catholic publications appeared.* The 
literature of Germany thus saw the light in the midst 
of struggles, and contemporaneously with her religio.Ti. 
Already it appeared learned, profound, full of daring and 
life, as later times have seen it. The national spirit 
Bhowed itself for the first time without mixture, and at 
the very moment of it« birth received the baptism of fire 
from Christian enthu«^iasm. 

What Luther and his frienda composed, others cirojx- 
lated. Monks, convinced of the unlawfulness of monas- 
tic obligations, desirous of exchanging a long life 
slothfulness for one of active exertion, but too ignoran* 
to proclaim the word of God, travelled through the prov- 
inces, visiting hamlets and cottages, where they sold the 
books of Luther and his friends. Germany g^oon swarm- 
edf with these bold colporteurs.| Printers and book- 

* Panzer's Annalen der Deutsch. Litt. ; Ranke's D^ut?ch. Gescb 
2.79. t Apostatarum monasteriis relic tis infrnit us j8,m erai 

numerus, in speciem bibliopolarum. Oochloe^is, 54. }: We have 
ventured to employ the words colportf ur and colportage to express 
(he trade title of these itinerant bookgehsrs, on accuuni" of tli« 

9 



130 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATIOM 



seilerw eagerly welcomed every writing in defence of the 
Reformation ; b^it they rejected the books of the oppo- 
site party, as generally full of ignorance and barbarism.* 
If any one of them ventured to sell a book in favoj* of 
the Fa})acy, and offered it for sale in the fairs at Frank- 
fort or elsewhere, merchants, purchasers, and men of let- 
tor? overwhelmed him with ridicule and sarcasm.]" It 
was in vain that the emperor and princes had published 
severe edicts against the writings of the reformers. As 
soon as an inquisitorial visit was to be paid, the dealers 
who had received secret intimation concealed the books 
that it was intended to proscribe ; and the multitude, 
ever eager for what is prohibited, immediately bought 
them up, and read them with the greater avidity. It 
was not only in Germany that such scenes were pass- 
ing : Luther's writings were translated into French, 
Spanish, English, and Italian, and circulated among 
these nations. 

inadequacy of our English equivalent, and because these words appeal 
to be making their way into our vocabulary. Tr, * Catholico- 
rum, velut indocta et veteris barbarici trivialia scripta, conteinne- 
bant. CochlcBus, p. 54. f In publicis meroatibue Fr&ncofox 

diffl et alibi, vexabantur ac ridebantur. Ibid. 



LUTHEU AT ZWICKAU. 



181 



CHAPTER XII. 

Lather at Zwickau- -The castle of Freyberg — Worms — Fiankfort — 
Universal movement— Wittemberg the centre of the Reforma- 
tion—Luther's sentiments. 

If the most puny instruments inflicted such terrible 
blows on Rome, what was it when the voice of the monk 
of Wittemberg was heard ? Shortly after the discomfit- 
ui'e c f the new prophets, Luther, in layman's attire, trav- 
ersed the territories of Duke George in a wagon. His 
gown was hidden, and the reformer seemed to be a plain 
citizen of the country. If he had been recognized, if he 
had fallen into the hands of the exasperated duke, per 
haps his fate would have been sealed. He was going 
to preach at Zwickau, the birthplace of the pretended 
prophets. It was no sooner known at Schneeberg, Anna- 
berg, and the surrounding places, than the people crowd- 
ed around him. Fourteen thousand persons flocked into 
the city, and as there was no church that could contain 
such numbers, Luther went into the balcony of the 
town-hall, and preached before an audience of twenty- 
five thousand persons who thronged the market-place, 
some of whom had mounted on heaps of cut stones piled 
up near the building.* The servant of God was dilat- 
ing with fervor on the election of grace, when suddenly 
cries were heard from the midst of the auditory. An 
old woman of haggard mien stretched out her emaciated 
arms from the stone on which she had taken her station, 
and seemed desirous of restraining with her fleshless 
hands that crowd which was about to fall prostrate at 
the feet of Jesus. Her wild yells interrupted the preach- 
er. " It was the devil," said Seckendorflf, " who had 
taken the form of an old woman in order to excite a 
di8turbance."f But it was all in vain ; the reformer's 

• Von dem Rathhaus unter einem Zulauf von 25,000 Menschen. 
Seek. p. 539. t Der Teufel, indem er sioh in Gestalt eiuoa 

alien Weibes .... Ibid. 



]32 



HISTOET Ot THE EEFOEMATIOH 



words silenced the wicked spirit : these thousands of 
hearers caught his enthusiasm ; glances of admiration 
were exchanged ; hands were warmly grasped, and ere- 
long the tongue-tied monks, unable to avert the storm, 
found it necessary to leave Zwickau. 

In the castle of Freyberg dwelt Henry, brother of 
Dake George. His wife, a princess of Mecklenburg, 
tad the preceding year borne him a son who had been 
named Maurice. With a fondness for the table and for 
pleasure, Duke Henry combined the rudeness and coarse 
manners of a soldier. In other respects, he was pious 
after the fashion of the times, had gone to the Holy 
Land, and made a pilgrimage to St. lago of Compos- 
tella. He would often say, " At Compostella I placed a 
hundred golden florins on the altar of the saint, and said 
to him, 0 St. lago, to please thee I came hither : I make 
thee a present of this money ; but if these knaves the 
priests take it from thee, I cannot help it; so be on 
your guard.''* 

A Franciscan and a Dominican, both disciples of Lu 
ther, had been for some time preaching the gospel at 
Freyberg. The duchess, whose piety had inspired her 
with a horror of heresy, listened to their sermons with 
astonishment that this gentle word of a Saviour was 
the object she had been taught to fear. Gradually her 
eyes were opened, and she found peace in Christ Jesus. 
No sooner had Duke George learned that the gospel 
was preached at Freyberg, than he entreated his brothei 
to oppose these novelties. Chancellor Strehlin and the 
canons seconded his prayer with their fanaticism. A 
violent explosion took place in the court of Freyberg. 
Duke Henry harshly reprimanded and reproached his 
wife, and more than once the pious duchess watered 
her child's cradle with her tears. Yet by degrees her 
prayers and gentleness won the heart of her husl)and : 
the rough man was softened ; harmony was restored 
between the married pair, and they were enabled to 
join in prayer beside their sleeping babe. Great desti- 
nies were hovering over that child ; and from that cra- 
• L««s du dir's die Buben uehmen Seek, p. 430. 



AaiTATION IN GERMANY 



133 



die, where a Christian mother had so often poured forth 
her sorrows, God was one day to bring forth the liber- 
ator of the Reformation. 

Luther's intrepidity had excited the inhabitants of 
Worms. The imperial decree terrified the magistrates ; 
all the churches were closed ; but in a public plac-e^ 
filled by an immense crowd, a preacher ascended a 
rudely constructed pulpit, and proclaimed the gospel 
with persuasive accents. K the authorities showed a 
disposition to interfere, the hearers dispersed in a mo- 
ment, and stealthily carried away the puipit ; but the 
storm was no sooner passed, than it was immediately 
set up in some more secluded spot, to which the crowd 
again flocked to hear the word of Christ. This tempo- 
rary pulpit was every day carried from one place to 
another, and served to encourage the people, still agi- 
tated by the emotions of the great drama lately per- 
formed in their city.* 

At Frankfort on the Maine, one of the principal free 
cities of the empire, all was in commotion. A coura- 
geous evangelist, Ibach, preached salvation by Jesus 
Christ. The clergy, among whom was Cochlceus, so 
notorious by his writings and his opposition, irritated 
against this audacious colleague, denounced him to the 
archbishop of Mentz. The council undertook his de- 
fence, although with timidity, but to no purpose, for the 
clergy discharged the evangelical minister, and compel- 
led him to leave the town. Rome triumphed ; every 
thing seemed lost ; the poor believers fancied themselves 
for ever deprived of the word ; but at the very moment 
when the citizens appeared inclined to' yield to these 
tyrannical priests, many nobles declared for the gospel 
Max of Molnheim, Harmuth of Cronberg, George of Stock- 
heim, and Emeric of Reiffenstein, whose estates lay near 
Frankfort, wrote to the council, "We are con? strained to 
rise up against these spiritual wolves." And addressing 
the clergy, they said, "Embrace the evangelical doctrine, 
recall Ibach, or else we will refuse to pay our tithes." 

• So liessen sie eine Canzel machen, die man von einem Ort Bam 
aodem. . . . Seek. p. 



t 



134 HISTOHr OF THS E^FOEIIATIOK 



The people, who listened gladly to the Roformft' 
tion, being encouraged by the language of the nobles, 
began to put themselves in motion ; and one day, just 
as Peter Mayer, the persecutor of Ibach and the most 
determined enemy of the reform, was going to preach 
against the heretics, a great uproar was heard. Mayer 
was alarmed, and hastily quitted the church. This 
movement decided the council. All the preachers were 
enjoined by proclamation to preach the pure word of 
God, or to leave the city. 

The light which proceeded from Wittemberg, as 
from the heart of the nation, was thus shedding its rays 
through the whole empire. In the west. Berg, Cleves, 
Lippstadt, Munster, Wesel, Miltenberg, Mentz, Deux 
Fonts, and Strasburg, listened to the gospel ; on the 
south, Hof, Schlesstadt, Bamberg, Esslingen, Halie in 
Swabia, Heilbrunn, Augsburg, Ulm, and many other 
places, received it with joy. In the e^ist, the duchy of 
Liegnitz, Prussia, and Pomerania opened their gates to 
it ; and in the north, Brunswick, Halberstadt, Gosslar, 
Zell, Priesland, Bremen, Hamburg, Holstein, and even 
Denmark, with other neighboring countries, were moved 
at the sound of this new doctrine. 

The elector Frederick had declared that he would 
allow the bishops to preach freely in his states, but 
that he would deliver no one into their hands. Ac- 
cordingly the evangelical teachers persecuted in other 
countries soon took refuge in Saxony. Ibach of Frank- 
fort, Eberlin of Ulm, Kauxdorf of Magdeburg, Valentine 
Mustoeus, whom the canons of Halberstadt had horribly 
mutilated,* and other faithful ministers, coming from all 
parts of Germany, fled to Wittemberg, as the only asy- 
lum in which they could be secure. Here they conversed 
with the reformers ; at their feet they strengthened 
themselves in the faith ; and communicated to them their 

• Aliquot ministri canonicorum capiunt D. Valentinum Mus- 
teeum et vinctum manibus pedibufique, injecto in ejus os freno, 
deferunt per trabc-s in inferiores ccenobii partes, ibique in cell! 
oerevisiaria eum castrant Hamelmann, Historia renati EvangeUi^ 



LUTHER^S SENTIMENTS. 



own experience and the knowledge they had acquired. 
It is thus the waters of the rivers return by the clouds 
from the vast expanse of the ocean, to feed the glaciers 
whence they first descended to the plains. 

The work which was evolving at Wittemberg, and 
formed in this manner of many different elements, be* 
came more and more the work of the nation, of Europo, 
and of Christendom. This school, founded by Frederick, 
and quickened by Luther, was the centre of an immense 
revolution which regenerated the church, and impressed 
on it a real and living unity far superior to the appar- 
ent unity of Rome. The Bible reigned at Wittemberg, 
and its oracles were heard on all sides. This academy, 
the most recent of all, had acquired that rank and influ- 
ence in Christendom which had hitherto belonged to 
the ancient university of Paris. The crowds that flock- 
ed thither from every part of Europe made known the 
wants of the church and of the nations ; and as they 
quitted these walls, now become holy to them, thoy 
carried back with them to the church and the people 
the word of grace appointed to heal and to save the 
nations. 

Luther, as he witnessed this success, felt his con- 
fidence increase. He beheld this feeble undertaking, 
begun in the midst of so many fears and struggles, 
changing the aspect of the (Christian world, and was 
himself astonished at the result. He had foreseen noth- 
ing of the kind, when first he rose up against Tetzel. 
Prostrate before the God whom he adored, he confessed 
the work to be His, and exulted in the assurance of a 
victory that could not be torn from him. "Our ene- 
mies threaten us with death," said he to Harmuth of 
Cronberg ; "if they had as much wisdom as foolish- 
ness, they would, on the contrary, threaten us with lite. 
What an absurdity and insult to presume to threatcB 
death ic Christ and Christians, who are themselves lords 

aud conquerors of death.* It is as if I would 

seek to frighten a man by saddling his horse and help- 
ing him to mount. Do they not know that Christ is 
* Horren and Siegmauner des Todea. L. Epp. 2. 164. 



136 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



risen from the dead ? In their eyes, he is still lying in 
the sepulchre ; nay, more, in hell. Bat we know that 
he lives." He was grieved at the thought that he was 
regarded as the author of a work, in the smallest details 
of which he beheld the hand of God. ^*Many believe 
because of me," said he. " But those alone truly be* 
lieve, who would continue faithful even should they 
hear — which God forbid — that I had denied Jesus Christ 
True disciples believe not in Luther, but in Jesus Christ. 
As for myself, I do not care about Luther.* Whether 
he is a saint or a knave, what matters it ? It is not he 
that I preach, but Christ. If the devil can take him, 
let him do so. But let Christ abide with us, and we 
shall abide also." 

And vainly, indeed, would men endeavor to explain 
this great movement by mere human circumstances 
Men of letters, it is true, sharpened their wits and dis- 
charged their keen-pointed arrows against the pope and 
the monks ; the shout of liberty, which Germany had so 
often raised against the tyranny of the Italians, again 
resounded in the castles and provinces ; the people 
were delighted with the song of "the nightingale of 
Wittemberg," a herald of the spring that was every- 
where bursting forth.f But it was not a mere outward 
movement, similar to that effected by a longing for 
earthly liberty, that was then accomplishing. Those 
who assert that the Reformation was brought about by 
bribing princes with the wealth of the convents, the 
priests with permission to marry, and the people with 
the prospect of freedom, are strangely mistaken in its 
nature. No doubt a useful employment of the funds 
that had hitherto Fupported the sloth of the monks — ^no 
doubt marriage And liberty, gifts that proceed direct 
from God, might have favored the development of the 
Reformation ; but the mainspring was not there. An 
interior revolution was then going on in the depths of 
the human heart. Christians were again learning to 
love, to pardon, to pray, to suffer, and even to die foi 

* Ich keane auch selbst nicht den Luther. L. Epp. 2. 168. 
t Wittemberger Nachtigall, a poem by Hans Sachs, 1523. 



POWSE OP THE WORD. 



137 



a truth that offered no repose save in heaven. The 
church was passing through a state of transformation. 
Christianity was bursting the bonds in which it had so 
long been confined, and returning in life and vigor into 
a world that had forgotten its ancient power. The hand 
that made the world was turned towards it again ; and 
the gospel, reappearing in the midst of the nations, 
accelerated its course, notwithstanding the violent and 
repeated efforts of priests and kings — like the ocean 
which, when the hand of God presses on its surfacOj 
rises calm and majestic along its shores, so that no 
human power is able to resist its progress. 



{ 



THB POLITICAL ELEMEH*. 



136 



BOOKX. 

AGITATION, REVERSES, AND PROGRESS. 

1522-1526 

CHAPTER I. 

Political element — Want of enthusiasm at Rome — Siege of Pamp& 
luna — Courage of Ignatius — Transition — Luther and Loyoia— 
Visions — Two principles. 

The Reformation, which at first had existed in the 
hearts of a few pious men, had entered into the worship 
and the life of the church ; it was natural that it would 
take a new step, and penetrate into civil relationships and 
the life of nations. Its progress was always from the in- 
terior to the exterior. We are about to see this great rev- 
olution taking possession of the political life of the world. 

For eight centuries past, Europe had formed one vast 
sacerdotal state. Emperors and kings had been under 
the patronage of popes. Whenever any energetic re- 
sistance had been offered to her audacious pretensions, 
particularly in Germany and France, Rome eventually 
had the upperhand, and princes, docile agents of her ter- 
rible decrees, had been seen fighting to secure her do 
minion against private believers obedient to their rule 
and profusely shedding in her behalf the blood of theii 
people's children. 

No injury could be inflicted on this vast ecclesiastical 
state of which the pope was the head, without affecting 
tlie political relations. 

Two great ideas then agitated Germany. On the one 
hand, a desire for a revival of faith ; and on the other, a 
longing for a national government, in which the German 
states might be represented, and thus serve as a coun* 
terpoise to the power of the emperors.* 

• Pfeffel Droit publ. de TAllemagne, 690 ; RoberteoD, Charles 
v., 3. 114 ; Eanke, Deutsche Gesoh. 



140 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 



The elector Frederick had insisted en this latter point 
at the election of Maximilian's successor ; and the youth- 
ful Charles had complied. A national government had 
been framed in consequence, consisting of the imperial 
governor and representatives of the electors and circles. 

Thus Luther reformed the church, and Frederick of 
Saxony reformed the state. 

But while, simultaneously with the religious reform, 
important political modifications were introduced by the 
leaders of the nation, it was to be feared that the common- 
alty would also put itself in motion, and by its excesses, 
both in politics and religion, compromise both reforms. 

This violent and fanatical intrusion of the people and 
of certain ringleaders, which seems inevitable where so- 
ciety is shaken and in a state of transition, did not fail 
to take place in Germany at the period of which we are 
now treating. 

There were other circumstances also that contributed 
to give rise to such disorders. 

The emperor and the pope had combined against the 
Reformation, and it seemed on the point of falling be- 
neath the blows of two such powerful enemies. Policy, 
ambition, and interest compelled Charles Y. and Leo X. 
to attempt its destruction. But these are poor champions 
to contend against the truth. Devotedness to a cause 
which is looked upon as sacred can only be conquered by 
a similar devotedness. But the Romans, yielding to the 
impulses of a Leo X., were enthusiastic about a sonnet or 
a melody, and insensible to the religion of Jesus Christ ; 
and if any less futile thought came across their minds, 
instead of purifying and tempering their hearts anew in 
the Christianity of the apostles, they were busied with 
alliances, wars, conquests, and entreaties, which gained 
new provinces, and with cold disdain left the Reforma* 
tion to awaken on all sides a religious enthusiasm, and 
march triumphantly to more noble conqaests. The ene- 
my that had been doomed to destruction in the cathedra) 
of Worms, reappeared full of confidence and strength ; 
the contest must be severe, and blood must flow. 

Yet some of the most imminent dangers that threat. 



ANXIETIES OF THE EMIEROR. 141 



ened the Eeformation seemed at this time to be disap- 
pearing. Shortly before the publication of the edict of 
Worms, the youthful Charles, standiog one day at a win- 
dow of his palace with his confessor, had said, it is true, 
as he laid his hand on his heart, "I swear to hang up 
this very window the first man who shall declare himself 
a Lutheran after the publication of my edict."* But it 
was not long before his zeal abated considerably. His 
project for reviving the ancient glory of the holy empire, 
that is to say, of increasing his own power, had been 
coldly received.f Dissatisfied with Germany, he left the 
banks of the Ehine, repaired to the Netherlands, and 
availed himself of his residence there to afibrd the monks 
those gratifications that he found himself unable to give 
them in the empire. Luther's works were burnt at Ghent 
by the hangman with all possible solemnity. More than 
fifty thousand spectators were present at this auto-darfi6 ; 
the emperor himself looking on with an approving smile. J 
He thence proceeded to Spain, where wars and internal 
dissensions compelled him, for a time at least, to leave 
Germany at peace. Since he is refused in the empire 
the power to which he lays claim, let others hunt down 
the heretic of Wittemberg. More anxious thoughts en- 
grossed all his attention. 

In effect, Francis I., impatient to try his strength 
with his rival, had thrown down the gauntlet. Under 
the pretence of restoring the children of Jean d'AIbret 
king of Navarre to their patrimony, he had begun a 
bloody struggle, destined to last all his life, by invading 
that kingdom with an army under the command of Les- 
parre, whose rapid conquests were only checked by the 
fortress of Pampeluna. 

On these strong walls an enthusiasm was kindled, 
destined afterwards to oppose the enthusiasm of the 

* Sancte juro .... eum ex hac fenestra meo jussu suspensum iri, 
Fallav. 1. 130. f Essendo tjrnato dalla Dieta che sua Maesta 
haveva fatta in Wormatia, escluso d'ogni conclusion buona d'ajuti 
e di favori che si fussi proposto d'ottenere in essa. Instructions tc 
Cardinal Farnese. MS. in the Corsini library, published by Ranke. 

i Ipso CsBsare ore subridenti, spectaculo plaufiit. Pallav. 1. 13(1 



142 HISTORY OF THE REFOUMATIOK. 



reformer, and to breathe into the Papacy a new spirit Oi 
energy, devotedness, and authority. Pampeluna was 
destined to be the cradle, as it were, of the rival of the 
Wittemberg monk. 

The chivalrous spirit that had so long animated the 
Christian world survived in Spain alone. The wars 
against the Moors, scarcely terminated in the Peninsula, 
and continually breaking out in Africa, with distant and 
adventurous expeditions beyond the seas, fostered in the 
Castilian youths that enthusiastic and unaffected valor 
of which Amadis formed the ideal model. 

Among the defenders of Pampeluna was a young gen- 
tleman, Inigo Lopez of Recalda, the youngest of a family 
of thirteen children. Recalda, better known as Ignatius 
Loyola, had been brought up in the court of Ferdinand 
the Catholic. His person was graceful ;* he was expert 
in handling the sword and the lance, and ardently desired 
the glory of chivalry. To array himself in glittering 
arms, to ride a noble 8teed,f to expose himself to the 
brilliant dangers of the tournament, to engage in hazard- 
ous exploits, to share in the envenomed struggles of fac- 
tion, J and to display as much devotion for St. Peter as for 
his ladylove — such was the life of this young chevalier. 

The governor of Navarre having gone into Spain to 
procure succors, had left the defence of Pampeluna to 
Inigo and a few nobles. The latter, perceiving the supe 
riority of the French troops, resolved to withdraw. Inigo 
conjured them to make a stand against Lesparre ; find- 
ing them resolute in their intention, he looked at them 
with indignation, accusing them of cowardice and per- 
fidy ; he then flung himself alone into the citadel, deter- 
mined to hold it at the peril of his life.§ 

The 'French, who were enthusiastically received into 
Pampeluna, having proposed a capitulation to the com- 

• Cilin esset in corporis ornatu elegantissimus. Mafifei Vita Lo 
jrolsB) 1686, p. 3. f Equorumque et armorum usu praecellerei 

Ibid. t Partim in factibnum rixarumque periculis, partim in 

amatoria vesania .... tempus consumeret. Ibid. § Ardenti- 
bu8 oculis, detestatus ignaviam pertidiamque, spectantibufi omnibuA, 
in an>i;in eolm introit. Ibid. 6. 



INiaO'S STUDIES. 



143 



mander of the fortress, " Let us suffer every thing*,*' said 
Inigo impetuously to his companions, " rather than sur- 
render."* Upon this the French began to batter the 
walls with their powerful machines, and soon attempted 
an assault. Inlgo^s courage and exhortations inspirited 
the Spaniards ; they repelled the assailants with arrows, 
swords, and battle-axes ; Inigo fought at their head : 
Btanding on the ramparts, his eyes glistening with rage, 
the young cavalier brandished his sword, and the enemy 
fell beneath his blows Suddenly a ball struck the wall 
which he was defending ; a splinter from the stone 
wounded him severely in the right leg, and the ball 
recoiling with the violence of the blow, broke his left 
leg. Inigo fell senseless.f The garrison surrendered 
immediately ; and the French, admiring the courage of 
their youthful opponent, conveyed him in a litter to his 
parents in the castle of Loyola. In this lordly mansion, 
from which he afterwards derived his name, Inigo had 
been born, eight years after Luther, of one of the most 
illustrious families of that district. 

A painful operation had become necessary. Under 
the most acute sufferings, Inigo firmly clenched his 
hands, but did not utter a single groan.J 

Confined to a wearisome inactivity, he found it neo 
essary to employ his active imagination. In the absence 
of the romances of chivalry, which had hitherto been his 
only mental food, he took up the life of Jesus Christ, and 
the legends or Flowers of the Saints. This kind of read- 
ing, in his state of solitude and sickness, produced an 
extraordinary impression on his mind. The noisy life of 
tournaments and battles, which had hitherto exclusively 
occupied his thoughts, appeared to recede, to fade and 
vanish from his sight, and at the sam'^ time a more glo- 
rious career seemed opening before his astonished eyes. 
The huiT-ble actions of the saints and their heroic suffer- 
iugs appeared far more worthy of praise than all the- high 

* Tam acri ac vehementi oratione coramilitonibus dissuasit. 
Maffei Vita Loyolae, 1686, p. 6. f Ut e v^iFtigio semianimis all* 
enata mente corruerit. lb. 7. J Nullum aliud iudicium dedit 
ilgjoris, nm ut cpactos in pugnum digitos valdc confitringeret Ih. & 



144 HISTOUY OP THE EEFOEMATlOll 



feats of arms and chivalry. Stretched upon his bed, a 
prey to fever, he yielded to the most opposite thoughts. 
The world that he was forsaking, the world whose holy 
mortifications lay before him, appeared together, the one 
with its pleasures, the other with its austerities ; and 
these two worlds contended in deadly struggle within 
lis bosom. " What if I were to act like St. Francis or 
3t. Dominick ?" said he.* Then the image of the lady to 
«rhcm he had pledged his heart rose before him : " She 
is not a countess," exclaimed he with artless vanity, 
" nor a duchess ; but her condition is much loftier than 
either.^f Such thoughts as these filled him with dis- 
tress and ennui^ while his plan of imitating the saints 
inspired him with peace and joy. 

From this period his choice was made. As soon as 
his health was restored, he determined to bid adieu to 
the world. After having, like Luther, shared in one 
more repast with his old companions in arms, he depart- 
ed alone, in great secrecy, | for the solitary dwellings 
that the hermits of St. Benedict had hewn out of the 
rocks of Montserrat. Impelled not by a sense of sin or 
his need of divine grace, but by a desire to become a 
"knight of the Virgin," and of obtaining renown by 
mortifications and pious works, after the example of the 
whole army of saints, he confessed for three days to- 
gether, gave his rich attire to a beggar, put on sack 
cloth, and girt himself with a rope.§ Then, remember- 
ing the celebrated armed vigils of Amadis of Gaul, he 
suspended his sword before an image of Mary, passed 
the night in watching in his new and strange costume, 
and sometimes on his knees, sometimes upright, but al- 
ways in prayer and with the pilgrim's staff in his hand, 
he repeated all the devout practices that the illustrious 

* Quid si ego hoc agerem quod fecit beatus Franc iscus> quid si 
hoc quod beatus Dominicus? Acta Sanct. 7. 634. f Non era 
condessa, ni duquessa, mas era su estado mas alto. Ibid. 

X Ibi duce amicisque ita salutatis, ut arcana consiliorum suorum 
quam accuratissime tegeret. Matfei, p. 16. § Pretiosa vesti- 

menta quibus erat ornatus, pannoso cuidam largitus, satuo a^ae 
Alacer induit ac fune prsecinxit. Ibid. 20. 



C0MPU1TCTI0J5TS OP COKSCIENOE. 145 



Amadis had observed before him. " It was ihwiy^ says 
his biographer, the Jesuit Maffei, "that while Satan was 
arming Luther against all laws human and divine, and 
while that infamous heresiarch appeared at Worms, aiid 
impiously declared war against the apostolic see, Christ, 
by a call from his heavenly providence, was awakeni .ag 
this new champion, and binding him, and those who were 
to follow in his steps, to the service of the Roman pon- 
tiflf, and opposing him to the licentiousness and fury of 
heretical depravity."* 

Loyola, although still lame in one of his legs, drag- 
ged himself by winding and lonely paths to Manresa, 
where he entered a Dominican convent, in order to de- 
vote himself in this secluded spot to the severest morti- 
fications. Like Luther, he daily begged his bread from 
door to door.f He passed seven hours upon his knees, 
and scourged himself three times a day ; at midnight he 
rose to pray ; he allowed his hair and nails to grow, and 
in the thin pale face of the monk of Manresa it won. 
have been impossible to recognize the young and brill- 
iant knight of Pampeluna. 

Yet the hour had come when religious ideas, which 
hitherto had been to Inigo a mere chivalrous amusemeni;, 
were to be evolved in him with greater depth, and make 
him sensible of a power to which he was as yet a stran- 
ger. Suddenly, without any thing to give him warning, 
the joy he had felt disappeared.^ In vain he had re- 
course to prayer and singing hymns ; he could find no 
rest.§ His imagination had ceased to call up pleasing 
illusions ; he was left alone with his conscience. A 
state so new to him was beyond hia comprehension, and 
he fearfully asked himself whether God, after all the sac- 
rifices he had made, was still angry with him. Night 
and day gloomy terrors agitated his soul ; he shed bit- 

• Furori ac libidini haereticai pravitatis opponeret. Maffei, p. 21. 

1 Victum ostiatim precibus, infimis emendicare quotidie. lb. 23. 

\ Tunc subito, nulla praecedente significatioae, prorsus exui nu- 
darique se omni gaudio sentiret. lb. 27. § Nec jam in pre- 
cibus, neque in psalmis ullam iuTeniret delet -tationem aat 

requiem. Ibid. 

H;«t.of R«C lU. I Q 



146 



HISTORY OF THE EEFOHM ATION. 



ter tears ; with loud cries he called for the peace of mhui 
which he had lost, .... but all was in vain.* He then 
recommenced the long confession he had made at Montr 
aerrat. "Perhaps," thought he, "I have forgotten some- 
thing." But this confession only increased his anguish, 
for il reminded him of all his errors. He wandered about 
gloomy and dejected ; his conscience iaccused him of hav* 
ing done nothing all his life but add sin to sin ; and the 
wretched man, a prey to overwhelming terrors, filled the 
cloister with his groans. 

Strange thoughts then entered into his heart. Find- 
ing no consolation in confession, or in the various ordi- 
nances of the church,f he began, like Luther, to doubt 
their efficacy. But instead of forsaking the works of 
men, and seeking the all-sufficient work of Christ, he 
asked himself whether he should not again pursue the 
pleasures of time. His soul sprang eagerly towards the 
delights of the world he had renounced,! but immedi- 
ately recoiled with alfright. 

Was there, at that time, any difference between the 
monk of Manresa and the monk of Erfurth ? Unques- 
tionably in secondary points, but the state of their souls 
was the same. Both were deeply sensible of the multi- 
tude of their sins. Both were seeking for reconciliation 
with God, and longed to have the assurance in their 
hearts. If a Staupitz with the Bible in his hand had ap- 
peared in the convent of Manresa, possibly Inigo might 
have become the Luther of the Peninsula. These two 
great men of the sixteenth century, these founders of 
two spiritual powers which for three centuries have been 
warring together, were at this moment brothers ; and 
perhaps, if they had met, Luther and Loyola would have 
embraced, and mingled their tears and their prayers. 

But from this hour the two monks were destined to 
follow entirely different paths. 

Inigo, instead of feeling that his remorse was sent to 

* Van is agitari terror ibus, dies noctesque fletibus jungere. Maf- 
fei, p. 28. t Ut nulla jam res mitigare dolorem posse videro* 

tur. Ibid. 29. t Et saeculi commodis repeteadis magno qfW 

dam impetu cogitaverit. Ibid. 3Q. 



LOYOLA AND HIS VISIONS. 



147 



drive him to the foot of the cross, persuaded himself that 
these inward reproaches proceeded not from God, but 
from the devil ; and he resolved never more to think of 
his sins, to erase them from his memory, and bury them 
in eternal oblivion.* Luther turned towards Christ ; 
Loyola only fell back upon himself. 

Visions came erelong to confirm Inigo in the convic- 
tion at which he had arrived. His own resolves had 
become a substitute for the grace of the Lord ; his own 
imaginings supplied the place of God's word. He had 
looked upon the voice of God in his conscience as the 
voice of the devil ; and accordingly the remainder of his 
history represents him as given up to the inspirations oi 
the spirit of darkness. 

One day Loyola met an old woman, as Luther in the 
hour of his trial was visited by an old man. But the 
Spanish woman, instead of proclaiming remission of sins 
to the penitent of Manresa, predicted visitations from 
Jesus. Such was the Christianity to which Loyola, like 
the prophets of Zwickau, had recourse. Liigo did not 
seek truth in the holy Scriptures, but imagined in their 
place immediate communication with the world of spirits. 
He soon lived entirely in ecstasies and contemplation. 

One day, as he was going to the church of St. Paul 
outside the city, he walked along the banks of the Llo- 
bregat, and sat down absorbed in meditation. His eyes 
were fixed on the river which rolled its deep waters si- 
lently before him. He was lost in thought. Suddenly 
he fell into an ecstasy : he saw with his bodily eyes 
what men can with difficulty understand after much 
reading, long vigils, and study.f He rose, and as he 
stood on the brink of the river, he appeared to have be- 
come another man ; he then knelt down at the foot of a 
cross which was close at hand, prepared to sacrifice his 
life in the service of that cause whose mysteries had 
just been revealed to him. 

From this time his visions became more frequent. 

* Sine uUa dubitatione constituit praeteritae vitae labes perpetua 
oblivione conterere. Maffei, p. 31. f Quae vix demum solent 

hominefi mtelligeiitia cumprehendere. Ibid. 3^ 



148 HISTOET OF THE REFORMATION. 



Sitting one day on the steps of St. Dominick's chntoh at 
Manresa, he was singing a hymn to the holy Virgin, 
when on a sudden his soul was wrapt in ecstasy ; he 
remained motionless, absorbed in contemplation ; the 
myst»^ry of the most holy Trinity was revealed to his 
sight under magnificent symbols ;* he shed tears, filled 
ii:e ciiurch with his sobs, and all day long continued 
speaking of this ineffable vision. 

These numerous apparitions had removed all his 
doubts ; he believed, not like Luther because the things 
of faith were written in the word of God, but because 
of the visions he had seen. " Even had there been no 
Bible,'' say his apologists, "even had these mysteries 
never been revealed in Scripture,f he would have be- 
lieved them, for God had appeared to him."t Luther, 
on taking his doctor's degree, had pledged his oath to 
holy Scripture, § and the only infallible authority of the 
word of God had become the fundamental principle of 
the Reformation. Loyola, at this time, bound himself to 
dreams and visions ; and chimerical apparitions became 
the principle of his life and of his faith. 

Luther's sojourn in the convent of Erfurth, and that 
of Loyola in the convent of Manresa, explain to us — the 
first, the Reformation ; the latter, modern Popery. The 
monk who was to reanimate the exhausted vigor of Rome 
repaired to Jerusalem after quitting the cloister. We 
will not follow him on this pilgrimage, as we shall meet 
with him again in the course of this history. 

* En figuras de tres teclas. f Quod etsi nulla scriptura 

mysteria ilia fidei doceret. Acta Sanct. t Qm^ l^eo sibi apd* 

nente cognoverant. Mafifei, p. 34 § YoL L, p. 213. 



DEATH OP LEO X 



149 



CHAPTER II. 

Viotory of the pope — Death of Leo X. — Tbo oratory of divina love 
— Adrian VI. — Plan of reform — Opposition. 

While these events were taking place in Spain, Home 
herself appeared to be assuming a more serious charac- 
ter. The great patron of music, hunting, and festivities 
disappeared from the pontifical throne, and was suc- 
ceeded by a pious and grave monk. 

Leo X. had been greatly delighted at hearing of the 
edict of Worms and Luther's captivity ; and immediately, 
in testimony of his victory, he had consigned the eflBgy 
and writings of the reformer to the flames.* It was the 
second or third time that Rome had indulged in this in- 
nocent pleasure. At the same time Leo X., wishing to 
testify his gratitude to Charles V., united his army with 
the emperor's. The French were compelled to evacuate 
Parma, Piacenza, and Milan ; and Giulio de Medici, the 
pope's cousin, entered the latter city. The pope was thua 
approaching the summit of human power. 

These events took place at the beginning of winter 
1521. Leo X. was accustomed to spend the autumn in 
the country. At such times he would leave Rome with- 
out surplice, and what was considered still more scan- 
dalous, wearing boots.f At Viterbo he amused himself 
with hawking ; at Corneti in hunting the stag : the lake 
of Bolsena afforded him the pleasure of fishing ; thence 
he passed to his favorite villa at Malliana, where he spent 
his time in the midst of festivities. Musicians, impro 
visatori, and all the artists whose talents could enliven 

* Comburi jussit alteram vultus in ejus statua, alterim animl 
ejus in libris. Pallav. 1. 128. f Paris de Grassis, his master 

of the ceremonies, has this entry in his diary ; "Thursday, Jan. 10, 
after breakfast, the pope went to Toscanello and its neighborhood. 
He went without his stole, and worse than that, without his rochet| 
and worse than all, wore boots." Diar. inedit 



160 HISTOET OP THE REFORMATION. 



this delightful abode, were gathered round the pontiff. 
He was residing there when he received intelligence ol 
the capture of Milan. A great agitation immediat<3ly 
ensued in the villa. The courtiers and officers could not 
restrain their exultation, the Swiss discharged thc'r car- 
bines, and Leo, in excess of joy, walked up and down 
his room all night, from time to time looking out of the 
wiidow at the rejoicings of the soldiers and of the peo- 
ple. He returned to Rome fatigued, but intoxicated with 
success. He had scarcely arrived at the Vatican when 
he felt suddenly indisposed. " Pray for me,'' said he to 
his attendants. He had not even time to receive the 
holy sacrament, and died in the prime of life, at the age 
of forty-five, in the hour of victory, and amid the noise 
of rejoicing. 

The crowd followed the pontiff to the grave, loading 
him with abuse. They could not forgive him for having 
died without the sacrament, and for leaving his debts 
unpaid, the result of his enormous expenses. "Yon 
gained your pontificate like a fox," said the Romans ; 
you held it like a lion, and left it like a dog." 

Such was the funeral oration with which Rome hon- 
ored the pope who excommunicated the Reformation, 
and whose name serves to designate one of the great 
epochs in history. 

Meantime a feeble reaction against the spirit of Leo 
and of Rome was already beginning in Rome itself. 
Some pious men had there established an oratory for 
their common edification,* near the spot which tradition 
assigns as the place where the early Christians used to 
meet. Contarini, who had heard Luther at Worms, was 
the leader in these prayer-meetings. Thus a species of 
reformation was beginning at Rome almost at the same 
time as at Wittemberg. It has been said with truth, 
that wherever the seeds of piety exist, there also are the 
germs of reformation. But these good intentions were 
soon to be frustrated. 

In other times, a Gregory VII. or an Innocent III 

• Si unirono in un oratorio, chiamato del divino amore, circa 
sessanta di loio. Caracciolo, Vita da Paolo IV. MS. Eanke. 



ADRIAN'S CHARACTER. 



15J 



would have been chosen to succeed Leo X., could such 
men have been found ; but the interest of the empire 
was now superior to that of the church, and Charles V. 
required a pope devoted to his service. The Cardinal 
de Medici, afterwa-ds Clement VII., seeing that he had 
no chance at present of obtaining the tiara, exi laimed, 
'• Elect the Cardinal of Tortosa, a man in years, and 
whom every one regards as a saint." This prelate, who 
was a native of Utrecht, and sprung from the middle 
classes, was chosen, and reigned under the title of Ad- 
rian VI. He had been professor at Louvain, and after- 
wards tutor to Charles V., by whose influence he was 
invested with the Roman purple in 1517. Cardinal de 
Vio supported his nomination. "Adrian," said he, "had 
a great share in Luther's condemnation by the Louvain 
doctors."* The cardinals, tired out and taken by sur- 
prise, elected this foreigner ; but as soon as they came 
to their senses, says a chrotiicler, they almost died of 
fright. The thought that the austere Netherlander 
would not accept the tiara, gave them some little con- 
solation at first ; but this hope was not of long duration 
Pasquin represented the pontiff elect under the charac- 
ter of a schoolmaster, and the cardinals as little boys 
under the rod. The citizens were so exasperated that 
the members of the conclave thought themselves fortu- 
nate to have escaped being thrown into the river.f In 
Holland, on the contrary, the people testified by general 
rejoicings their delight at giving a pope to the church. 
" Utrecht planted ; Louvain watered ; the emperor gave 
the increase," was the inscription on the hangings sus- 
pended from the fronts of the houses. A wag wrote below 
these words, "And God had nothing to do with it." 

Notwithstanding the dissatisfaction at first manifestr 
ed by the people of Rome, Adrian VI. repaired to that 
city in the month of August, 1522, and was well received. 
It was reported that he had more than five thousand ben- 
efices in his gift, and every man reckoned on having his 
share. For many years the papal throne had not been 

* Doctores Lovanienses accepisse consilium a tarn conepicuc 
alumuo. Pallav. p. 1^6 f Sleidan, Hist, de la R6f. 1. 124. 



162 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH 



filled by such a pontilF. Just, active, learned, pious, Bii> 
C5ere, and of irreproachable morals, he permitted himself 
to be blinded neither by favor nor passion. 

He followed the middle course traced out by Erasmus; 
and in a book reprinted at Rome during his pontificate, 
he said, " It is certain that the pope may err *n matters of 
faith, in defending heresy by his opinions or decretals/'* 
fhis iff indeed a remarkable assertion for a pope to make,^ 
and if the ultramontanists reply that Adrian was mis- 
taken on this point, by this very circumstance they afiOrni 
what they deny, namely, the fallibility of the popes. 

Adrian arrived at the Vatican with his old house- 
keeper, whom he charged to continue providing frugally 
for his moderate wants in that magnificent palace which 
Leo X. had filled with luxury and dissipation. He had 
not a single taste in common with his predecessor. 
When he was shown the magnificent group of Laocoon, 
discovered a few years before, and purchased at an 
enormous price by Julius II., he turned coldly away, 
observing, "They are the idols of the heathen." "I 
would rather serve God," said he, " in my deanery of 
Louvain, than be pope at Rome." Alarmed at the dan- 
gers with which the Reformation threatened the religion 
of the middle ages, and not, like the Italians, at those to 
which Rome and her hierarchy were exposed, it was his 
earnest desire to combat and check it ; and he judged 
the best means to this end would be a reform of the 
church carried out by the church itself. " The church 
needs a reform," said he ; " but we must go step by 
step." " The pope means," says Luther, " that a few 
centuries should intervene between each step." In truth, 
for ages the church had been moving towards a reforma- 
tion. But there was no longer room for temporizijig ; 
it was necessary to act. 

Faithful to his plan, Adrian set about banishing from 
ttft city all perjurers, profane persons, and usurers — a 

• Cerium est quod Pontifex potuit errare in iis quae tauguat 
fidem, hffiresim per suam determinationem aut decretalem asseren- 
do. Comm. in lib. 4. Sententiarum Quest, de Sacr. Confirm. Koma% 
1622. foUo. 



ADRIAN'S EEFORMS OPPOSED, 168 



task by no means easy, since they formed a considerable 
portion of the inhabitants. 

At first the Romans ridiculed him ; soon tne^ began 
to hate him. The sacerdotal rule, the immense profits 
it brought, the power of Rome, the sports, festivals, and 
luxury that filled it — all would be irretrievably lost, if 
there was a return to apostolic manners. 

The restoration of discipline, in particular, met with 
a strong opposition. To succeed in this," said the car- 
dinal high-penitentiary, " we must first revive the zeal 
of Christians. The remedy is more than the patient can 
bear, and will cause his death. Beware lest, by wishing 
to preserve Germany, you should lose Italy."* In effect, 
Adrian had soon greater cause to fear Romanism than 
Lutheranism itself. 

Exertions were made to bring him back to the path 
he was desirous of quitting. The old and crafty Cardi- 
nal Soderini of Volterra, the familiar friend of Alexander 
VI., Julius II., and Leo X.,f often let fall hints well 
adapted to prepare the worthy Adrian for that charac- 
ter, so strange to him, which he was called upon to fill. 
"The heretics," remarked Soderini one day, "have in 
all ages spoken of the corrupt manners of the court ol 
Rome, and yet the popes have never changed them." 
"It has never been by reforms," said he on another 
occasion, "that heresies have been put down, but by 
crusades." " Alas," replied the pontiff with a deep sigh, 
" how unhappy is the fate of a pope, since he has not 
even the liberty to do what is right 1"| 

♦ Sarpi, Hist. Council of Trent, p. 20, f Per longa espo 

riensd delle cose del man do, molto prudente e accorto. Nardi 
Hist. Fior. lib. 7. X Sarpi, Hist. Council of Trent, p. 21. 



154 HISTORT OF THE EEFOEMATION 



CHAPTER III. 

Diet of Nuremberg — Solimau's invasion — The nuncio calls for Lu 
ther's death- — The Nuremberg preachers — Promise of reform- 
Grievances of the nation — Decree of the diet — Fulminating let* 
tei of the pope — Luther's advice. 

On the 23d of March, 1522, before Adrian had 
reached Rome, the diet assembled at Nuremberg. Prior 
to this date the bishops of Mersburg and Misnia had 
asked permission of the elector of Saxony to make a 
visitation of the convents and churches in his states. 
Frederick, thinking that truth would be strong enough 
to resist error, had given a favorable reply to this re- 
quest, and the visitation took place. The bishops and 
their doctors preached violently against the Reform a* 
tion, exhorting, threatening, and entreating ; but their 
arguments seemed useless ; and when, desirous of hav- 
ing recourse to more effectual weapons, they called upon 
the secular authority to carry out their decrees, the elec- 
tor's ministers replied, that the business was one that 
required to be examined according to the Bible, and that 
the elector in his advanced age could not begin to study 
divinity. These efforts of the bishops did not lead one 
soul back to the fold of Rome ; and Luther, who passed 
through these districts shortly after, and preached in 
his usual powerful strain, erased the feeble impressions 
that had been here and there produced. 

It might be feared that the emperor's brother, the 
archduke Ferdinand, would do what Frederick had re- 
fused. This young prince, who presided during part of 
the sittings of the diet, gradually acquiring more firm- 
ness, might in his zeal rashly draw the sword which 
his more prudent and politic brother wisely left in the 
Bcabbard. In fact, he had already begun a cruel perse- 
cution of the partisans of the Reformation in his hered- 
itary states of Austria. But God on several occasions 
made use of the same instrument for the deliverance of 



A NEW STORM. 



155 



reviving Christianity that he had employed in the de« 
Btruction of corrupt Christianity. The crescent appeared 
in the terrified provinces of Hungary. On the 9th of 
A-ugust, after a six weeks' siege, Belgrade, the bulwark 
of this kingdom and of the empire, fell before Soliman's 
attack. The followers of Mohammed, after having evao- 
aated Spain, seemed bent on entering Europe by the 
east. The diet of Nuremberg forgot the monk of 
Worms, to think only of the sultan of Constantinople. 
But Charles V. kept both these adversaries ^in mind. On 
the 31st of October, he wrote to the pope from Vallado- 
lid, "We must check the Turks, and punish the abettors 
of Luther's poisonous doctrines with the sword."* 

The storm which seemed to be passing away from 
the Reformation, and turning towards the east, soon 
gathered anew over the head of the reformer. His re- 
turn to Wittemberg, and the zeal he had there dis- 
played, rekindled animosity. " Now that we know 
where to catch him,'' said Duke George, " let us execute 
the decree of Worms." It was even asserted in Ger- 
many that Charles V. and Adrian would meet at Nurem- 
berg to concert their plans.f " Satan feels the wound 
that has been inflicted on him," says Luther ; " and this 
is why he is so furious. But Christ has already stretch- 
ed out his hand, and will soon trample him under foot 
in spite of the gates of hell." J 

In the month of December, 1522, the diet again as- 
sembled at Nuremberg. Every thing seemed to indi- 
cate, that if Soliman had been the great enemy that had 
engaged its attention in the spring session, Luther 
would be that of the winter meeting. Adrian VI., in 
consequence of his German descent, flattered himself 
with the hope of a more favorable reception from his 
nation than any pope of Italian origin could expect § 

• Das man die Nachfolger derselben vergiften Lehre, mit dem 
Schwert strafen mag. L. 0pp. 17. 321. f Cum fama sit fwtia 
et Caesarem et papam Narnbergam conventuros. L. Epp. 2. i.i4:, 

t Sed Christus, qui coepit, conteret eum. Ibid. 215. 

§ Quod ex ea regione venirent, unde nobis secundum camezn 
wigo est Papal Brief. L. 0pp. I.at 2. 352. 



156 



HISTORT OF THffi HEFORMATION . 



He therefore commissioned Chierep^ati, whcm be had 
known in Spain, to repair to Nuremberg. 

As soon as the diet had opened, several princes 
spoke strongly against Luther. The cardinal -arch- 
bishop of Salzburg, who had enjoyed the full confidence 
of the emperor, desired that prompt and decisive meas- 
ures should be taken before the arrival of the elector oi 
Saxony. The elector Joachim of Brandenburg, always 
decided in his proceedings, and the chap.cellor of Treves, 
alike pressed for the execution of the edict of Worms. 
The other princes were in a great measure undecided 
and divided in opinion. The state of confusion in which 
the church was placed filled its most faithful servants 
with anguish. The bishop of Strasburg exclaimed, in a 
full meeting of the diet, *^ I would give one of my fingers 
not to be a priest."* 

Chieregati, jointly with the cardinal of Salzburg, 
called for Luther's death. "We must/' said he in the 
pope's name, and holding the pontiff's brief in his hands, 
** we must cut off this gangrened member from the body.f 
Your fathers put John Huss and Jerome of Prague to 
death at Constance ; but they live again in Luther. Fol- 
low the glorious example of your ancestors, and with 
the aid of God and St. Peter, gain a signal victory over 
the infernal dragon." 

On hearing the brief of the pious and moderate 
Adrian, most of the princes were awe-stricken.| Many 
were beginning to understand Luther better, and had 
hoped better things of the pope. Thus then Rome, un- 
der an Adrian, will not acknowledge her faults : she 
still hurls her thunderbolts, and the provinces of Ger 
many are about to be laid waste and drowned in blood. 
While the princes remained sad and silent, the prelates 
and members of the diet in the interest of Rome became 
tumultuous. "Let him be put to death,"§ critd they, 

♦ Er wollte einen Finger drum geben Seek. p. 668. 

t Resecandos uti membra jam putrida a sano corpore. Pallavi' 
vicini, 1. 158. t Einen grossen Schrecken eiugejagt Seek, 

p 562. § Nicht anders geschrien denn : Crucifigef Cruet 

fige/ h. Opp 18. 3t)7. 



THE NUEEMBERa PREACHERS. 157 



according to the report of the Saxon envoy, who was 
present at the sitting. 

Very different language was heard in the churches 
of Nuremberg. The people crowded into the chapel 
attached to the hospital, and to the churches of the 
Augustines, of St. Sebaldus, and St. Lawrence, to listen 
to the preaching of the gospel. Andrew Osiander was 
preaching powerfully in the latter temple. Several 
princ^s, and especially Albert, margrave of Branden- 
burg, who, in his quality of grand-master of the Teu- 
tonic order, took rank immediately after the archbish- 
ops, went there frequently. Monks, leaving the con- 
vents in the city, were learning trades in order to gain 
a livelihood by their labor. 

Chieregati could not endure so much boldness. He 
insisted that the priests and rebellious monks should 
be thrown into prison. The diet, notwithstanding the 
resolute opposition of the envoys of the elector of Sax- 
ony and of the margrave Casimir, determined on aei^ 
ing the monks, but consented to make a previous com- 
munication of the nuncio's complaint to Osiander and 
his colleagues. A committee, of which the fanatical 
cardinal of Salzburg was president, was intrusted with 
this duty. The danger was threatening ; the struggle 
was about to begin, and it was the council of the natior 
that provoked it. 

The people, however, anticipated them. While the 
diet was deliberating what should be done with these 
ministers, the town-council of Nuremberg were con- 
sidering how they should proceed with regard to the 
decision of the diet. They resolved, without exceed 
ing their jurisdiction, that if attempts were made to laj 
violent hands on the city preachers, they should be set 
at liberty by main force. Such a determination was 
very significant. The astonished diet replied to the 
nuncio, that it was not lawful to arrest the preachers oi 
the free city of Nuremberg, unless previously convicted 
of heresy. 

Chieregati was deeply moved at this new insult to 
the omnipotence of the Papacy. " Well^ then,'' said he 



158 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



haughtily to Ferdinand, " do nothing, but let me act 
I will have these preachers seized in the pope's narae.'^* 
As soon as the cardinal-archbishop Albert of Mentz and 
the margrave Casimir were informed of this extrava- 
gant design, they hastened to the legate, entreating 
him to renounce his intentions. The nuncio was im 
movable, aflSrming that in the bosom of Christendcm 
obedience to the pope was of the first importance. The 
two princes quitted the legate, saying, If you persist 
in your design, we desire that you will give us warn- 
ing ; for we will leave the city before you venture to 
lay hands on these preachers."f The legate abandoned 
his project. 

Despairing of success by measures of authority, he 
resolved to have recourse to other expedients, and ivith 
this view he acquainted the diet with the intentions 
and mandates of the pontiff, which he had hitherto kept 
secret. 

But the worthy Adrian, a stranger to the ways of 
the world, injured by his very frankness the cause he so 
heartily desired to serve. " We are well aware," said he 
in the resolutions intrusted to his legate, " that for many 
years certain abuses and abominations have crept into 
the holy city.| The contagion has spread from the head 
to the members ; it has descended from the popes to the 
other ecclesiastics. It is our desire to reform this Ro- 
man court, whence proceed so many evils ; the whole 
world is craving after it, and to effect this we submitted 
to ascend the papal chair." 

The partisans of Rome blushed for shame as they 
heard this extraordinary language. They thought, with 
Pallavicini, that these avowals were too sincere.§ The 

* Sese auctoritate pontifica curaturum ut isti caperentui 
Corp. Ref. 1. 606. f Priusquam illi caperentur, se urbe 

cessiiros esse. Ibid. | In earn sedem aliquot jam anooa 

quaidam vitia irrepsisse, abusus in rebus sacris, in legibus viola- 
tioues, in cunctis denique perversionem. Paliavicini, 1. 160. See 
also Sarpi, p. 25 ; L. 0pp. 18. ^29, etc. § Liberioris tamen, 

quam par erat, sinceritatis fuisse Yi3um est, e& couventui patefs^ 
oere. Ibid. 162. 



ALARM OF THE LEaATE. 



159 



friends of the Reformation, on the contrary, were de- 
lighted at seeing Rome proclaim her own corruption, 
Th^y no longer doubted that Luther was right, since 
the pope himself declared it. 

The reply of the diet showed how much the author- 
ity of the sovereign pontiff had fallen in the empire. 
Luther's spirit seemed to have entered into the hearts 
of the representatives of the nation. The moment was 
favorable : Adrian's ear seemed open ; the emperor was 
absent ; the diet resolved to collect into one body all 
the grievances that for ages Germany had endured from 
Rome, and forward them to the pope. 

The legate was frightened at this determination. 
He entreated and threatened in turns. He insinuated 
that under a purely religious exterior the reformer con- 
cealed great political dangers ; he asserted, like Adrian, 
that these children of iniquity had no other end in view 
than to destroy all obedience, and lead every man to do 
as he pleased. " Will those men keep your laws," said 
he, who not only despise the holy canons of the father, 
but still further, tear them in pieces and burn them in 
their diabolical fury ? Will they spare your lives who 
do not fear to insult, to strike, to kill the anointed of 
the Lord ? It is your persons, your goods, your houses, 
your wives, your children, your domains, your states, 
your temples, and all that you adore, that are threat- 
**ned by this frightful calamity."* 

All these declamations proved of no avail. The 
diet, although commending tne promises of the pope, 
required for their speedy fulfilment that a free and 
Christian council should be assembled as soon as pos- 
sible at Strasburg, Mentz, Cologne, or Metz, in which 
laymen should be present. Laymen in a council I Lay- 
men regulating the affairs of the church in concert with 
priests I It is more than we can see even now in many 
Protestant states. The diet added, that every man 
should have liberty to speak freely for the glory of God, 
the salvation of souls, and the good of the Christian 

• In eos, in vestras res, domos, uxores, libcros, ditiones, dominie 
templa quas colitis. L. 0pp. Lat. 2. 636. 



I 



160 HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATIOIT. 

commonwealth.* It then proceeded to draw up a cata* 
logue of its grievances, which amounted to the number 
of eighty. The abuses and arts of the popes and the 
Roman court to extort money from Germany ; the scan- 
dals and profanations of the clergy ; the disorders and 
simony of the ecclesiastical tribunals ; the encroach- 
ments on the secular power for the enslaving of con- 
sciences, were all set forth with as much frankness as 
energy. The states gave the pope to understand that 
the traditions of men were the source of all this cor- 
ruption, and concluded by saying, " If these grievances 
are not redressed within a limited time, we shall seek 
other means to escape from so many oppressions and 
sufferings.^f Chieregati, foreseeing the terrible recess 
that the diet would draw up, hastily left Nuremberg, 
that he might not have to deliver this sad and insolent 
message. 

Yet was there not reason to fear that the diet 
would seek to make amends for its boldness by sacri- 
ficing Luther ? People thought so at first ; but a spirit 
of justice and truth had descended on this assembly. 
It demanded, as Luther had done, the convocation of a 
free council in the empire, and added, that in the mean 
while the pure gospel alone should be preached, and 
nothing should be printed without the approbation of a 
certain number of pious and learned men.^ These res- 
olutions furnish us with the means of calculating the 
immense progress the Reformation had made subse- 
quently to the diet of Worms ; and yet the knight of 
Feilitsch, the Saxon envoy, solemnly protested against 
this censorship, moderate as it was, which the diet pre- 
scribed. This decree was regarded as the first triumph 
of the Reformation, which would be followed by other 
more decisive victories. The Swiss themselves, in the 

• Quod in tali concilio eis qui interisse deberent vel ecclesiaS' 
tici vel laicalis ordinis libere liceret loqui. Geldart, Constit. Im- 
per. 1. 452. t Wie sie solcher Beschwerung und Drangsaal 

entladcn werden. L. 0pp. 18. 354. X Ut pie placideque 

purum ETangelluui priedicaretur. PaHaYicini, 1. 166; Sleldaa 
1 135. 



tnt rOPI: S LETTER TO FUEDERIOK. 161 



midst of their mountains, thrilled with delight. "The 
Roman pontiff is vanquished in Germany," said Zwin- 
gle. "We have nothing m,ore to do than deprive him 
of his weapons. This is the battle we have now to 
fight, and a furious one it will be. But Christ '« the 
umpire of the conflict."* Luther said publicly that 
God himself had inspired the princes to draw up this 
edict f 

The indignation at the Vatican among the papal 
ministers was very great. What, is it not enough to 
have a pope who disappoints all the expectations of 
the Romans, and in whose palace there is neither sing- 
ing nor playing ; but more than this, secular princes 
are allowed to hold a language that Rome detests, and 
refuse to put the Wittemberg heretic to death ? 

Adrian himself was filled with indignation at the 
events in Germany, and it was on the head of the elec- 
tor of Saxony that he discharged his anger. Never had 
the Roman pontiffs uttered a cry of alarm more ener- 
getic, more sincere, or perhaps more affecting. 

" We have waited long, and perhaps too long," said 
the pious Adrian in the brief he addressed to the elec- 
tor ; " we were anxious to see whether God would visit 
thy soul, and if thou wouldst not at last escape from 
the snares of Satan. But when we looked to gather 
grapes, we found nothing but sour grapes. The blower 
hath blown in vain ; thy wickedness is not consumed 
Open then thine eyes to see the greatness of thy fall 

" If the unity of the church is broken ; if the sim- 
ple have been turned aside from that faith which they 
had imbibed at their mothers' breasts ; if the templets 
are destroyed ; if the people are without priests ; if the 
p nests rece^'ve not the honor that is due to them ; if 
Christians are without Christ — to whom is it owin^^, 
but to thee ?J . . . . If Christian peace has vanished 

* Victus est ac ferme profligatus e Germania Romanus portifex. 
2w. Epp 313. October 11, 1523. f Gott habe solches E. G. 

eingebx;f:. L. 0pp. 18. 476. f Dass die Kirchen ohue Yolk 

Bind, dass die Volker ohne Priester sind, dass die Prierter ohne Ehr^ 
dnd, und dass die Qhristeu ohne Christo sind. Ibid. 371. 

II 



182 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOJSf. 



from the earth ; if the world is full of discord, ^ebe** 
lion, robbery, murder, and conflagration ; if the cry of 
war is heard from east to west ; if a universal con- 
flict is at hand, it is thou, thou who art the author of 
these things. 

"Sawest thou not this sacrilegious man,^ Luther, 
"rending with his wicked hands and trampling under hia 
impure feet the images of the saints, and even the holy 
cross of Christ ? . . . . Dost thou not behold him, in his / 
ungodly wrath, instigatiag laymen to imbrue their 
hands in the blood of the priests, and overturning the 
churches of our Lord ? 

" And what matters it, if the priests he assails are 
wicked priests ? Has not the Lord said, * Whatsoever 
they bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not 
ye after their works thus showing the honor that 
belongs to them, even when their lives are blame- 
worthy.* 

"Rebellious apostate I he is not ashamed to defile 
the vessels consecrated to God ; he drags from their 
sanctuaries the holy virgins consecrated to Christ, and 
gives them over to the devil ; he takes the priests of 
the Lord, and delivers them up to infamous harlots. . . . 
Awful profanation 1 which even the heathen would have 
condemned with horror in the priests of their idols. 

"What punishment, what martyrdom dost thou think 
we judge thee to deserve ? . . . . Have pity on thyself; 
have pity on thy wretched Saxons ; for if you do not all 
return into the fold, God will pour out his vengeance 
upon you. 

" In the name of the Almighty God, and of our Lord 
Jesus Clu'ist, whose representative I am upon earth, I 
declare that thou shalt be punished in this world, and 
plunged into everlasting fiie in that which is to come. 
Repent, and be converted Two swords are sus- 

pended over thy head — the sword of the empire, and the 
sword of the church." 

The pio"« Frederick shuddered as he read this 
Weu eie gleich eiacs veriammten Lebeus sind. L. Opp 1^ 

579. 



OPINIONS or THE REF0EMER6' 



163 



threatening brief. He had written to the eniperoi 
shortly before, to the effect that old age and sickness 
rendered him incapable of taking any part in these 
afi'airs ; and he had been answered by the most insolent 
letter that a sovereign prince had ever received. Al- 
though bowed down by age, he cast his eyes on that 
sword which he had worn at the holy sepulchre in the 
ia^ s of his manly strength. He began to think that he 
would have to unsheath it in defence of the consci^^nce 
of his subjects, and that, already on the brink of the 
tomb, he would not be allowed to go down to it in 
peace. He immediately wrote to Wittemberg to hear 
the opinion of the fathers of the Reformation. 

There also troubles and persecutions were appre- 
hended. "What shall I say?" exclaimed the gentle 
Melancthon ; " whither shall I turn ? Hatred over- 
whelms us, and the world is transported with fury 
against us."* Luther, Linck, Melancthon, Bugenhagen^ 
and Amsdorff consulted together on the reply they 
should make to the elector. Their answer was almost 
entirely to the same purport, and the advice they gave 
him is very remarkable. 

" No prince," said they, " can undertake a war with- 
out the consent of the people, from whose hands he has 
received his authority.f Now the people have no desire 
to fight for the gospel, for they do not believe. Let not 
princes, therefore, take up arms ; they are rulers of the 
nations, and therefore of unbelievers.^' Thus it was the 
impetuous Luther who counselled the wise Frederick to 
restore his sword to its sheath. He could not have 
returned a better answer to the reproach of the pope, 
that he excited the laity to imbrue their hands in the 
blood of the clergy. Pew characters have been more 
misunderstood than his. This advice was dated the 8th 
of February Frederick restrained himself. 

The pope's wrath soon bore fruit. The princes who 
had set forth their grievances against Rome, alarmed at 

* Quid dicam? quo me vertam? Corp. Ref. 1. 627. 
t Principi nullum licet suscipere bellum, nisi consenUente pop* 
izlo a quo %ccepit imperium. Ibid. &01. 



164 HISTOEY 05 IHE B. EFOKMA f lOW 



their own daring, were now desirous of making amends 
by their compliance. Many, besides, thought that the 
victory would remain with the Roman pontiff, as he ap- 
peared to be the stronger party. " In our days," said 
Luther, "princes are content to say three times three 
make nine ; or else, twice seven make fourteen : the reck- 
oning is correct ; the affair will succeed. Then our 
Lord God arises and says, How many do you reckon 
me ? . . . . For a cipher perhaps ? . . . . He then turns 
their calculations topsy-tuivy, and their accounts prove 
false."* 

So kehrt er ibnen auch die Bochuong gar am. L. 0pp. 2Z 



?ERSECUTI01SI. 



165 



CHAPTER IV. 

Persocution — Exertions of Duke George — The convent at Ai twerp 
— Miltenberg — The three monks of Antwerp — The scafl'old — The 
martyrs of Brussels. 

The torrent of fire poured forth by the humble and 
meek Adrian kindled a conflagration ; and its flickering 
flames communicated an immense agitation to the whole 
of Christendom. The persecution, which had been for 
some time relaxed, broke out afresh. Luther trembled 
for Germany, and endeavored to appease the storm. "If 
the princes," said he, " oppose the truth, the result will 
DC a confusion that will destroy princes and magistrates, 
priests and people. I fear to see all Germany erelong 
deluged with blood.* Let us rise up as a wall and pre- 
serve our people from the wrath of our God. Nations 
are not such now as they have hitherto been.f The 
sword of civil war is impending over the heads of our 
kings. They are resolved to destroy Luther ; but Lu- 
ther is resolved to save them. Christ lives and reigns ; 
and I shall live and reign with him.^J 

These words produced no effect ; Rome was hasten^ 
ing onward to scaffolds and to bloodshed. The Refor- 
mation, like Jesus Christ, did not come to bring peace, 
\)ut a sword. Persecution was necessary in God^s pur- 
poses. As certain objects are hardened in the fire, to 
protect them from the influence of the atmosphere, so 
the fiery trial was intended to protect the evangelical 
truth from the influence of the world. But the fire did 
still more than this : it served, as in the primitive times 
of Christianity, to kindle in men's hearts a universal 
enthusiasm for a cause so furiously persecuted. When 
man begins to know the truth, he feels a holy indigna- 

• Ut videar mihi videre Germaniam in sanguine natare. L. 
iipp. 2. 166. t Cogitent populos non esse tales modo, quales 

hactenus fuerunt. Ibid. 157. t Christus meus vivit et regnat, 
et ego vivam et regnabo. Ibid. 168 



16(5 HISrOUY OF THE RE^-QEMATION. 

tion against injustice and violence. A heaven-deflcended 
instinct impels him to the side of the oppressed ; and at 
the same time the faith of the martyrs exalts, wins, and 
leads him to that doctrine which imparts such courage 
and tranquillity. 

Duke George took the lead in the persecution. But 
it was a little thing to carry it on in his own states only, 
ne desired, above all, that it should devastate electoral 
Saxony, that focus of heresy, and spared no labor to 
move the elector Frederick and duke John. "Merchants 
from Saxony," he wrote to them from Nuremberg, " re- 
late strange things about that country, and such as are 
opposed to the honor of God and of the saints : they 
take the sacrament of the Lord's supper with their 
hands 1 . . . . The bread and wine are consecrated in the 
language of the people ; Christ's blood is put into common 
vessels ; and at Eulenburg, a man to insult the priest 
entered the church riding on an ass. .... Accordingly, 
what is the consequence ? The mines with which God 
had enriched Saxony have failed since the innovating 
sermons of Luther. Would to God that those who boast 
of having uplifted the gospel in the electorate, had rather 
carried it to Constantinople. Luther's strain is sweet 
and pleasing, but there is a poisoned tail, that stings 
like that of the scorpion. Let us now prepare for the 
conflict. Let us imprison these apostate monks and im- 
pious priests ; and that too without delay, for our hair 
is turning gray as well as our beards, and shows us 
that we have but a short time left for action." 

Thus wrote duke George to the elector. The latter 
replied firmly but mildly, that any one who committed 
a crime in his states would meet with due punishment; 
but that for what concerned the conscience, such things 
must be left to God.f 

George, unable to persuade Frederick, hastened t<.i 
persecute the followers of the work he detested. He 
imprisoned the monks and priests who follov^ed Luther; 
he recalled the students belonging to his states from the 

• Wie ihre Bart und Haare auaweisen. Seckend. p. 482. 
f Miisse man soloUe Dinge Gott uborlaKsen. Ibid. 486. 



THE AKTWEEI 05!J«fENT 



Oniversities which the Eeformation had reached ; and 
ordered that all the copies of the New Testament in the 
vulgar tongue should be given up to the magistrates 
The same measures were enforced in Austria, Wurtem- 
4>erg, and the duchy of Brunswick. 

But it was in the Low Countries, under the immedi- 
ate authority of Charles V., that the persecution broke 
out with greatest violence. The Augustine convent at 
Antwerp was filled with monks who had welcomed the 
truths of the gospel. Many of the brethren had passed 
some time at Wittemberg ; and since 1519, salvation by 
grace had been preached in their church with great en- 
ergy. The prior, James Probst, a man of ardent tem- 
perament, and Melchior Mirisch, who was remarkable, 
OL the other hand, for his ability and prudence, were 
a; rested and taken to Brussels about the close of the 
year 1521. They were brought before Aleander, Glapio, 
and several other prelates. Taken by surprise, con- 
founded, and alarmed, Probst retracted. Melchior Mi- 
risch found means to pacify his judges ; he escaped both 
from recantation and condemnation. 

These persecutions did not alarm the monks who 
remained in the convent at Antwerp. They continued 
to preach the gospel with power. The people crowded 
to hear them, and the church of the Augustines in that 
city was found too small, as had been the case with the 
one at Wittemberg. In October, 1522, the storm that 
was muttering over their heads burst forth ; the convent 
was closed, and the monks thrown into prison and con- 
doned to death.* A few of them managed to escape. 
Some women, forgetting the timidity of their sex, drag- 
ged one of them, Henry Zuphten, from the hands of the 
executioners.f Three young monks, Henry Voes, J :lm 
Esch, and Lambert Thorn, escaped for a time the search 
of the inquisitors. All the sacred vessels of the convent 
-were sold ; the gates were barricaded ; the holy sacra- 
ment was removed, as if from a polluted spot ; Margaret, 
the governor of the Low Countries, solemnly received it 

* Znm Tode verurtheilet. Seek. p. 648. ^ Quomodo mu 

feres vi Henricum liberarint. L. Epp. 2. 266. 



l68 HISTORY OF THE REFOHAIATIOB. 



into the church of the holy Virgm orders were given 
that not one stone should be left upon another of that 
heretical monastery ; and many citizens and women 
who had joyfully listened to the gospel were thrown 
into prison.f 

Luther was filled with sorrow on hearing this news 
^'The cause that we defend," said he, "is no longer a 
jsiere game ; it will have blood, it calls for our lives.'^J 

Mirisch and Probst were to meet with very different 
fates. The prudent Mirisch soon became the docile in- 
strument of Rome, and the agent of the imperial decrees 
against the partisans of the Reformation.! Probst, on 
the contrary, having escaped from the hands of the in- 
quisitors, wept over his backsliding ; he retracted his 
retraction, and boldly preached at Bruges in Flanders 
the doctrines he had abjured. Being again arrested and 
thrown into prison at Brussels, his death seemed inevi- 
table. || A Franciscan took pity on him, and assisted his 
escape ; and Probst, "preserved by a miracle of God," 
says Luther, reached Wittemberg, where his twofold 
deliverance filled the hearts of the friends of the Refor- 
mation with joy.^ 

On all sides the Roman priests were under arms. 
The city of Miltenberg on the Maine, which belonged to 
the archbishop of Mentz, was one of the German towns 
that had received the word of God with the greatest 

* Susceptum honorific^ a domina Margareta. L. Epp. 2. 265. 

t Gives aliquos, et mulieres vexatae et punitse. lb. t vi- 
tam exiget et sanguinem. Ibid. 181. § Est executor Caesaria 

contra nostros. Ibid. 207. || Dorao captum, exustum credLmus. 
Ibid. 214. ir Jacobus, Dei miraculo liberatus, qui nunc agit no- 
biscum. Ibid. 182. This letter, placed in M. de Wette's collection 
mder thp date of April 14, must be posterior to the month of June i 
since, on the 26th of June, Luther writes that Probst has been taken 
a second time, and is going to be burnt. We cannot admit that 
Probst visited Wittemberg between his two imprisonments, for Lu- 
ther would not have said of a Christian who had saved his life by 
a recantation, that he had been delivered by a miracle of God. Per- 
haps we should read in the date of the letter in die S. Turiajiy in- 
Btead of in die S. Tiburtii, which would bring it down to the 18tb 
£»f July, a far more probable date in my opinion. 



THREE IIOISXS Of 169 



eagerness. Tlie inhabitants were much attached to their 
padt^r John Draco, one of the most enh'ghtened men tf 
his times. He was compelled to leave the city ; but the 
Roman ecclesiastics were frightened, and withdrew at 
the same time, fearing the vengeance of the people 
One evangelical deacon alone remained to comfort theil 
hearts. At the same time troops from Mentz marched 
into the city : they spread through the streets, uttering 
blasphemies, brandishin5c thei-r swords, and giving them- 
selves up to debauchery.* 

Some evangelical Christians fell beneath their blows ;f 
others were seized and thrown into dungeons ; the Ro- 
mish rites were restored ; the reading of the Bible was 
prohibited ; and the inhabitants were forbidden to speak 
of the gospel, even in the most private meetings. On 
the entrance of the troops, the deacon had taken refuge 
in the house of a poor widow. He was denounced to 
their commanders, who sent a soldier to apprehend him. 
The humble deacon, hearing the hasty steps of the sol- 
dier who sought his life, quietly waited for him, and just 
as the door of the chamber was opened abruptly, he went 
forward meekly, and cordially embracing him, said, "I 
welcome thee, brother ; here I am ; plunge thy sword 
into my bosom."J The fierce soldier, in astonishment, 
let his sword fall from his hands, and protected the pious 
evangelist from any further harm. 

Meantime the inquisitors of the Low Countries, thirst- 
ing for blood, scoured the country, searching everywhere 
for the young Augustines who had escaped from the Ant- 
. werp persecution. Esch, Voes, and Lambert were at last 
discovered, put in chains, and led to Brussels. Egmon- 
danus, Hochstraten, and several other inquisitors, sum- 
moned them into their presence. " Do you retract your 
assertion," asked Hochstraten, " that the priest has not 
the power to forgive sins, and that it belongs to God 
alone He then proceeds to enumerate other evangel- 
ical doctrines which they were called upon to abjure. 

* So sio doch sch'andlicher leben deim Huren und Buben. Lu 
glpp. 2. 482. t Schlug etliche todt. Seek. 604 

X Sey gegriisst, mein Bruder. Scultet. An a. 1. 173. 



no HISTORT OF THE REFOEMATIOIT. 



" No, will retract nothing," exclaimed Esch and Voea 
firmh we will not deny the word of God ; we will 
rather die for the faith." 

The Inquisitor. Confess that you have been seduced 
by Luther. 

The young Augustines. As the apostles were seduced 
Dy Jesus Christ. 

The Inquisitors. We declare you to be heretics, wor- 
thy of being burned alive, and we give you over to the 
secular arm. 

Lambert kept silence ; the prospect of death terrified 
him ; distress and doubt tormented his soul. " I beg 
four days," said he with a stifled voice. He was led back 
to piison. As soon as this delay had expired, Esch and 
Voes were solemnly deprived of their sacerdotal charac- 
ter, and given over to the council of the governor of the 
Low Countries. The council delivered them, fettered, to 
the executioner. Hochstraten and three other inquisi- 
tors accompanied them to the stake.* 

When they came near the scafibld, the youthful mar- 
tyrs looked at it calmly ; their firmness, their piety, their 
age,f drew tears even from the inquisitors. When they 
were bound, the confessors approached them : " Once 
more we ask you if you will receive the Christian faith." 

The Martyrs. We believe in the Christian church, 
but not in your church. 

Half an hour elapsed : the inquisitors hesitated, and 
hoped that the prospect of so terrible a death would in- 
timidate these youths. But alone tranquil in the midst 
of the turbulent crowd in the square, they sang psalms, 
etopping from time to time to declare boldly, We will 
die for the name of Jesus Christ." 

" Be converted, be converted," cried the inquisitors, 
or you will die in the name of the devil." '*No,^' replied 
the martyrs, " we will die like Christians, and for the 
truth of the gospel." 

The pile was lighted. While the flames were ascend- 
ing slowly, a heavenly peace filled their hearts, and one 

• Facta est hsec res Eruxellse in publico foro. L. Epp. 2. 361. 
t Noodum triginta annorum. Ibid. 



THE FIRST MARTYHS. 



171 



of them went so far as to say, " I seem to be lyin^ on a 
bed of roses."* The solemn hour was come ; death was 
near : the two martyrs cried with a loud voic(), 0 Dom- 
ine Jesu I Fill David ! miserere nostri I 0 Lord Jesus 
Son of David, have mercy on us." They then began sol- 
smnly to repeat the Apostle's Creed.f At last the flames 
reached them, burning the cords that fastened them to 
the stake, before their breath was gone. One of them, 
taking advantage of this liberty, fell on his knees in the 
midst of the fire,| and thus worshipping his Master, ex- 
claimed, clasping his hands, "Lord Jesus, Son of David, 
have mercy on us." The flames now surro'inded their 
bodies : they sang the Te Deum ; soon their voices were 
stifled, and nothing but their ashes remained. 

This execution had lasted four hours. It was on the 
1st of July, 1523, that the first martyrs of the Reforma- 
tion thus laid down their lives for the gospel. 

All good men shuddered when they heard of it. The 
future filled them with the keenest apprehension. *'The 
executions have begun," said Erasmus.§ " At last," ex- 
claimed Luther, " Christ is gathering some fruits of our 
preaching, and has created new martyrs." 

But the joy Luther felt at the constancy of these two 
young Christians was troubled by the thought of Lam- 
bert. The latter was the most learned of the three ; he 
had succeeded to Probst's station as preacher at Ant- 
werp. Agitated in his dungeon, and alarmed at the 
prospect of death, he was still more terrified by his con- 
science, which reproached him with cowardice, and urged 
him to confess the gospel. He was soon delivered from 
his fears, and after boldly proclaiming the truth, died 
like his brethren. || 

A rich harvest sprang from the blood of these mai^ 
tyrs. Brussels turned towards the gospel.^ " Wher- 

• Dit schijnen mij als roosen te z"jn. Brandt, Hist, der Ilefor- 
matin, 179. f Admoto igne, canere coeperunt symbolum Mei, 

Bays Erasmus. Epp. 1. 1278. J: Da ist der eine im Feu(!i auf 

die Knie gefallen. L. 0pp. 18. 481. § Coepta est carniflcina. 

Epp. 1. 1429. }[ Quarta post exustus est tertius frater Lambertus. 
L. Epp. 2. 361. IT Ea mors multos fecit Lutheranc^. Er. Epp 



174 HISTORY OF THS REFORMATIOIT 



ever Aleander rabes a pile/' said Erasmus, " there hb 
seems to have been sowing heretics."* 

"Your bonds are mine," said Luther; "your dun- 
geons and your burning piles are mine.f .... We are 
ill with yoU; and the Lord is at our head.'* He then 
commemorated the death of these young monks in a 
beautiful hymn, and soon, in Germany and in the Neth- 
erlands, in .city and country, these strains were heard 
communicating in every direction an enthusiasm for the 
faith of these martyrs. 

"Ko, no, their ashes shall not die ; 
But, borne to every land. 
Where'er their sainted dust shall fall 
Up springs a holy band. 

Though Satan by his might may kill, 

And stop their powerful voice. 
They triumph o'er him in their death 

And still in Christ rejoice." 

p. 952 ; Tum demum coepit civitas favere L ithero. Er. Epp. 1G76. 
Erasmus to duke George ; Ea civitas antea purissima. Ibid. 1430. 

* Ubicumque fumos excitavit nuntius, i„ i diceres fuisse factam 
aereseon sementem. Ibid. f Vestra vincula mea sunt, vestd 
oaixjereg et ignes mei sunt L. Epp. 2. 464. 



THE HEW POPS. 



CHAPTER V. 

The new pope, Clement VII. — The legate Campeggio — Diet of Nu- 
remberg — Demand of the legate — Reply of the diet— A seculai 
council projected — Alarm and exertions of the pope — Bavaria — 
League of Ratisbon — Severity and reformh — Political schism- 
Opposition — Intrigues of Rome—Decree of Burgos — Rupture. 

Adrian would doubtless have persisted in these vio- 
lent measures ; the inutility of his exertions to arrest 
the reform, his orthodoxy, his zeal, his austerity, and 
even his conscientiousness, would have made him a 
cruel persecutor. But this Providence did not permit. 
He died on the 14th of September, 1523, and the Ro- 
mans, overjoyed at being delivered from this stern for- 
eigner, crowned his physician's door with flowers, and 
wrote this inscription over it, " To the savior of his 
country." 

Giulio de Medici, cousin to Leo X., succeeded Adrian 
VI., under the name of Clement VII. From the day of 
his election there was no more question of religious 
reform. The new pope, like many of his predecessors, 
thought only of upholding the privileges of the Papacy, 
and of employing its resources for his own aggrandize- 
ment. 

Anxious to repair Adrian's blunders, Clement sent 
to Nuremberg a legate of his own character, one of the 
most skilful prelates of his court, a man of great expe- 
rience in public business, and acquainted with almost 
all the princes of Germany. Cardinal Campeggio, for 
such was his name, after a magnificent reception in the 
Italian cities on his road, soon perceived the change thai 
had taken place in the empire. When he entered Aug* 
burg, he desired, as was usual, to give his benediction 
to the people, but they burst into laughter. This was 
«^nough : he entered Nuremberg privately, without going 
to the church of St. Sebaldus, where the clergy awaited 
'dn No priests in sacerdotal ornaments came out tc 



174 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



meet him ; no cross was solemnly borne before him 
one would have thought him some private individual 
passing along the streets of the city. Every thing be* 
tokened that the reign of the Papacy was drawing to 
an end. 

The diet of Nuremberg resumed its sittings in the 
month of January, 1624. A storm threatened the 
tional government, owing to the firmness of Frederick. 
The Swabian league, the wealthiest cities of the empire, 
and particularly Charles V., had sworn his destruction. 
He was accused of favoring the new heresy. Accord- 
ingly it was resolved to remodify this administration 
without retaining one of its former members. i^Vede- 
rick, overwhelmed with grief, immediately quitted Nu- 
remberg. 

The festival of Easter was approaching. Osiander 
and the evangelical preachers redoubled their zeal. The 
former openly declared in his sermons that antichrist 
entered Rome the very day when Gonstantine left it to 
fix his residence at Constantinople. The consecration 
of the palm- branches and many other ceremonies of this 
feast were omitted : four thousand persons received thr3 
sacrament in both kinds, and the queen of Denmark, the 
emperor's sister, received it publicly, in like manner, at 
the castle. ** Ah," exclaimed the archduke Frederick 
losing his temper, would that you were not my sister." 

The same womb bore us," replied the queen, " and I 
will sacrifice everything to please you, except the word 
of God."t 

(Jampeggio shuddered as he witnessed such audaci- 
ty ; but afFectipg to despise the laughter of the populace 
and the discourses of the preachers, and resting on the 
authority of the emperor and of the pope, he reminded 
the diet of the edict of Worms, and called upon them to 
put down the Reformation by force. At this language 
many of the princes and deputies gave vent to their in- 
dignation : What has become of the list of grievances 

* Communi habitu, quod per sylvas et campos ieirt per mediam 
arbom .... sine clero, sine pra3via cruce. Cochl. p. 82. 
t Wolle 8ich des Wortes GrOttee haltntt. SeckeiwL 61i 



DIKT OF KUREMBERa. 



175 



presented tc tne pope by the German nation ?" said they 
to Campeggio. The legate, following his instructions, 
assimied an air of candor and surprise, and answered, 
Three copies of that list reached Rome ; but wc have 
received no official communication of it,* and neither 
the pope nor the college of cardinals could believe that 
sucti a paper could have emanated from your lordships. 
We thought that it came from some private indivit^uals, 
who had published it out of hatred to he court of 
Rome. In consequence of this, I have no instructions 
on the matter.'' 

The diet was incensed at this reply. If it is thus the 
pope receives their representations, they will also know 
how to listen to those he addresses to them. The peo- 
ple," said many deputies, " are thirsting for the word of 
God ; and to take it away, as the edict of Worms en- 
*ins, would cause torrents of blood to flow," 

The diet immediately made preparations for reply- 
ing to the pope. As they could not repeal the edict of 
Worms, a clause was added to it rendering it ineffect- 
ual. They said, " The people must conform with it as 
far as posaibleJ^if Now, many states had declared it im- 
possible to enforce it. At the same time, raising up the 
importunate shade of the councils of Constance and of 
Basle, the diet demanded the convocation of a general 
council of Christendom to be held in Germany. 

The friends of the Reformation did not confine them- 
selves to this. What could they expect from a council 
which perhaps would never be convoked, and which, 
under all circumstances, would be composed of bishops 
f] om every nation ? Will Germany submit her anti- 
E Ornish inclinations to prelates from France, Spain, Ita- 
ly, and England ? The government of the nation had 
already been abolished ; for it a national assembly should 
bo substituted to protect the interests of the people. 

In vain did Hannaart, the Spanish envoy from Charles 

and all the partisans of Rome and the emperor, en- 

Tria solum exemplaria fuisse perlata Romam, ad quosdam pri- 
^ttm, ex iis unum sibi contigisse Sleidan lib, 4 t Quaotair 
possf bile sit. CochlcBus, p 8 



476 HISTORY OF THE REFOB,MAT10!^. 



deavor to oppose this suggestion ; the majority of the 
diet was immovable. It was agreed that a diet, a sec- 
ular assembly, should meet at Spires, in the month of 
November, to regulate all religious questions, and that 
the states should immediately instruct their theologians 
to draw up a list of the controverted points to be laid 
•"before that august assembly. 

They forthwith a,pplied to their task. Each province 
drew up its memorial, and never had Eome been threat- 
ened with a more terrible explosion. Franconia, Bran- 
denburg, Henneburg, Windsheim, Wertheira, and Nu- 
remberg, declared in favor of the gospel, and against 
the seven sacraments, the abuses of the mass, the ado- 
ration of saints, and the papal supremacy. " Here is 
coin of the right stamp," said Luther. Not one -of the 
questions that are agitating the popular mind will be 
passed by in this national council. The majority will 
carry general measures. The unity, independence, and 
teformation of Germany will be safe. 

On being apprized of this, the pope could not restrain 
his wrath. What, dare they set up a secular tribunal 
to decide on religious questions in direct opposition to 
his authority ?* If this extraordinary resolution should 
be carried out, Germany would doubtless be saved, bul 
Eome would be lost. A consistory was hastily conven- 
ed, and from the alarm of the senators one might have 
thought the Germans were marching against the capitol. 

We must take the electoral hat from Frederick's head," 
said Aleander. The kings of England and Spain must 
threaten to break off all commercial intercourse with 
the free cities," said another cardinal. The congregation 
at last decided that the only means of safety would be 
in moving heaven and earth to prevent the meeting at 
Spires. 

The pope immediately wrote to the emperor : If I 
am the first to make head against the storm, it is not 
because I am the only one the tempest threatens, but 
because I am at the helm. The rights of the empire are 

* Pontifex aegerrime tulit .... intelligens novum fie religions 
^tribunal eo pacto excitari citra ipsius auctoritatem. Palav. 1. 182> 



BAVAEU FOR THE PAPAOT. 



177 



yet more invaded than the dignity of the coTirt of 
Rome." 

While the pope was sending this letter to Castile, 
he was endeavoring to procure allies in Germ a He 
Boon gained over one of the most powerful house-h in 
the empire, that of the dukes of Bavaria. The edict of 
Worms had not been more strictly enforced there than 
elsewhere, and the evangelical doctrine had made great 
progress. But about the close of the year 1521, the 
princes of that country, put in motion by Dr. Eck, chan- 
cellor in the university of Ingolstadt, had drawn nearer 
to Rome, and had published a decree enjoining all their 
subjects to remain faithful to the religion of their 
ancestors.* 

The Bavarian bishops were alarmed at this encroach- 
ment of the secular power. Eck set out for Rome to 
solicit the pope for an extension of authority in behalf 
of the princes. The pope granted every thing, and even 
conferred on the dukes a fifth of the ecclesiastical reve- 
nues of their country. 

Thus, at a time when the Reformation possessed no 
organization, Roman-catholicism already had recourse 
to powerful institutions for its support ; and Catholic 
princes, aided by the pope, laid their hands on the rev- 
enues of the church long before the Reformation ven- 
tured to touch them. What must we think of the re- 
proaches the Roman-catholics have so often made in this 
respect ? 

Clement VII. might reckon upon Bavaria to avert 
the formidable assembly at Spires. Erelong the arch- 
duke Ferdinand, the bishop of Salzburg, and other 
princes, were gained in their turn. 

But Campeggio desired to go still further : Germany 
must be divided into two hostile camps ; Germans must 
be opposed to Germans. 

Some time before, during his residence at Stuttgard, 
the legate had concerted with Ferdinand the plan of a 
league against the Reformation, " There is every thing 

* Erstes baierisches Religions Mandat. Winter, Gesch. del 
Ejvang. Lehre in Baiern, I. 310. 

52 



178 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



to be feared in an assembly where the voice of tlie peo 
pie is heard," said he. The diet of Spires may destroy 
Kome and save Wittemberg. Let us close our ranks ; 
let us come to an understanding for the day of battle/'* 
Eatisbon was fixed upon as the place of meeting. 

Notwithstanding the jealousy between the houses of 
Bavaiia and Austria, Campeggio succeeded in biinging 
the dukes of Bavaria and the archduke Ferdinand to 
this city, at the end of June, 1524. They were joined 
by the archbishop of Salzburg and the bishops of Trent 
and Ratisbon. The bishops of Spires, Bamberg, Augs- 
burg, Strasburg, Basle, Constance, Freisingen, Passau, 
and Brixen were present by deputy. 

The legate opened their sittings, describing in forci- 
ble language the dangers threatened by the reformation 
both to princes and clergy. "Let us extirpate heresy 
and save the church,'' exclaimed he. 

The conference lasted fifteen days in the town-hall of 
Eatisbon. A grand ball, that continued till daylight, 
served to enliven this first Catholic assembly held by 
the papacy against the dawning Eeformation.f After 
this, measures were resolved upon for the destruction of 
the heretics. 

The legate thought that, according to the notorious 
axiom of the council of Constance, no faith should be 
kept with heretics ;J and in the mean time he carried 
out this great principle on a small scale. During the 
sittings of the diet at Nuremberg, Campeggio had taken 
a globe and a book from a poor vender of astronomical 
instruments. These he kept, and refused to make any 
compensation, because the man was a Lutheran. Our 
authority for this incident is the celebrated Pirckheimer, 
one of the chief magistrates of Nuremberg. § 

The princes and bishops bound themselves to enforce 
the edicts of Worms and Nuremberg ; to permit no 

♦ Winter, Gosch. der Ev. Lehre in Baiern, 1. 156. f Ranke, 
Deutsche Gesch. 2. 159. t Non est frangere fidem in eo, qui 
Deo fidem frangit. Decret Cone. Sess. gen. 19. Sept. 23, 1415, 

§ Strobel's Verm. Beytrage zur Gresch. der Litt. NUmberg;, 1775 
p. 08. 



CONFEDERATION AT RATISBON. 179 



change in public worship ; to toleiate no married priest 
in their states ; to recall all their subjects who might 
be studying at Wittemberg ; and to employ every means 
in their power for the extirpation of heresy. They en- 
joined the preachers, in the interpretation of difficult 
passages, to rely on the fathers of the Latin church, 
Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory. Not ven- 
turing, in the face of the Reformation, to appeal to the 
authority of the schoolmen, they were content to lay the 
first foundations of Roman orthodoxy. 

But on the other hand, as they could not close their 
eyes against the scandals and corrupt morals of the 
priests,* they agreed on a project of reform, in which 
they endeavored to embrace those German grievances 
which least concerned the court of Rome. The priests 
were forbidden to trade, to haunt the taverns, " to fre- 
quent dances," and to dispute over their cups about 
articles of faith. 

Such was the result of the confederation of Ratis- 
bon.f Even while taking up arms against the Reforma- 
tion, Rome conceded something ; and in these decrees 
we may observe the first influence of the reformation of 
the sixteenth century to effect an inward renovation of 
Catholicism. The gospel cannot display its strength 
without its enemies endeavoring to imitate it in some 
way or another. Emser had published a translation of 
the Bible in opposition to Luther's ; Eck his Gommon- 
places^ by way of counterpoise to Melancthon's ;| and 
now Rome was opposing to the Reformation those par- 
tial essays of reform to which modern Romanism is 
owing. But all these works were in reality subtle 
expedients to escape from impending danger ; branches 
plucked indeed from the tree of the Reformation, but 
planted in a soil which killed them; there was no 
Titality, and never will there be any vitality in such 
attempts. 

* Improbis clericorum abusibus et perditis moribus. Cochlc&os, 
p. 91. t Ut Lutheraaae factioni efficacius resistere possintj 

ultronea confederatione sese constrixerunt. Ibid. % Enchiirl' 
4ioa> sea loci communes contra hsereticos. 1525. 



180 HI8T0EY OF THE REFORMATION. 



Another fact here occurs to us. The Roman partj 
formed at Ratisbon the first league that infringed the 
unity of Germany. The signal for battle was given 
from the pope's camp. Ratisbon was the cradle ^f this 
division, this political rending of their native land, w uich 
BO many of the (jermans deplore to this hour. The 
national assembly of Spires, by sanctioning and gen* 
eralizing the reform of the church, would have secured 
the unity of the empire. The conventicle of separat- 
ists at Ratisbon for ever divided the nation into two 
parties.* 

Yet Campeggio's plans did not at first succeed as 
had been expected. Few princes answered this appeal. 
Luther's most decided adversaries, duke George of Sax- 
ony, the elector Joachim of Brandenburg, the ecclesias- 
tical electors, and the imperial cities, took no part in it. 
It was felt that the pope's legate was forming a Romish 
party in Germany against the nation itself. Popular 
sympathies counterbalanced religious antipathies, and 
in a short time the Ratisbon reformation became the 
laughing-stock of the people. But the first step had 
been taken, the example given. It was imagined that 
it would be no difficult task eventually to strengthen 
and enlarge this Roman league. Those who still hesi- 
tated would necessarily be drawn into it by the progress 
of events. To the legate Campeggio belongs the glory 
of having dug the mine which was most seriously to 
endanger the liberties of Germany, the existence of the 
empire, and of the Reformation. Henceforward Luther's 
cause ceased to be a mere religious affair ; the dispute 
with the monk of Wittemberg ranked among the politi- 
cal events of Europe. Luther is about to be eclipsed ; 
and Charles V., the pope, and the princes will be the 
principal actors on the stage where the grand drama oi 
the sixteenth century is to be performed. 

Yet the assembly at Spires was still kept in view ; 
it might repair the mischief that Campeggio had effected 
ftt Ratisbon. Rome made every exertion to prevent it^ 
^*What," said the papal deputies, not only to Charles V 
* Ranke, Deutsche Ge&ch. 2. 163 



DIET AT SPIRES FORBIDDEN 



181 



bnt also to Henry VIII. and other princes of Christen- 
dom — "What, do these insolent Germans pretend to 
decide points of faith in a national assembly ? It 
would seem that kings, the imperial authority, all Chris- 
tendom, and the whole world, should submit to their 
decrees." 

The moment was well chosen to act upon the emper- 
or. The war between this prince and Francis I. was at 
its height. Pescara and the constable of Bourbon had 
quitted Italy, and entering France in the month of May, 
had laid siege to Marseilles. The pope, who looked 
with an evil eye on this attack, might make a powerful 
diversion in the rear of the imperial army. Charles, 
who must have feared to displease him, did not hesi- 
tate, and immediately sacrificed the independence of the 
empire to the favor of Kome and the success of his 
struggle with France. 

On the 15th of July, Charles issued an edict from 
Burgos in Castile, wherein he declared, with an imperi- 
ous and angry tone, " that the pope alone had the right 
of convoking a council, and the emperor of demanding 
one ; that the meeting appointed to take place at Spires 
could not and ought not to be tolerated ; that it was 
strange the German nation should undertake a task 
which all the other nations in the universe, even with 
the pope's guidance, would not have the right of doing ; 
and that they should hasten to enforce the decree of 
Worms againat the new Mahomet." 

Thus came from Spain and Italy the blow that 
arrested in Germany the development of the gospel. 
Charles was not yet satisfied. In 1619, he had proposed 
to unite his sister, the archduchess Catherine, to John 
Frederick, son of duke John, the elector's brother, and 
heir to the electorate. But was it not this Saxon house 
that supported in Germany those principles of religious 
and political independence which Charles hated? He 
decided on breaking ofi* entirely with the troublesome 
and guilty representative of the evangelical and nation* 
al ideas, and gave his sister in marriage to John III., 
king of Portugal. Frederick, who in 1519 had shown 



182 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 



his indifference to the overtures of the king of Spain, 
was able in 1524 to suppress the indignation he felt at 
the emperor's conduct; but duke John haughtily inti- 
mated that this proceeding had wounded his feelings 
very deeply. 

Thus the two hostile camps that were destined to 
rend the empire for so long a period, became daily more 
distinct. 



MARTYRDOM OF CASPAR TAUBER 



1P3 



CHAPTER VI. 

Persecution — Caspar Taaber — A bookseller — Cruelties in Wurtea^ 
berg, Salzburg, and Bavaria — Pomerauia — Henry of Zuphten. 

The Roman party was not satisfied with this. The 
alliance of Ratisbon was not to be a mere form , it must 
be sealed with blood. Ferdinand and Campeggio de- 
scended the Danube together from Ratisbon to Vienna, 
and during their journey bound each other by cruel 
promises. The persecution immediately broke out in 
the Austrian states. 

One Caspar Tauber, a citizen of Vienna, had circu- 
lated Luther's writings, and had even written against 
the invocation of saints, purgatory, and transubstantia- 
tion.* Being thrown into prison, he was summoned by 
his judges, both theologians and lawyers, to retract his 
errors. It was thought that he had consented, and 
every preparation was made in Vienna to gratify the 
people with this solemn spectacle. On the festival of 
St. Mary's nativity, two pulpits were erected in St. 
Stephen's cemetery, one for the leader of the choir, who 
was to extol by his chants the repentance of the heretic, 
and the other for Tauber himself. The formula of recan- 
tation was placed in his hands ;f the people and chor- 
isters waited in silence. Whether Tauber had made 
no promise, or whether at the moment of abjuration his 
faith suddenly revived with fresh energy, he exclaimed, 
* I am not convinced, and I appeal to the holy Roman 
fjmpire." Clergy, choristers, and people were seized 
with astonishment and alarm. But Tauber contiuued 
to call for death rather than that he should deny tlie 
gospel. He was decapitated, and his body burnt ;| and 

* Atque etiam proprios ipse tractatus perscripserim. Cocbloeus, 
p. 92, verso. f S^^e Cochlceus, ibid ; Cum igitur ego Casparua 

Tauber, etc. t Credo te vidlsse Camparis Tauber historiam 

martyris novi Vienuac, quern cassum capite scribunt et igne exustum 
pro verbo Dei. Lather to Hausmann, November 12, 1524, 2. 663. 



184 HISTORY OF THE REFORltATIOlT. 



his courage made an indelible impression on the inhab^ 
itants of Vienna. 

At Buda, in Hungary, an evangelical bookseller 
named John had circulated Lu therms New Testament 
and other of his writings throughout that country. He 
was bound to a stake ; his persecutors then piled his 
books around him, enclosing him as if in a tower, and 
>hcn set fire to them. John manifested unshaken cour- 
age, exclaiming from the midst of the flames, that he 
was delighted to suffer in the cause of the Lord.* 
"Blood follows blood," cried Luther, when informed of 
this martyrdom ; " but that generous blood which Rome 
loves to shed, will at last suffocate the pope with his 
'tings and their kingdoms.'^f 

Fanaticism grew fiercer every day ; evangelical min- 
isters were expelled from their churches ; magistrates 
were banished ; and at times the most horrible punish- 
ments were inflicted. In Wurtemberg, an inquisitor 
named Reichler caused the Lutherans, and above all, the 
preachers, to be hanged upon trees. Barbarous ruffians 
were found who unfeelingly nailed the pastors by their 
tongues to a post ; so that these unhappy victims, tear- 
ing themselves violently from the wood to which they 
were fastened, were horribly mutilated in attempting to 
recover their liberty, and thus deprived of that gift which 
they had long used to proclaim the gospel.^ 

Similar persecutions took place in the other states 
6f the Catholic league. An evangelical minister in the 
neighborhood of Salzburg was led to prison, where he 
was to pass the remainder of his days ; while the police 
who had him in charge were drinking at an alehouse on 
the road, two young peasants, moved with compassion, 
eluded their vigilance, and delivered the pastor. The 
anger of the archbishop was inflamed against these poor 
people, and without any form of trial they were ordered 

* Idem accidit Budae in Ungaria bibliopolse cuidam Johanni, 
Bimul cum libris circa eum positis exusto, fortissimeque passo pro 
Domino. Luther to Hausmann, 2. 563. f Sanguis sanguinem 
tangit, qui suffbcabit papam cum regibus et regnis suis. Ibid. 

t Ranke, Deutsche Gesch. 2. 174. 



BAVARIAN PJERSECUTIDNS. 



185 



to be beheaded. They were secretly led outside the 
town early in the morning ; and when they arrived on 
the plain where they were to die, the executioner him- 
self hesitated, for, said he, they have not been tried. 
"Do what I command you," harshly replied the arch* 
bishop^s emissary, " and leave the responsibility to the 
princ-<3 and the heads of these youthful liberators 
immediately fell beneath the sword.* 

The persecution was most violent in the states of 
the duke of Bavaria : priests were deprived of their 
office ; nobles driven from their castles ; spies filled the 
whole country ; and in every heart reigned mistrust and 
alarm. As Bernard Fichtel, a magistrate, was going to 
Nuremberg on the duke's business, on the high road he 
fell in with Francis Burkhardt, professor at Ingolstadt, 
and one of Dr. Eck's friends. Burkhardt accosted him, 
and they travelled together. After supper the professor 
began to talk of religion ; Fichtel, who was no stranger 
to his fellow-traveller, reminded him that the new edict 
prohibited such conversations. "Between us," replied 
Burkhardt, *nhere is nothing to fear." Upon this Fich- 
tel remarked, '*I do not think this edict can ever be 
enforced." He then proceeded to express himself in an 
ambiguous manner on purgatory, and said it was a hor- 
rible thing to punish religious differences with death. 
At these words Burkhardt could not contain himself : 
"What is more just," said he, " than to cut off the heads 
of all these Lutheran rascals ?" He took a friendly 
leave of Fichtel, but immediately denounced him. Fich- 
tel was thrown into prison, and the wretched man, who 
had never thought of becoming a martyr, and whose 
religious convictions were not very deep, only escaped 
death by a shameful retraction. There was no security 
in any place, not even in the bosom of a friend. 

But others met with that death from which Fichtel 
escaped. In vain was the gospel preached in secret ;f 
the dukes tracked it in its obscurity and mystery — ^be- 
neath the domestic roof and in the lonely fields. 

* Zauner, Salzburger Chroaik. 4. 381. f Verbi non palani 
semiaati. L. Epp. 2 559 



186 HISTORY OF THE REFOilMATIOK. 



"The cross and persecution reign in Bavaria,'' said 
Luther ; these wild beasts are lashing themselves into 
madness."* 

Even the north of Germany was not free from these 
cruelties. Bogislaus duke of Poraerania being dead, his 
eon, who had been brought up at duke George's court, 
persecuted the gospel ; Suaven and Knipstrow were 
compelled to flee. 

But it was in Holstein that one of the most extra- 
ordinary instances of fanaticism occurred. 

Henry von Zuphten, who had escaped, as we have 
seen, from the convent at Antwerp, was preaching the 
gospel at Bremen ; Nicholas Boye, pastor of Mehldorf 
in the Dittmarsh, and several pious men of that district, 
invited him to come and proclaim Jesus Christ among 
them. He complied with their wishes. Immediately 
the prior of the Dominicans and the vicar of the official 
of Hamburg consulted together. " If he preaches, and 
the people listen to him,'^ said they, all is lost." The 
prior, after passing an agitated night, rose early and 
repaired to the barren and uncultivated heath where the 
forty-eight regents of the country were wont to hold 
their meetings. "The monk of Bremen is come to ruin 
alJ the Dittmarshers," said he to them. These forty- 
eight simple-minded and ignorant men, being persuaded 
that they would acquire great renown by delivering the 
world from the heretical monk, resolved on putting him 
to death, without having either seen or heard him. 

This was on Saturday, and the prior wished to pre- 
vent Henry from preaching on the following day. He 
arrived at the pastor Boye's dwelling in the middle of 
the night with the letter of the forty-eight regents. ** If 
it be God^s will that I should die among the Dittmarsh- 
ers," said Henry von Zuphten, heaven is as near me 
there as elsewhere ;f I will preach " 

He went up into the pulpit and preached with great 
energy. His hearers, moved and excited by his Chris- 
tian eloquence, had scarcely left the chuxch wlien the 

• In Bavaria multum regnat crux et persecutio. L. Epp 2. 659. 
f Der Himmel ware da so nahe als anderswo. L. 0pp. 19 330. 



HENRY VON ZTJPHTEN 



187 



prior handed tliem the letter of the forty-eight regents, 
forbidding the monk to preach. They immediately sent 
their representatives to the heath ; and after a long dis- 
cussion, the Dittmarshers agreed that, considering their 
great ignorance, they would wait until Easter. But the 
incensed prior went up to some of the regents and in- 
flamed their zeal afresh. "We will write to him," sail 
they. "Mind what you are about," replied the prior; 

if he begins to speak, we shall be able to do nothing 
with him. We must seize him during the night, and 
burn him before he can open his mouth." 

They determined to adopt this course. At nightfall 
on the day after the festival of the Conception, the Ave 
Maria bell was rung. At this signal, all the neighbor- 
ing villagers assembled, to the number of five hundred, 
and their leaders having broached three butts of Ham- 
burg beer, by this means inspired them with great coui- 
age. It was striking midnight when they reached Mehl- 
dorf ; the peasants were armed ; the monks carried 
torches ; all marched in disorder, exchanging shouts of 
fury. As they entered the village, they kept deep silence 
for fear Henry should escape. 

On a sudden the gates of the parsonage were burst 
open ; the drunken peasants rushed in, striking every 
thing they saw ; dishes, kettles, flagons, clothing, were 
tossed about pellmell ; they seized on all the gold and 
silver they could find, and falling on the poor pastor, 
they beat him, with loud cries of " Kill him ; kill him I" 
and then flung him into the mud. But it was Henry 
they were seeking ; they pulled him out of bed, tied his 
hands behind his back, and dragged him after them, 
without clothing, and in a piercing cold night. " Why 
did you come here?" said they. As Henry answered 
mildly, they cried out, " Down with him ; down with 
him ! if we listen to him we shall become heretics also." 
They had dragged him naked through the ice and snow ; 
his feet were bleeding ; he entreated to be set on horse- 
back. "Yes, indeed," replied they, mocking him, "we 

will find horses for heretics March." And they 

continued hurrying him towards the heath. A woman, 



l§8 HISTOKY OF THE REFORMATION. 



standing at the door of her cottage as the servant of 
God was passing, began to weep. " My good woman,'* 
said Henry, "do not weep for me." The bailiff pro- 
nounced his condemnation. Upon this one of the mad- 
men who had dragged him hither struck the preacher of 
Jesus Christ on the head with a sword ; another gave 
him a blow with a club ; after which they brought him 
a poor monk to receive his confession. " Brother," said 
Henry, have I ever done you any wrong ?" " None," 
replied the monk. " In that case I have nothing to con- 
fess to you," resumed Henry, " and you have nothing to 
forgive me." The monk retired in confusion. Several 
ineffectual attempts were made to kindle the pile ; the 
logs would not catch fire. For two hours the martyr 
remained thus before the furious peasantry, calm, and 
raising his eyes to heaven. While they were binding 
him to throw him into the flames, he began the confefj- 
sion of his faith. "Burn first," said a peasant, strikinjj 
him on the mouth with his fist, " and then you may 
speak." They tried to fling him on the pile, but he fell 
on one side. John Holme, seizing a club, struck him 
upon the breast, and he was laid dead on the burning 
heap. " Such is the true history of the sufferings of the 
holy martyr Henry von Zuphten."* 

* Dtm let die wahre HiBtorie, etc. L. 0pp. L 19. S33. 



THE LORD'S SUPPBK 



CHAPTER VII. 

Divifidons — The Lord's supper — Two extremes — Hoen's discovery — 
Carlstadt — Luther — Mysticism of the enthusiasts — Carlstadt at 
Orlamund — Luther's mission — Interview at table — The confer- 
ence of Orlamund — Carlstadt banished. 

While the Roman par^y was everywnere drawing 
the sword against the Reformation, this work underwent 
new developments. It is not at Zurich or at Geneva, 
but in Wittemberg, the focus of the Lutheran revival, 
that we should look for the commencement of that i^e- 
formed church of which Calvin became the chief doctor. 
These two great families had slept in the same cradle. 
Union ought in like manner to have crowned their mature 
age. But when the question of the Lord's supper was 
once started, Luther violently rejected the reformed ele- 
ment, and bound himself and his church in an exclusive 
Lutheranism. The vexation he felt at this rival doctrine 
caused him to lose much of his natural kindness of dis- 
position, and aroused in him a mistrust, an habitual dis- 
content and irritation, to which he had hitherto been a 
stranger. 

The controversy broke out between the two old 
friends, the two champions who had fought side by side 
at Leipsic against Rome — between Carlstadt and Luther. 
In each of them their attachment to contrary doctrines 
originated in a turn of mind that merits our esteem. In 
fact, there are two extremes in questions of religion ; 
the one materializes, the other spiritualizes every thing. 
The former of these two extremes is that of Rome ; the 
latter, of the Mystics. Religion, like man himself, is 
compounded of body and soul ; the pure idealists as well 
as the materialists, in religious views no less than in 
philosophical systems, are equally mistaken. 

Such is the great question hidden under the discus- 
sion about the Lord's supper. While on a superficial 



190 HISTORY OF THE REFOHMATIOIS. 



glance we see nothing but a trivial dispute about words, 
a deeper observation discloses to us one of the most im- 
portant controversies that can occupy the human mind. 

Here the reformers divide into two parties, but each 
carries away with it a portion of the truth. Luther and 
his followers intend opposing an exaggerated spiritual- 
ism ; Carlstadt and the reformed attack a hateful mate- 
rialism. Each of them arraigns the error which in his 
view appears the most fatal, and in assailing it, possibly 
goes beyond the truth. But this is of no importance ; 
each of them is true in his general tendency, and al- 
though belonging to two different hosts, these two illus- 
trious teachers both take their stand under one common 
banner, that of Jesus Christ, who alone is truth in its 
infinite extent. 

Carlstadt thought that nothing could be more injuri- 
ous to real piety than confidence in outward ceremonies 
and in a certain magical influence of the sacraments. 
The outward participation in the Lord's supper, accord- 
ing to Rome, was sufficient for salvation, and this prin- 
ciple had materialized religion. Carlstadt saw no better 
way of res^;Oring its spirituality than by denying all 
presence of Christ's body ; and he taught that this holy 
feast was to believers simply a pledge of their redemp- 
tion. 

Did Carlstadt arrive at these opinions unaided ? No ; 
all things are bound together in the church ; and the 
historical filiation of the reformed doctrine, so long over- 
looked, now appears clearly established. Unquestiona- 
bly we cannot fail to see in this doctrine the sentiments 
of several of the fathers ; but if we search in the long 
chain of ages for the link which more immediately con- 
nects that of Carlstadt and the Swiss reformers, we shall 
find it in John Wessel, the most illustrious doctor of the 
fifteenth century.* 

A Christian lawyer of Holland, Cornelius Hoen, (Ho- 
nius,) a friend of Erasmus, and who had been thrown 
into prison in 1523 for his attachment to the gospel, 
found among the papers of James Hoek, dean of Naeld* 
• S^e vol L, p. lOi. 



CARLSTADT AND LUTHER. 



19i 



wik, a a great friend of Wessel, several treatises by 
this illustrious doctor touching the Lord^s supper.f 
Hoen, convinced of the truth of the spiritual sense 
ascribed by Wessel to this sacrament, thought it his 
duty to comraunicate to the reformers these papers 
written by his fellow-countryman. He therefore trans- 
mitted them to two of his friends, John Rhodius, presi- 
dent of the brethren of the Common-life at Utrecht, and 
George Sagarus, or Saganus, together with a letter on 
the same subject, and desired them to lay all of them 
before Luther. 

About the close of the year 1520, the two Dutchmen 
arrived at Wittemberg, where they seem to have been 
favorably received by Carlstadt from the first moment ; 
while Luther, as was his custom, invited these foreign 
friends to meet some of his colleagues at dinner. The 
conversation naturally fell on the treasure these Nether- 
landers had brought with them, and particularly on the 
writings of Wessel concerning the Lord's supper. 

Rhodius invited Luther to receive the doctrine that 
the great doctor of the fifteenth century had so clearly 
set forth, and Carlstadt entreated his friend to acknow- 
ledge the spiritual signification of the eucharist, and 
even to write against the carnal eating of Christ's body, 
Luther shook his head, and refused, upon which Carl- 
stadt exclaimed warmly, " Well, then, if you will not do 
it, I will, although far less fitted than yourself." Such 
was the beginning of the division that afterwards occur- 
red between these two colleagues. f The two Nether- 
landers being rejected in Saxony, resolved to turn their 
steps towards Switzerland, where we shall meet with 
them again. 

Luther henceforward took a diametrically opposite 
direction. At first, he had apparently contended in favor 

* See Tlardenberg Vita Wesseli; Gerdes. Hist. Evang. renov. 1. 
228-230 j Gieseler, Kirchen G. 3. 190 ; Ulman Job. Wessel, 2d edit., 
p. 564. t Hardeaberg, Vita Wesseli ; W. 0pp. Amsterdam, p 

13. Hardenberg refers to Rhodius, Goswia, Melancthou, and Th. 
Blaurer, from whom he says he received his account, and adds, Int^ 
•im velim illis credi, ut viris bonis j mihi saltern, ut fideli relatpri. 



192 



HISTOJiy OF THE REFORMATION 



of the Opinion we have just pointed out. In his treatise 
on the mass, which appeared in 1520, he said, " I can 
every day partake of the sacraments, if I only call to 
mind the words and promises of Christ, and if I nourish 
and strengthen my faith with them." Neither Carlstadt, 
Zwingle, nor Calvin, have ever used stronger language 
than this. It would even appear that the idea frequently 
occurred to him at this period, that a symbolical expla- 
Bation of the Lord^s supper would te the most powerful 
weapon to overturn the papal system from top to bot- 
tom ; for he said in 1525, that five years previously he 
had undergone many severe temptations for this doc- 
trine,* and that the man who could have proved to him 
that there was only bread and wine in the eucharist* 
would have done him the greatest service. 

But new circumstances threw him into an opposition; 
at times not unmingled with violence, against those very 
opinions to which he had made so near an approach. 
The fanaticism of the enthusiasts of the day explains 
the direction Luther now took. They were not content 
with undervaluing what they called the external word, 
that is, the Bible, and with pretending to special revela- 
tions from the Holy Ghost ; they went so far as to de- 
spise the sacrament of the Lord^s supper, as something 
outward, and to speak of an inward communion as being 
the only true communion. From that time, in every at- 
tempt made to explain the doctrine of the Lord's supper 
in a symbolical manner, Luther saw only the danger of 
weakening the authority of the holy Scriptures ; of sub- 
stituting arbitrary allegories for their real meaning ; of 
spiritualizing every thing in religion ; of making it con- 
sist, not in the gifts of God, but in the impressions of 
men ; and of substituting by this means for the true 
Christianity a mysticism, a theosophy, a fanaticism, that 
would infallibly become its grave. We must acknow- 
ledge that, had it not been for Luther's violent opposi- 
tion, the mystical, enthusiastic, and subjective tendency 
would then perhaps have made rapid progress, and 

• Ich babe wohl so harte Anfechtungen da erlitten. L. Epp. 2. 
577. 



CAELSTADT AT ORLAMUND. 



193 



would have turned back the tide of blessings that the 
Keformation was to spread over the world. 

Carlstadt, impatient at being prevented from explain- 
ing his doctrine freely in Wittemberg, urged by his con- 
science to combat a system which in his opinion low- 
ered Christ's death and destroyed his righteousness," 
resolved "to give a public testimony for the love of 
poor and cruelly deceived Christendom." He left Wit- 
temberg at the beginning of 1524, without informing 
either the university or the chapter of his intentions, 
and repaired to the small town of Orlamund, the church 
of which was placed under his superintendence. He had 
the incumbent dismissed, got himself nominated pastor 
in his stead, and in despite of the chapter, the university, 
and the elector, established himself in this new post. 

He soon began to propagate his doctrine. "It is 
impossible," said he, "to find in the real presence any 
advantage that does not proceed from faith ; it is there- 
fore useless." In explaining Christ's words at the insti- 
tution of the Lord's supper, he had recourse to an inter- 
pretation which is not admitted by the reformed churches. 
Luther, in the disputation at Leipsic, had explained these 
words, "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build 
my church," by separating the two propositions, and 
applying the latter to our Saviour's person. " In like 
manner," said Carlstadt, "the words, Hake, eat,' refer 
to the bread ; but *this is my body,' relates to Jesus 
Christ, who then pointed to himself, and intimated by 
the symbol of breaking the bread, that his body waa 
soon to be broken." 

Carlstadt did not stop here. He was scarcely eman- 
cipated from the guardianship of Luther, before he felt 
his zeal revive against the images. It was easy for his 
imprudent discourses and his enthusiastic language tc 
Inflame men's minds in these agitated times. The peo- 
ple, imagining they heard a second Elijah, broke the 
idols of Baal. The excitement soon spread to the sur- 
rounding villages. The elector would have interfered ; 
but the peasants replied, that they ought to obey God 
rather than man. Upon thiSj the prince determined to 

Bwt of P.ef. Xll. r '? 



194 



HISTORY OF THE REF0RMATI0J5J 



send Luther to Orlamund to restore peace. Luther re* 
garded Carlstadt as a man eaten up by a love of notori- 
ety,* a fanatic who might be so far carried away as to 
make war on Clirist himself. Frederick might peihaps 
have made a wiser choice. Luther departed, and Carl 
stadt was fated to see this troublesome rival once more 
come and disturb his plans of reform, and check his soar- 
ing flight. 

Jena was on the road to Orlamund. Luther reached 
this city on the 23d of August, and on the 24th went 
into the pulpit at seven in the morning ; he spoke for 
an hour and a half in the presence of a numerous audi- 
tory against fanaticism, rebellion, the breaking of im- 
ages, and the contempt of the real presence, inveighing 
most energetically against the innovations of Orlamund. 
He did not mention Carlstadt by name, but every one 
could see whom he had in view. 

Carlstadt, either by accident or design, was at Jena, 
and among the number of Luther^s hearers. He did not 
hesitate to seek an explanation of this sermon. Luther 
was dining with the prior of Wittemberg, the burgomas- 
ter, the town-clerk, the pastor of Jena, and several oflS- 
ce¥s of the emperor and the margrave, when he received 
a letter from Carlstadt demanding an interview ; he 
handed it to his neighbors, and replied to the bearer, "If 
Dr. Carlstadt wishes to come to me, let him come ; if 
not, 1 can do without him." Carlstadt came. His visit 
produced a lively sensation in the whole party. The 
majority, eager to see the two lions battling, suspended 
their repast and looked on, while the more timid turned 
pale with alarm. 

Carlstadt, on Luther's invitation, took a seat in front 
of him, and said, " Doctor, in your sermon this morning 
you classed me with those who inculcate rebellion and 
assassination. Such a charge 1 declare to be false." 

Luther. I did not name you ; but since the cap fits, 
you may wear it. 

Al'ter a brief pause, Carlstadt resumed : 

**I will undertake to prove that on the doctrine ot 

* Rue perpalit eum insana gloriae et laudia libido. L. Epp. 2. 66l» 



THE CHALLEiraE. 



195 



the sacrament yon have contradicted yourself, and that 
no one, since the days of the apostles, has taught it so 
pm*ely as myself" 

Luther. Write ; combat my opinions. 

Carlstadt. I offer you a public disputation at Wit- 
temberg or at Erfurth, if you will procure me a safe- 
conduct. 

Luther. Fear nothing, doctor. 

Carlstadt. You bind me hand and foot, and when yoa 
aave rendered me unable to defend myself, you strike 
me.* 

There was another brief silence, when Luther re- 
sumed : 

"Write against me, but openly, and not in secret.^' 

Carlstadt. I would do so, if I knew that you were 
speaking sincerely. 

Luther. Do so, and I will give you a florin. 

Carlstadt. Give it me ; I accept the challenge. 

At these words, Luther took a gold florin out of his 
pocket, and giving it to Carlstadt, said, "There is the 
money : now strike boldly." 

Carlstadt holding the florin in his hand, turned tow- 
ards the assembly, and said, "Dear brethren, this is my 
earnest-money, a warrant that I have authority to write 
against Dr. Luther ; be you all witnesses to this." 

Then bending the florin that it might be known again, 
he put it in his purse, and shook hands with Luther, who 
drank his health, to which Carlstadt responded. " The 
more vigorous your attack, the better I shall like it,*' 
resumed Luther. 

"If I miss you," replied Carlstadt, "it shall be 
through no fault of mine." 

They once more shook hands, and Carlstadt returned 
to his dwelling. 

Thus, says a historian, as from a single spark often 
proceeds the conflagration of a whole forest, so from this 
small beginning a great division arose in the church.f 

* Ihr bandet mir Hande und Fiisse, darnach schlugt Ihr mich 
L. 0pp. 19. 150. t Sicut una scintilla ssepe totam sylvam comr- 
barit. M. Adami Vita Car 1st. 83. Our narrative is mostly takei 



196 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK 



Luther set out for Orlamund, and arrived there very 
ill prepared by the scene at Jena. He assembled the 
council and the church, and said, " Neither the elector 
nor the university will acknowledge Carlstadt as your 
pastor." "If Carlstadt is not our pastor," replied the 
treasurer of the town-council, " St. Paul is a false teach- 
er, and your books are full of falsehoods, for we have 
elected him." 

As he said this, Carlstadt entered the room. Some of 
those who were near Luther beckoned him to sit down, 
but Carlstadt, going straight up to Luther, said, "Dear 
doctor, if you will allow me, I will entertain you." 

Luther. You are my opponent. I gave you a gold 
florin for that purpose. 

Carlstadt. I will be your opponent so long as you 
remain the enemy of God and of his truth. 

Luther. Leave the room : I cannot allow you to be 
present here. 

Carlstadt. This is a public meeting. If your cause 
is good, why should you fear me ? 

Luther, to his servant. Go and put the horses to ; I 
have nothing to do with Carlstadt, and since he will not 
leave, I must.* 

At the same time Luther rose from his seat, upon 
which Carlstadt quitted the room. 

After a short pause, Luther resumed : 

" Prove by Scripture that we ought to destroy the 
images." 

A Councillor, opening a Bible. Doctor, you will grant 
me, at least, that Moses knew God's commandments I 
Well, then, here are his words : " Thou shalt not make 
unto thee any graven image, or any likeness." 

Luther. This passage refers only to idolatrous im- 
ag 3S. If I have a crucifix hung up in my chamber, and 
do not worship it, what harm can it do me ? 

A Shoemaker. I have frequently taken off my hat 
before an image that I have seen in a room or in the 

from the Acta of Reinhardt^ pastor of Jena, an eye-witness, boi • 
friend of Carlstadt, and whom Luther charged with inaccuracy. 
* Spanu an, spann an ! L. 0pp. 19. 164:. 



CARLSTADT'S BANISHMENT. 197 



streets. It is an idolatrous act that deprives God of 
the glory that is due to him alone. 

Luther. Must we then, because of their abuse, put 
our women to death, and throw our wine into the 
streets 

Another member op the church. No : these are Qod^B 
crsatures, which we are not commanded to destroy. 

After the conference had lasted some time longer, 
Latner and his friends returned to their carriage, aston- 
ished at what they had seen, and without having suc- 
ceeded in convincing the inhabitants, who claimed for 
themselves the right of freely interpreting and explain- 
ing the Scriptures. The excitement was very great in 
Orlamund ; the people insulted Luther, and some of 
tliem shouted out, " Begone, in the name of all the dev- 
ils I May you break your neck before you get out of 
our city I'^f Never had the reformer undergone such 
humiliation. 

He proceeded thence to Kale, where the pastor had 
also embraced the doctrines of Oarlstadt, and resolved 
to preach there. But when he entered the pulpit, he 
found the fragments of a crucifix. At first his emotion 
was very great ; but recovering himself, he gathered up 
the pieces into a corner, and delivered a sermon without 
a single allusion to this circumstance. He said at a 
later period, **I determined to revenge myself on the 
devil by contempt." 

The nearer the elector approached the end of his 
days, the more he feared lest men should go too far in 
the Reformation. He gave orders that Oarlstadt should 
be deprived of his offices, and that he should not only 
leave Orlamund, but the electoral states also. In vain 

• So muss du dess Missbrauchs halber auch. . . . L. 0pp. 19. 155. 

t Two of the most distinguished contemporary historians of Ger- 
many, Dr. Markeineke, Ref. Gesch. 2. 139, and Fred, von Raumer, 
Gesch. Europ. 1. 371, add, that the people of Orlamund flung mud 
and stones at Luther; but he asserts the very contrary : '* Dass ich 
froL ward, dass ich nit mit Steinen und Dreck ausgewoffen ward " — 
I was glad to escape without being pelted with stones and mud. L 
Epp. 2. 579. 



198 



HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION 



did the church of this place intercede in his favor ; m 
vain did they ask that he might be allowed to remain 
among them as a private citizen, with permission to 
preach occasionally ; in vain did they represent that 
they valued God's truth more than the whole world, or 
even a thousand worlds,* if God had created as many : 
Frederick was inflexible, and he even went sc far as to 
refuse Carlstadt the funds necessary for his journey, 
Luther had nothing to do with these severe measures of 
the prince ; they were far from his disposition, as he 
showed at a later period. But Carlstadt looked upon 
him as the author of all his misfortunes, and filled Ger- 
many with his complaints and lamentations. He wrote 
a farewell address to his friends at Orlamund. The peo- 
ple were called together by the ringing of the bells ; and 
the letter, which was read to the assembled church, drew 
tears from every eye.f It was signed, "Andrew Boden- 
stein, expelled by Luther, unheard and unconvicted." 

We cannot but feel pain at seeing the contest be- 
tween these two men, who once were friends, and who 
were both so excellent. A feeling of sadness took pos- 
session of all the disciples of the Reformation. What 
would become of it, now that its most illustrious de- 
fenders thus opposed each other ? Luther noticed these 
fears, and endeavored to allay them. " Let us fight,'* 
said he, "as if fighting for another. The cause is God's, 
the care is God's, the work is God's, the victory is God's, 
and to God belongs the glory.J He will contend and 
conquer without us. Let that fall which ought to fall ; 
let that stand which ought to stand. It is not our own 
cause that is at stake, nor our own glory that we seek." 

Carlstadt took refuge at Strasburg, where he pub- 
lished several works. He was a sound Latin, Greek, 
and Hebrew scholar, says Dr. Scheur ; and Luther ac* 
knowledged his superior erudition. Endowed with aii 
elevated mind, he sacrificed his reputation, his rank, his 

* Hoher als tausend Weltea. Seek. p. 628. f Quae public^ 

vocatis per campanas lectae sunt omnibus simul flentibus. L. Epp. 
2. 658. i Causa Dei est. cura Dei est, opus Dei est, victoria 

Dei est, gloria Dei est! Ibid. 556. 



CAELSTADT irf SWITZEULANB. 199 



home, his very bread, to his convictions. He afterwards 
proceeded to Switzerland ; it is there he should have 
commenced his teaching : his independence needed the 
free air in which Zwingle and CEcolampadius breathed. 
His doctrine soon awakened almost as much attention 
as that obtained by Luther's first theses. Switzerland 
appeared to be won ; Bucer and Capito seemed to be 
carried away by it. 

Luther's indignation was then at its height, and he 
published one of the most powerful, but at the same 
time one of his most violent controversial works — ^his 
book against the celestial prophets. 

Thus the Reformation, attacked by the pope, attacked 
by the emperor, attacked by the princes, was beginning 
also to tear its own vitals. It seemed that it must fall 
under the weight of so many evils ; and assuredly it 
would have fallen had it been a work of man. But 
soon, from the very brink of destruction, it rose up with 
renewed energy. 



aOO HISTORY OF THE EEFORlIA'l'ION 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Progress — Resistance against the Ratisbon leaguers — ^M*»eting be* 
tween Philip of Hesse and Melancthon — The landgrave convert 
ed to the gospel — The Palatinate — Luneburg — Holstein — The 
grand master at Wittemberg. 

The Catholic league of Eatisbon, and the persecutions 
that followed it, created a powerful reaction among the 
German people. They did not feel disposed to suffer 
themselves to be deprived of that word of God which 
had been restored to them at last ; and to the orders of 
Charles V., to the bulls of the pope, the menaces and 
burning piles of Ferdinand and the other Roman-catho- 
lic princes, they replied, We will keep it." 

No sooner had the members of the league quitted 
Ratisbon, than the deputies of the towns whose bishops 
had taken part in this alliance, in surprise and indigna- 
tion, met at Spires, and declared that their ministers, in 
despite of the prohibition of the bishops, should preach 
the gospel, and nothing but the gospel, conformably to 
the doctrine of the prophets and apostles. They then 
proceeded to draw up a memorial, in firm and consistent 
language, to be laid before the national assembly. 

The imperial letter from Burgos, it is true, came to 
disturb their minds. Nevertheless, about the close of 
the year, the deputies of these cities with many nobles 
met at Ulm, and swore to assist one another in case of 
attack. 

Thus to the camp formed by Austria, Bavaria, and 
the bishops, the free cities immediately opposed another 
in which they planted the standard of the gospel and o! 
the national liberties. 

While the cities were thus placing themselves in 
the van of the Reformation, many princes were gained 
over to its cause. In the beginning of the month of 
June, 1524, as Melancthon was returning on horseback 
from a visit to his mother, accompanied by Oamerariui 



MEETIKa OF THE TWO PHILIPS. 201 



and some other friends, he met a brilliant train near 
Frankfort. It was Philip, landgrave of Hesse, who 
three years before had called on Luther at Worms, and 
who was then on his road to the tournament at Hei- 
delberg, where all the princes of Germany would be 
piesent. 

Thus did Providence bring Philip successively into 
cc»ntact with the two reformers. As it was known that 
the celebrated doctor had gone to his native place, one 
of the landgrave's attendants said, " It is Philip Melanc- 
thon, I think." The young prince immediately clapped 
spurs to his horse, and coming near the doctor, said, 
" Is your name Philip ?" " It is," replied the scholar a 
little intimidated, and respectfully preparing to alight.* 
"Keep your seat," said the prince; *'turn round, and 
come and pass the night with me ; there are some mat- 
ters on which I desire to have a little talk with you ; 
fear nothing." " What can I fear from such a prince as 
you ?" replied the doctor. " Ah, ah," said the landgrave, 
with a laugh, " if I were to carry you off and give you 
up to Campeggio, he would not be offended, I think." 
The two Philips rode on together, side by side, the 
prince asking questions, and the doctor replying. The 
landgrave was delighted with the clear and impressive 
views set before him by Melancthon. The latter at 
length begged permission to continue his journey, and 
Philip of Hesse parted from him with reluctance. "On 
one condition," said he, '*that on your return home, you 
will carefully examine the questions we have been dis- 
cussing, and send me the result in writing."*}* Melanc- 
thon gave his promise. " Go, then," said Philip, " and 
pass through my states." 

Melancthon drew lip with his usual talent an Abridg- 
ment of the revived Doctrine of Christianity ; J a forcible 
and concise treatise, that made a decided impression on 
the landgrave's mind. Shortly after his return from the 

* Honoris causa de equo descensurus. Camerarius, p. 94. 

t Ut de qusestionibus quas audiisset moveri, aliquid diligenter 
conscriptum curaret. Ibid. p. 94. X Epitome renovatae eccl^ 
aasticse doctriaae. 



202 mSTORY 0^" THE REFORMATIOIT. 



tournament at Heidelberg, this prince, without joining 
the free cities, published an edict, by which, in opposi- 
tion to the league of Ratisbon, he ordered the gospel to 
be preached in all its purity. He embraced it himself 
with the energy peculiar to his character. Rather 
would I give up my body and life, my subjects and my 
states," said he, "than the word of God." A Minorite 
friar named Ferber, perceiving this prince's leaning tow- 
ards the Reformation, wrote him a letter full of reproach, 
in which he conjured him to remain faithful to Rome. 
" I will remain faitliful to the old doctrine," replied Phil- 
ip, "but such as it is contained in Scripture." He then 
proved very forcibly that man is justified solely by faith. 
Astonishment kept the monk silent.* The landgrave 
was commonly styled " Melancthon's disciple."f 

Other princes followed in the same direction. The 
elector-palatine refused to lend himself to any persecu- 
tion ; the duke of Luneburg, nephew to the elector of 
Saxony, began to reform his own states ; and the king 
of Denmark gave orders that in Sleswick and Holstein 
every one should be free to serve God as his conscience 
suggested. 

The Reformation gained a still more important vic- 
tory. A prince whose conversion to the gospel was des- 
tined to exert the greatest influence, even in our days, 
began about this time to turn aside from Rome. One 
day about the end of June, shortly after Melancthon's 
return to Wittemberg, Albert, margrave of Branden- 
burg and grand-master of the Teutonic order, entered 
Luther's chamber. This chief of the military monks of 
Germany, who then possessed Prussia, had gone to the 
diet of Nuremberg to invoke the aid of the empire 
against Poland. He returned in the deepest distress. 
On the one hand, the preaching of Osiander and the 
reading of the Bible had convinced him that his monas- 
tic profession was contrary to the word of God ; and on 
the other, the fall of the national government in Ger- 
many had deprived him of all hope of obtaining the 

* Seckeudorf, p. 738. f Princeps ille discipulus Philippi 

foit a qulbusdam appellatus. Gamer, p. 95. 



203 



succor he had gone to solicit What can he do then ? . . 
The Saxon councillor Von Planitz, with whom he had 
quitted Nuremberg, advised him to see the reformer. 
"What do you think of the regulations of my order?*' 
said the restless and agitated prince. Luther felt no 
A hesitation ; he saw that a line of conduct in conformity 
with the gospel was the only thing that could save 
Prussia. "Invoke the aid of God," said he to the grand- 
master; "throw off the senseless and confused rules of 
your order ; put an end to that abominable principality, 
a veritable hermaphrodite, which is neither religious nor 
secular;* relinquish that false chastity, and seek the 
true one ; take a wife, and instead of that nameless 
monster, found a legitimate sovereignty."f These words 
pJaced distinctly before the mind of the grand-master a 
state of things that he had as yet conceived but vague- 
ly. A smile lit up his features ; but he had too much 
prudence to declare himself; he remained silent. J Me- 
lancthon, who was present, spoke to the same effect as 
Luther, and the prince returned to his states, leaving 
the reformers under the conviction that the seed they 
had sown in his heart would one day bear fruit. 

Thus Charles V. and the pope had opposed the 
national assembly at Spires, for fear the word of God 
should gain over all who might be present; but the 
word of God cannot be bound : they refused to let it be 
heard in one of the halls of a town in the Lower Palati- 
nate ; it avenged itself by spreading over all the prov- 
inces ; it stirred the hearts of the people, enlightened 
the princes, and manifested in every part of the empire 
that divine power which neither bulls nor edicts can 
ever take away. 

* Ut loco illius abominabilis principatus, qui hermaphrodita 
quidem. L. Epp. 2. 527. f Ut contempta ista stulta confi sa- 
que regula, uxorem duceret. Ibid. { lUe turn arrisit, sed 

nihil respondit. Ibid. 



204 HISTOEY OP THE EEFOEMATION. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Reforms — All-Saints church — Fall of the mass — LeamiLg— Chris 
tian schools — Learning extended to the laity — The arts — Mor8£> 
religion — ^^thetical religion — Music — Poetry — Painting. 

While the nations and their rulers were thus hasten- 
ing forward to the light, the reformers were endeavor- 
ing to regenerate every thing, to interpenetrate every 
thing with the principles of Christianity. The state of 
public worship first engaged their attention. The time 
fixed by the reformer on his return from the Wartburg 
had arrived. " Now," said he, " that men's hearts have 
been strengthened by divine grace, we must put an end 
to the scandals that pollute the kingdom of the Lord, 
and dare something in the name of Jesus." He required 
that men should communicate in both kinds, the bread 
and wine ; that every thing should be retrenched from 
the ceremony of the eucharist that tended to make it 
a sacrifice ;* that Christians should never assemble 
together without having the gospel preached ;f thac 
believers, or at least the priests and scholars, should 
meet every morning at five or six o'clock to read the 
Old Testament, and at a corresponding hour in the even- 
ing to read the New Testament ; that every Sunday the 
whole church should assemble in the morning and after- 
noon, and that the great object of their worship should 
be to sound abroad the word of God.J 

The church of All-Saints at Wittemberg especially 
excited Luther's indignation. Seckendorf informs us 
that ninety-nine hundred and one masses were there 
celebrated yearly, and thirty-five thousand five hundred 
and seventy pounds of wax annually burnt. liUthci 
called it "a sacrilegious Tophet." "There are onlj 

• Weise christliche Messe zu halten. L. 0pp. L. 22. 232. 
t Die christliche Gemeine nimmer soil zusammen kommen, es 
werde denn daselbst Gottes Wort geprediget. Ibid. 226, 
t Dass das Wort im Schwange gehe. Ibid. 227. 



THE CHURCH OF ALL-SAINTS. 



205 



three or four lazy-bellies," said he, "who still worship 
this shameful mammon, and if I had not restrained the 
people, this house of All-Saints, or rather of all devils, 
would have made such a noise in the world as has never 
before been heard." 

The struggle began around this church. It resem- 
bled those ancient sanctuaries of paganism in Egypt, 
Gaul, and Germany, which were destined to fall, that 
Christianity might be established. 

Luther, desiring that the mass should be abolished 
in this cathedral, addressed a petition to the chapter to 
this effect on the 1st of March, 1523, and a second on 
the 11th of July.* The canons having pleaded the 
elector^s orders, Luther replied, "What is the prince's 
order to us in this case ? He is a secular prince ; the 
sword, and not the preaching of the gospel, belongs 
to him."f Here Luther clearly marks the distinction 
between the state and the church. "There is but one 
sacrifice that taketh away sins," said he again — "Christ, 
who offered himself up once for all ; and in this we are 
partakers, not by works or by sacrifices, but solely by 
faith in the word of God." 

The elector, who felt his end drawing near, was 
opposed to new reforms. 

But fresh entreaties were added to those of Luther. 
" It is time to act," said J onas, provost of the cathedral, 
to the elector. "A manifestation of the gospel so strik- 
ing as that which we now have, does not ordinarily last 
longer than a sunbeam. Let us make haste then."J 

As the letter of Jonas did not change the elector's 
views, Luther lost all patience ; he thought the moment 
had come for striking a decisive blow, and addressed a 
threatening letter to the chapter : "I entreat you ami' 
cably, and urge you seriously, to put an end to all this 
sectarian worship. If you refuse, you will receive, with 
God's help, the reward that you have deserved. I men- 
tion this for your guidance, and require a positive and 

* L. Epp. 2. pp. 308, 364. f Welchem gebiihrt, das Sch^erd 
nicht das Predigtamt zu versorgen. L. 0pp. 18. p 497. 
t Corp. Eef. 1 636. 



206 HISTORY OP THE REFOEMATIOl^. 



immediate answer, yes or no, before Sunday next, that 
I may know what I have to do. May God give yon 
grace to follow this light. 

^'MARTIN LUTHER, preacher at Wittemberg. • 
Thursday, Dec. 8, 1524." 

At the same time the rector, two burgomasters, and 
ten councillors waited on the dean, and entreated him 
in the name of the university, the council, and the town* 
ship of Wittemberg, ^'to abolish the great and horrible 
impiety committed in the mass against the majesty of 
God." 

The chapter was forced to give way ; they declared 
that, being enlightened by the holy word of God,*}* they 
acknowledged the abuses that had been pointed out, and 
published a new order of church service, which began to 
be observed on Christmas-day, 1524. 

Thus fell the mass in this renowned sanctuary, where 
it had so long resisted the reiterated attacks of the re- 
formers. The elector Frederick, suffering from the gout, 
and rapidly drawing near his end, could not, in spite of 
all his exertions, prevent this great victory of the Ref- 
ormation. He saw in it a manifestation of the divine 
will, and gave way. The fall of the Romish observan- 
ces in the church of All-Saints hastened their abolition 
in a great number of churches throughout Christendom ; 
everywhere the same resistance was offered — every- 
where there was the same triumph. In vain did the 
priests, and even the princes in many places, try to 
interpose obstacles ; they could not succeed. 

It was not the public worship alone that the Refor- 
mation was ordained to change. The school was early 
placed beside the church ; and these two great institu- 
tions, so powerful to regenerate the nations, were equal- 
ly reanimated by it. It was by a close alliance witb 
learning that the Reformation entered into the world; 
in the hour of its triumph it did not forget its ally. 

Christianity is not a simple development of Judaism 

* L. Epp. 2. 565. t Durch das Licht des heiligen gottliohM 
Wortee. . L. 0pp. 18. 502. 



IiUTHER ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 



20*/ 



tJnIike the papacy, it does not aim at confining man 
again in the close swaddling bands of outward ordi- 
nances and human doctrines. Christianity is a new 
creation : it lays hold of the inner man, and transforms 
him in the inmost principles of his human nature, so 
that man no longer requires other men to impose rulea 
upim him ; but, aided by God, he can of himself and by 
himself distinguish what is true, and do what is right. 
Ueb. 8:11. 

To lead mankind to that ripe age which Christ has 
purchased for them, and to free them from the tutelage 
in which Rome had held them so long, the Reformation 
had to develop the whole man ; and while regenerating 
his heart and his will by the word of God, to enlighten 
his understanding by the study of profane and sacred 
learning. 

Luther saw this ; he felt that, to strengthen the Ref- 
ormation, it was requisite to work on the young, to im- 
prove the schools, and to propagate throughout Christen- 
dom the knowledge necessary for a profound study of 
the holy Scriptures. This, accordingly, was one of the 
objects of his life. He saw it in particular at the period 
which we have reached, and wrote to the councillors of 
all the cities of Germany, calling upon them to found 
Christian schools. " Dear sirs," said he, we annually 
expend so much money on arquebuses, roads, and dikes ; 
why should we not spend a little to give one or two 
schoolmasters to our poor children ? God stands at the 
door, and knocks ; blessed are we if we open to him. 
Now the word of God abounds. 0 my dear Germans, 
buy, buy, while the market is open before your houses. 
The word of God and his grace are like a shower that 
falls and passes away. It was among the Jews ; but 
it passed away, and now they have it no longer. Paul 
carried it into Greece ; but in that country also it has 
passed away, and the Turk reigns there now. It came 
to Rome and the Latin empire ; but there also it has 
passed away, and Rome now has the pope.* 0 Ger* 

• Aber hin ist hin — but lost is lost j sie babeu nun den Pabit 
U Opp, W. 10. 635. 



208 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATION. 



mans, do not expect to have this wcrd for ever. Tl/e 
contempt that is shown to it will drive it away, Voi this 
reason, let him who desires to possess it lay hold of it 
and keep it. 

Busy yourselves with the cMIdren," continues Lu- 
ther, still addressing the magistrates ; " for many par* 
ents are like ostriches ; they are hardened towards their 
.ittle on ^s, and satisfied with having laid the egg, they 
care nothing for it afterwards The prosperity of a city 
does not consist merely in heaping up great treasures, 
in building strong walls, in erecting splendid mansions, 
in possessing glittering arms. If madmen fall upon it, 
its ruin will only be the greater. The true wealth of a 
city, its safety, and its strength, is to have many learn- 
ed, serious, worthy, well-educated citizens. And whom 
must we blame because there are so few at present, 
except you magistrates, who have allowed our youth to 
grow up like trees in a forest 

Luther particularly insisted on the necessity of study- 
ing literature and languages : " What use is there, it 
may be asked, in learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ? 
We can read the Bible very well in German. Without 
languages," replies he, "we could not have received the 

gospel Languages are the scabbard that contains 

the sword of the Spirit ;* they are the casket that guards 
the jewels ; they are the vessel that holds the wine ; and 
as the gospel says, they are the baskets in which the 
loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude. If we 
neglect the languages, we shall not only eventually lose 
the gospel, but be unable to speak or write in Latin or 
in German. No sooner did men cease to cultivate them 
than Christendom declined, even until it fell under the 
power of the pope. But now that languages are again 
honored, they shed such light that all the world is aston- 
ished, and every one is forced to acknowledge that our 
gospel is almost as pure as that of the apostle« them- 
selves. In former times the holy fathers were frequently 
mistaken, because they were ignorant of languages ; and 

• Die Sprachen sind die Scheide. iarinnen dies Messer d«B Geis 
lee stecket. L. 0pp. W. 10. 535. 

! 



LBARNINO EXTENDED TO THE LAiTT. 209 



!n our days there are some who, like the Waldenses, do 
not think the languages to be of any use ; but although 
their doctrine be good, they have often erred in the real 
meaning of the sacred text ; they are without arms 
against error, and I fear very much that their faith will 
not remain pure.* If the languages had not made me 
positive as to the meaning of the word, I might have 
been a pious monk, and quietly preached the truth in 
the obscurity of a cloister ; but I should have left the 
pope, the sophists, and their antichristian empire still 
iinshaken.''f 

Luther did not concern himself about the education 
of the clergy only ; it was his desire that knowledge 
should not be confined to the church ; he proposed ex- 
tending it to the laity, who hitherto had been deprived 
of it. He called for the establishment of libraries, which 
should comprise not only editions and commentaries of 
the schoolmen and the fathers of the church, but also the 
works of orators and poets, even were they heathens, as 
well as writings devoted to the fine arts, law, medicine, 
and history. "These productions," said he, "serve to 
make known the works and the wonders of God.'' 

This effort on the part of Luther is one of the most 
important produced by the Reformation. He emanci- 
pated learning from the hands of the priests, who had 
monopolized it like those of Egypt in times of old, and 
put it within the reach of all. From this impulse given 
by the Reformation have proceedea the greatest devel- 
opments of modern times. Those laymen, whether me» 
of letters or scholars, who now revile the Reformation, 
forget that they themselves are its offspring, and that 
without it they would still be, like ignorant children, 
under the rod of the clergy. The Reformation perceived 
the close tie that connected all the sciences ; it saw that,, 
as all knowledge is derived from God, it leads man back 
to God. It desired that all men should learn, and that 
they should learn every thing. " Those who despise pro- 

* Es sey oder werde nicht lauter bleiben. L. 0pp. W. 10. 535. 
t Ich hatte wohi auch konnen fromm seyn md in der Stille recht 
predigen. Ibid. 



210 filSTORT OF THE REFORMATION. 



fane literature," said Melancthon, "hold theology in no 
greater estimation. Their contempt is a mere pretext, 
with which they seek to conceal their idleness."* 

The Reformation was not satisfied with merel}' giv- 
ing a strong impulse to letters ; it gave also a fresh 
impulse to the arts. Protestantism has often been re* 
preached as their enemy, and many Protestants willingly 
accept thid reproach. We will not inquire whether the 
Reformation ought to glory in it or not ; we shall be con- 
tent to observe that impartial history does not confirm 
the fact on which this accusation is founded. Let Roman- 
catholicism pride itself in being more favorable to the 
arts than Protestantism ; be it so : paganism was still 
more favorable, and Protestantism places its glory else- 
where. There are some religions in which the aesthetic 
tendencies of man hold a more important place than his 
moral nature. Christianity is distinct from these relig- 
ions, inasmuch as the moral element is its essence. The 
Christian sentiment is manifested not by the productions 
of the fine arts, but by the works of a Christian life. 
Every sect that should abandon this moral tendency of 
Christianity, would by that very circumstance forfeit its 
claims to the name of Christian. Rome has not entirely 
abandoned it, but Protestantism cherishes this essential 
characteristic with much greater purity. It places its 
glory in diving into all that concerns the moral being, 
in judging of religious actions, not by their external 
beauty and the manner in which they strike the imagi- 
nation, but according to their internal worth, and the 
connection they have with the conscience ; so that if 
the Papacy is above all an aesthetical religion, as a cele- 
brated writer has proved it to be;f Protestantism is 
above all a moral religion. 

And yet, although the Reformation at first addressed 
man as a moral being, it addressed the whole man. We 
have just seen how it spoke to his und^'^standing, and 
what it did for literature ; it also spoke to his sensibil- 
ity, to his imagination, and contributed to the develc p- 

* Hunc titulum ignaviae suae praetextunt. Corp. Ref. 1. 613* 
i Chcvteaubriaad, Geuie du Christianism^. 



MUSIC AND POETRY. 



2n 



ment of the arts. The church was no longer composed 
exclusively of monks and priests ; it was the assembly 
of the faithful. All were to take part in its public wor- 
ship ; and the chanting of the clergy was to be succeed- 
ed by the singing of the people. Accordingly Luther, in 
translating the Psalms, thought of adapting them to con- 
gregational singing. Thus a taste for music was spread 
among th^ nation. 

"Next to theology," said Luther, "I give the first 
place and the highest honor to music* A schoolmaster 
should know how to sing," said he at another time, "or 
else I will not so much as look at him." 

One day, as certain of his friends were singing some 
beautiful chants at his house, he exclaimed with enthu- 
siasm, "If our Lord God has scattered such admirable 
gifts on this earth, which is but a dark corner, what will 
it not be in the life eternal, in which all will be perfec- 
tion I" . . . Since Luther's time the people have sung ; the 
Bible inspired their songs, and the impulse given at the 
epoch of the Reformation produced in later years those 
noble oratorios which seem to be the summit of this art. 

Poetry shared in the general movement. In singing 
the praises of God, men could not confine themselves to 
mere translations of the ancient hymns. The souls of 
Luther and many of his cotemporaries, elevated by faith 
to the sublimest ideas, excited to enthusiasm by the con- 
flicts and dangers that continually threatened the infant 
church, inspired by the poetic genius of the Old Testa- 
ment, and by the faith of the New, soon poured forth 
their feelings in religious songs, in which poetry and 
music united and blended their most heavenly features. 
Thus in the sixteenth century the hymns were revived 
which in the first century had consoled the pangs of the 
martyrs. In 1523, Luther, as we have already seen, 
consecrated them to the memory of the Brussels mar- 
tyrs ; other children of the Reformation imitated his 
example ; these hymns increased in number, and were 
circulated rapidly among the people, and contriuuted 

* Ich geben ach der Theologie der Musica den nahestea Locttp 
kock^ie Ehre. U 0pp. W. 2% 2253, 



ai3 HISTORy OF THE REFORMATION. 



powerfully to awaken them from their slumbers. It , 
was in this same year that Hans Sachs composed Tha 
Nightingale of Wittemherg, The doctrine that for the last 
four centuries had prevailed in the church was as the 
moonlight, during which men lost their way in the wil- 
derness Now the nightingale proclaims the dawn, and 
soaring aoove the mists of the morning, celebrates the 
brightness of the coming day. 

While lyric poetry thus owed its birth to the loftiest 
inspirations of the Reformation, satirical verses and 
dramas from the pen of Hutten and Manual attacked the 
most crying abuses. 

It is to the Reformation that the greatest poets of 
England, Germany, and perhaps of France, are indebted 
for their highest flights. 

Of all the arts, painting is that on which the Refor- 
mation had the least influence. Nevertheless, it was 
renovated, and as it were sanctified, by the universal 
movement which at that time agitated all the powers of 
man. Lucae^ Cranach, the great master of that age, set- 
tled at Wittemberg, lived on intimate terms with Luther, 
and became the painter of the Reformation. We have 
seen how he represented the contrast between Christ and 
antichrist the pope,* and thus ranked among the most 
influential organs of the revolution that was transform- 
ing the nations. As soon as he had received new con- 
victions, he consecrated his chaste pencil solely to paint- 
ings in harmony with Christian sentiments, and spread 
over groups of children, blessed by our Saviour, those 
graces with which he had previously adorned legendary 
saints. Albert Durer also was gained over by the word 
of the gospel, and his genius received a fresh impulse. 
His masterpieces date from this period. We see from 
the touches with which he henceforward depicted the 
evangelists and apostles, that the Bible was restored to 
the people, and that the painter thence derived a depth, 
power, life, and sublimity, that he would never have 
found in him self, f 

And yet we must confess, that of all the arts paiat- 
• gee vol. n., p. 186. f Ka^ke, Deutsclie Gescliichte, 2. 85. 



IMPULSE TO THE FINE ARTS. 213 



fng 18 that whose religious influence is most exposed to 
well-founded and strong objections. Poetry and music 
come from heaven, and will be found again in heaven ; 
but we continually see painting connected with serious 
immoralities or mournful errors. After a man has stud- 
ied history or visited Italy, he expects nothing beneficial 
to humanity from this art. Whatever may be the value 
of this exception, which we think it our duty to make, 
our general remark still holds good. 

The Reformation of Germany, while it primarily ad- 
dressed man's moral nature, gave an impulse to the arts 
that they had not yet received from Roman-catholicism. 

Thus every thing advanced : arts, literature, spirit- 
uality of worship, and the minds of princes and of peo- 
ple. But this noble harmony which the gospel at its 
revival everywhere called forth, was about to be dis- 
turbed. The songs of the Wittemberg nightingale were 
to be interrupted by the howling of the tempest and the 
roaring of lions. In a moment a cloud overspread all 
Germany, and a glorious day was followed by the deep* 
Bdt darkneBS. 



214 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATIOH 



CHAPTER X. 

Political ferment — Luther against rebellion — Thomas Mimzer—Agl 
tation — The Black Forest — The twelve articles — Luther's opin- 
ion — Helfenstein — March of the peasants — March of the imperiaj 
army — Defeat of the peasants — Cruelty of the princes. 

A POLITICAL ferment, very different from that produced 
by the gospel, had long been at work in the empire 
The people, bowed down by civil and ecclesiastical op- 
pression, bound in many countries to the seigneurial 
estates, and transferred from hand to hand along with 
them, threatened to rise with fury and at last to break 
their chains. This agitation had shown itself long be- 
fore the Reformation by many symptoms, and even then 
the religious element was blended with the political ; in 
the sixteenth century it was impossible to separate these 
two principles, so closely associated in the existence of 
nations. In Holland, at the close of the preceding cen- 
tury, the peasants had revolted, placing on their ban- 
ners, by way of arms, a loaf and a cheese, the two great 
blessings of these poor people. "The alliance of the 
shoes" had shown itself in the neighborhood of Spires 
in 1502.* In 1513, it appeared again in Brisgau, being 
encouraged by the priests. In 1514, Wurtemberg had 
seen the " league of Poor Conrad," whose aim was to 
maintain by rebellion "the right of God." In 1515, 
Carinthia and Hungary had been the theatre of terrible 
agitations. These seditions had been quenched in tor- 
rents of blood ; but no relief had been accorded to the 
people. A political reform, therefore, was not less neces- 
sary than a religious reform. The people were entitled 
to this ; but we must acknowledge that they were not 
ripe for its enjoyment. 

Since the commencement of the Reformation, these 
popular disturbances had not been renewed; men^s minda 

* See voL L, p. 82. 



REFORMATION AND INSURRECTION. 215 



were occupied by other thoughts. Luther, whose pierc- 
ing glance had discerned the condition of the people, had 
already, from the summit of the Wartburg, addressed 
them in serious exhortations calculated to restrain their 
agitated minds. 

" Rebellion," he had said, " never produces the arceV 
ioration we desire, and God condemns it. What is \i 
to rebel, if it be not to avenge one^s self? The devil is 
striving to excite to revolt those who embrace the gos- 
pel, in order to cover it with opprobrium ; but those whc 
have rightly understood my doctrine do not revolt."* 

Every thing gave cause to fear that the popular agi- 
tation could not be restrained much longer. The gov- 
ernment that Frederick of Saxony had taken such pains 
to form, and which possessed the confidence of the na- 
tion, was dissolved. The emperor, whose energy might 
have been an efficient substitute for the influence of this 
national adniinistration, was absent ; the princes whose 
anion had always constituted the strength of Germany, 
were divided ; and the new declarations of Charles V. 
against Luther, by removing every hope of future har- 
mony, deprived the reformer of part of the moral influ- 
ence by which, in 1522, he had succeeded in calming the 
storm. The chief barriers that hitherto had confined the 
torrent being broken, nothing could any longer restrain 
its fury. 

It was not the religious movement that gave birth 
to political agitations, but in many places it was car- 
ried away by their impetuous waves. Perhaps we should 
even go further, and acknowledge that the movement 
communicated to the people by the Reformation gave 
fresh strength to the discontent fermenting in the nation. 
The violence of Luther^s writings, the intrepidity of his 
actions and language, the harsh truths that he spoke, 
not only to the pope and prelates, but also to the princes 
themselveSj must all have contributed to inflame minds 
that were already in a state of excitement. According- 
ly, Erasmus did not fail to tell him, " We are now reap- 

t Luther's treue Ermahnung an alle Christen slch vor Aufiruhi 
djmI Emporuug zu hiiteu. 0pp. 18. 288. 



216 HISTOBr OF THE REFC JIMATION. 



ing the fruits that you have sown."* And further, the 
cheering truths of the gospel, at last brought to light, 
stirred all hearts, and filled them with anticipation and 
hope. But many unregenerated souls were not prepar- 
ed bj repentance for the faith and liberty of Christians, 
They were very willing to throw off the papal yoke, 
but they would not take up the yoke of Christ. And 
hence, when princes devoted to the cause of Eome 
endeavored in their wrath to stifle the Reformation, real 
Christians patiently endured these cruel persecutions ; 
but the multitude resisted and broke out, and seeing 
their desires checked in one direction, gave vent to them 
in another. " Why,'' said they, should slavery be per- 
petuated in the state, while the church invites all men 
to a glorious liberty? Why should governments rule 
only by force, when the gospel preaches nothing but 
gentleness?" Unhappily at a time when the religious 
reform was received with equal joy both by princes and 
people, the political reform, on the contrary, had the 
most powerful part of the nation against it ; and while 
the former had the gospel for its rule and support, the 
latter had soon no other principles than violence and 
despotism. Accordingly, while the one was confined 
within the bounds of truth, the other rapidly, like an 
impetuous torrent, overstepped all limits of justice. 
But to shut one's eyes against the indirect influence of 
the Reformation on the troubles that broke out in the 
empire, would betoken partiality. A fire had been kin- 
dled in Germany by religious discussions, from which it 
was impossible to prevent a few sparks escaping which 
were calculated to inflame the passions of the people. 

The claims of a few fanatics to divine inspiration 
increased the evil. While the Reformation had contin- 
ually appealed from the pretended authority of the 
church to the real authority of the holy Scriptures, these 
enthusiasts not only rejected the authority of the church, 
but of Scripture also : they spoke only of an inner word, 
of an internal revelation from God ; and overlooking the 
natural corruption of their hearts, they gave way to all 

* Habemus fructum tui spiritus. Erasm. Hyperas|i D. 4 



MUNZER'S PRETEKSIONS. 217 



the intoxication of spiritual pride, and fancied they were 
saints. 

**To them the holy Scriptures were but a dead let- 
ter," said Luther, " and they all began to cry. The Spirit, 
the Spirit. But most assuredly I will not follow where 
their spirit leads them. May God of his mercy preserve 
me from a church in which there are none but saints.* 
I desire to dwell with the humble, the feeble, the sick, 
who know and feel their sins, and who groan and cry 
continually to God from the bottom of their hearts to 
obtain his consolation and support." These words of 
Luther's have great depth of meaning, and point out the 
change that was taking place in his views as to the 
nature of the church. They indicate at the same time 
how contrary were the religious opinions of the rebels 
to those of the Reformation. 

The most notorious of these enthusiasts was Thomas 
Munzer ; he was not devoid of talent, had read his 
Bible, was zealous, and might have done good, if he had 
been able to collect his agitated thoughts and find peace 
of heart. But as he did not know himself, and was 
wanting in true humility, he was possessed with a de- 
sire of reforming the world, and forgot, as all enthusi- 
asts do, that the reformation should begin with himself. 
Some mystical writings that he had read in his youth 
had given a false direction to his mind. He first ap- 
peared at Zwickau, quitted Wittemberg after Luther's 
return, dissatisfied with the inferior part he was playing, 
and became pastor of the small town of Alstadt, in Thu- 
ringia. He could not long remain quiet, and accused 
the reformers of founding, by their adherence to the let- 
ter, a new popery, and of forming churches which were 
Ujt pure and holy. 

" Luther," said he, has delivered men's consciences 
firom the yoke of the pope, but he has left them in a car- 
na liberty, and not led them in spirit towards God."f 

* Der barmherzige Gott behiite mich ja fiir der christlichen 
Kirche, darin eitel Heilige sind. On John 1 : 2. L. 0pp. W. 7. 
1469. t Fiihrete sie nicht weiter in Geist und za Grott. Lh 

0pp. 19. 294 
f 



218 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



He considered himself as called of God to remedy 
this great evil. The revelations of the Spirit were in 
his eyes the means by which his reform was to be effect- 
ed. " He who possesses this Spirit," said he, "possesses 
tiie true faith, although he should never see the Scrip- 
luves in his life. Heathens and Turks are better iitted 
to receive it than many Christians who style us enthusi 
asis.' It was Luther whom he here had in view. "Tc 
receive this Spirit, we must mortify the flesh," said he at 
another time, wear tattered clothing, let the beard 
grow, be of a sad countenance, keep silence,* retire into 
desert places, and supplicate God to give us a sign of 
,his favor. Then God will come and speak with us, as 
formerly he spoke with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If 
he were not to do so, he would not deserve our atten- 
tion.f I have received from God the commission to 
gather together his elect into a holy and eternal alli- 
ance." 

The agitation and ferment which were at work in 
men^s minds were but too favorable to the dissemination 
of these enthusiastic ideas. Man loves the marvellous, 
and whatever flatters his pride. Munzer, having per- 
suaded a part of his flock to adopt his views, abolished 
ecclesiastical singing and all other ceremonies. He 
maintained that obedience to princes "void of understand- 
ing," was at once to serve God and Belial. Then march- 
ing out at the head of his parishioners to a chapel in the 
vicinity of Alstadt, whither pilgrims from all quarters 
were accustomed to resort, he pulled it down. After 
this exploit, being compelled to leave that neighborhood, 
he wandered about Germany, and went as far as Swit- 
zerland, carrying with him, and communicating to al] 
who would listen to him, the plan of a general revolu- 
tion. Everywhere he found men^s minds prepared ; he 
threw gunpowder on the burning coals, and the exjlo 
sion forthwith took place. 

• Saur sehen, den Bart nicht abschneiden. L. 0pp. 19. 294. 

t Muiizer^s language is low and impious: Er wollt in Gott 
Bcheissen wenn er nicht mit ihm redet, wie mit Abraham. Hist of 
Moniiei hj Melancthon. Ibid. 29^. 



LUTHER'S POSITION. 



219 



Ltither, who had rejected the warlike enterprises of 
Sickengen,* could not be led away by the tumultuous 
movements of the peasantry. Fortunately for social 
order, the gospel preserved him ; for what would have 
happened had he carried his extensive influence into 
their camp ? . . . He ever firmly maintained the dis- 
(in3tion between secular and spiritual things ; he con- 
tinually repeated that it was immortal souls which 
Christ 3mancipated by his word ; and if with one hand 
he attacked the authority of the church, with the other 
he upheld with equal power the authority of princes. 
"A Christian," said he, should endure a hundred 
deaths, rather than meddle in the slightest degree with 
the revolt of the peasants." He wrote to the elector : 
"It Cc»;Uses me especial joy that these enthusiasts them- 
selves boast, to all who are willing to listen to them, 
that they do not belong to us. The Spirit urges them 
on, say they ; and I reply, it is an evil spirit, for he 
bears no other fruit than the pillage of convents and 
churches : the greatest highway robbers upon earth 
might do as much." 

At the same time, Luther, who desired that others 
should enjoy the liberty he claimed for himself, dissuad- 
ed the prince from all measures of severity: "Let them 
preach what they please, and agains^ whom they please," 
said he ; "for it is the word of God that must march in 
front of the battle and fight against them. If their spirit 
be the true Spirit, he will not fear our severity ; if ours 
is the true one, he will not fear their violence. Let us 
leave the spirits to struggle and contend with one an- 
other."}* Perhaps some persons may be led astray : there 
is no battle without wounds ; but he who fighteth faith- 
fully shall be crowned. Nevertheless, if they desire to 
take up the sword, let your highness forbid it, and order 
them to leave the country." 

The insurrection began in the Black Forest, and near 
the sources of the Danube, so frequently the theatre of 
popular commotions. On the 19th of July, 1524, some 

* See vol. I. p. 144. t Maa lasse die Geister auf einander 

platzeu uud treti'en. L. Epp. 2. 547. 



220 



HISTORY OF THE RfiJ ORMATIOIT. 



Thnigovian peasants rose against the abbot of Eeiche« 
nan, who would not accord them an evangelical preach- 
er. Erelong thousands were collected round tlie small 
town of Tengen, to liberate an ecclesiastic who was 
there imprisoned. The revolt spread with inconceivable 
rapidity from Swabia as far as the Ehenish provinces, 
Pranconia, Thuringia, and Saxony, In the month of 
January, 1525, all these countries were in a state of 
cebellion. 

About the end of this month, the peasants published 
a declaration in twelve articles, in which they claimed 
the liberty of choosing their own pastors, the abolition 
of small tithes, of slavery, and of fines on inheritance, 
the right to hunt, fish, and cut wood, etc. Each demand 
was backed by a passage from holy writ, and they said 
in conclusion, " If we are deceived, let Luther correct 
us by Scripture.'' 

The opinions of the Wittemberg divines were con- 
sulted. Luther and Melancthon delivered theirs sepa- 
rately, and they both gave evidence of the difference of 
their characters. Melancthon, who thought every kind 
of disturbance a crime, oversteps the limits of his usual 
gentleness, and cannot find language strong enough to 
express his indignation. The peasants are criminals, 
against whom he invokes all laws human and divine. 
If friendly negotiation is unavailing, the magistrates 
should hunt them down, as if they were robbers and 
assassins. "And yet,'' adds he- — and we require at least 
one feature to remind us of Melancthon — " let them take 
pity on the orphans when having recourse to the penal- 
ty of death." 

Luther's opinion of the revolt was the same as Me- 
lancthon's ; but he had a heart that beat for the miseries 
of the people. On this occasion he manifested a digni- 
fied impartiality, and spoke the truth frankly to both 
parties. He first addressed the princes, and m^^re espe- 
cially the bishops : 

"It is you," said he, "who are the cause of this 
revolt ; it is your clamors against the gospel, your 
guilty oppressions of the poor, that have driven the 



LUTHER'S OPINION. 



221 



people to despair. It is not the peasants, my dear lords, 
that rise up against you ; it is God himself who opposes 
your madness.* The peasants are but the instruments 
he employs to humble you. Do not imagine you can 
escape the punishment he is preparing for you. E\en 
should you have succeeded in destroying all these 
peasants, God is able from the very stones to raise up 
others to chastise your pride. If I desired revenge, I 
might laugh in my sleeve, and look on while the peas- 
ants were carrying on their work, or even increase their 
fury ; but may God preserve me from such thoughts. . . . 
My dear lords, put away your indignation, treat these 
poor peasants as a man of sense treats people who are 
drunk or insane. Quiet these commotions by mildness, 
lest a conflagration should arise and burn all Germany. 
Among these twelve articles there are certain demands 
which are just and equitable." 

This prologue was calculated to conciliate the peas- 
ants' confidence in Luther, and to make them listen 
patiently to the truths he had to tell them. He repre- 
sented to them that the greater number of their demands 
were well founded, but that to revolt was to act like 
heathens ; that the duty of a Christian is to be patient, 
not to fight ; that if they persisted in revolting agains»t 
the gospel in the name of the gospel, he should look 
upon them as more dangerous enemies than the pope. 
'*The pope and the emperor," continued he, "combined 
against me ; but the more they blustered, the more did 
the gospel gain ground. . . . And why was this ? Be- 
cause I have never drawn the sword, or called for ven- 
geance ; because I never had recourse to tumult or 
insurrection ; I relied wholly upon God, and placed every 
thing in his almighty hands. Christians fight not with 
swords or arquebuses, but with sufferings and with the 
cross. Christ their Captain handled not the sword, . . . 
he was hung upon a tree." 

But to no purpose did Luther employ this Christian 
language. The people were too much excited by the 
fanatical speeches of the leaders of the insurrection to 
* Gqtt ist's selber der setzt sich wider each. L. 0pp. 19. 254 



222 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



listen, as of old, to the words of the reformer. " He is 
playing the hypocrite," said they ; he flatters the no 
bles. He has declared war against the pope, and yet 
wishes us to submit to our oppressors " 

The revolt^ instead of dying away, became more 
formidable. At Weinsberg, Count Louis of Helfenstein 
and the seventy men under his orders were condemned 
to death by the rebels. A body of peasants drew up 
with their pikes lowered, while others drove the count 
and his soldiers against this wall of steel.* The wife 
of the wretched Helfenstein, a natural daughter of the 
Emperor Maximilian, holding an infant two years old in 
her arms, knelt before them, and with loud cries begged 
for her husband's life, and vainly endeavored to arrest 
this march of murder ; a boy who had been in the count's 
service, and had joined the rebels, capered gaily before 
him, and played the dead march upon his fife, as if he 
had been leading his victims in a dance. All perished ; 
the child was wounded in its mother's arms ; and she 
herself thrown upon a dung-cart, and thus conveyed to 
Heilbrunn. 

At the news of these cruelties, a cry of horror was 
heard from the friends of the Reformation, and Luther's 
feeling heart underwent a terrible conflict. On the one 
hand the peasants, ridiculing his advice, pretended to 
receive revelations from heaven, made an impious use 
of the threatenings of the Old Testament, proclaimed an 
equality of ranks and a community of goods, defended 
their cause with fire and sword, and indulged in barbar- 
ous atrocities. On the other hand, the enemies of the 
Reformation asked the reformer, with a malicious sneer, 
if he did not know that it was easier to kindle a fire 
than to extinguish it. Shocked at these excesses, alarm- 
ed at the thought that they might check the progress of 
the gospel, Luther hesitated no longer, no longer tem- 
porized ; he inveighed against the insurgents with all 
the energy of his character, and perhaps overstepped 
the just bounds within which he should have contained 
himself 

* Und jagten dea Grs^fen diirch die Spiesse. Mathesius, p. 46 



LUTHER'S INDiaNATION. 



223 



"The peasants," said he, "commit three lorrible 
sins against God and man, and thus deserve the death 
of body and soul. First they revolt against their magis- 
trates to whom they have sworn fidelity ; next they rob 
and plunder convents and castles ; and lastly they veil 
their crimes with the cloak of the gospel. If you do not 
put a mad dog to death, you will perish, and al] the 
country with yoa. Whoever is killed fighting for the 
magistrates will be a true martyr, if he has fought with 
a good conscience." Luther then gives a powerful de- 
scription of the guilty violence of the peasants who force 
simple and peaceable men to join their alliance, and thus 
drag them to the same condemnation. He then adds, 
"For this reason, my dear lords, help, save, deliver, 
have pity on these poor people. Let every one strike, 
pierce, and kill, who is able. ... If thou diest, thou 
canst not meet a happier death ; for thou diest in the 
service of God, and to save thy neighbor from hell."* 

Neither gentleness nor violence could arrest the 
popular torrent. The church-bells were no longer rung 
for divine service ; whenever their deep and prolonged 
sounds were heard in the fields, it was the tocsin, and 
all ran to arms. The people of the Black Forest had' 
rallied round John Muller of Bulgenbach. With an im- 
posing aspect, covered with a red cloak, and wearing a 
red cap, this leader boldly advanced from village to vil- 
lage followed by the peasantry. Behind him, on a wag- 
on decorated with ribands and branches of trees, was 
raised the tricolor flag, black, red, and white — the sig- 
nal of revolt. A herald, dressed in the same colors, 
read the twelve articles, and invited the people to join 
in the rebellion. Whoever refused was banished from 
the community. 

Erelong this march, which at first was peaceable, 
became more disquieting. " We must compel the lords 
to submit to our alliance," exclaimed they. And to in* 
duce them to do so, they plundered the granaries, emp- 
tied the cellars, drew the seigneurial fish-ponds, demol 
ished the castles of the nobles who resisted, and burnt 

• P^ineQ Nachsten zu retten ai|s der Hollo. L. 0pp. 19 



224 HISTORT OF THE EEFORMATIOIT 



the convents. Opposition had inflamed the passions of 
those rude men ; equality no longer satisfied them ; they 
thirsted for blood, and swore to put to death every man 
who wore a spur. 

At the approach of the peasants, the cities that were 
unable to resist them opened their gates and joined them. 
In whatever place they entered, they pulled down the 
images and broke the crucifixes ; armed women paraded 
the streets and threatened the monks. If they were de- 
feated in one quarter, they assembled again in another, 
and braved the most formidable forces. A committee of 
peasants was established at Heilbrunn. The counts of 
Lowenstein were taken prisoners, dressed in a smock- 
frock, and then, a white staff having been placed in their 
hands, they were compelled to swear to the twelve arti- 
cles. "Brother Georp:e« and thou, brother Albert,'- said 
a tinker of Ohringen to the counts of Hohenlohe, who 
had gone to their camp ** swear to conduct yourselves 
as our brethren ; for you also are now peasants ; you 
are no longer lords.'' Equality of rank, the dream of 
many democrats, was established in aristoc^ratic Ger- 
many. 

Many nobles, some through feat, others from ambi- 
tion, then joined the insurgents. The famous Goetz 
von Berlichingen, finding his vassals refuse to obey him, 
desired to flee to the elector of Saxony • but his wife, 
who was lying-in, wishing to keep him near her, con- 
cealed the elector's answer. Goetz, being closely pur- 
sued, was compelled to put himself at the head of the 
rebel army On the 1th of May the peasants entered 
Wurtzburg, where the citizens received them with ac 
claraafcions. The forces of the princes and knights of 
Swabia and Franconia, which had assembled in thi!;> 
city, evacuated it, and retired in confusion to the cita 
del, the last bulwark of the nobility. 

But the movement had already extended to othei 
parts of Germany. Spires, the Palatinate, Alsace, and 
Hesse accepted the twelve articles, and the peasant-tt 
threatened Bav4iria, Westphalia, the Tyrol, Saxony, and 
liorraine. The margrave of Baden, having rejected tb^ 



MAEOH OF THE IMPERIAL AEMY. 225 



articles, was compelled to flee. The coadjutor of Fulda 
acceded to them with a smile. The smaller towns said 
they had no lances with which to oppose the insurgents. 
Mentz, Treves, and Frankfort obtained the liberties 
which they had claimed. 

An immense revolution was preparing in all the em- 
pire. The ecclesiastical and secular privileges, that 
bore so heavily on the peasants, were to be suppressed ; 
the possessions of the clergy were to be secularized, to 
indemnify the princes and provide for the wants of the 
empire ; taxes were to be abolished, with the exception 
of a tribute payable every ten years ; the imperial power 
was to subsist alone, as being recognized by the New 
Testament ; all the other princes were to cease to reign ; 
sixty-four free tribunals were to be established, in which 
men of all classes should have a seat ; all ranks were to 
return to their primitive condition ; the clergy were to 
be henceforward merely the pastors of the churches ; 
princes and knights were to be simply the defenders of 
the weak ; uniformity in weights and measures was to 
be introduced, and only one kind of money was to be 
coined throughout the empire. 

Meanwhile the princes had shaken off their first leth- 
argy, and George von Truchsess, commander-in-chief of 
the imperial army, was advancing on the side of the lake 
of Constance. On the 2d of May he defeated the peas- 
ants at Beblingen, marched on the town of Weinsberg, 
where the unhappy count of Helfenstein had perished, 
burnt and razed it to the ground, giving orders that the 
ruins should be left as an eternal monument of the trea- 
son of its inhabitants. At Furfeld he united with the 
elector-palatine and the elector of Treves, and all three 
moved towards Franconia. 

The Frauenburg, the citadel of Wurtzburg, held out 
for the princes, and the main army of the peasants still 
I ay before its walls. As soon as they heard of Truch- 
sess' march, they resolved on an assault, and at nine 
o'clock at night on the 15th of May, the trumpets sound- 
ed, the tricolor flag was unfurled, and the peasants rushed 
to the attack with horrible shouts. Sebastian von Rot- 

15 



226 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 



enhan, one of the warmest partisans of the Reformation, 
was governor of the castle. Ho had put the fortress in 
a formidable state of defence, and having exhorted the 
garrispn to repel the assault with courage, the soldiers, 
holding up three fingers, had all sworn to do so. A 
most terrible conflict then took place. To the vigor 
and despair of the insurgents the fortress replied from 
its walls and towers by petards, showers of sulphur and 
boiling pitch, and the discharges of artillery. The peas- 
ants, thus struck by their unseen enemies, were stag- 
gered for a moment ; but in an instant their fury grew 
more violent. The struggle was prolonged as the night 
advanced. The fortress, lit up by a thousand battle- 
fires, appeared in the darkness like a towering giant, 
who, vomiting flames, struggled alone amidst the roar 
of thunder for the salvation of the empire against the 
ferocious valor of these furious hordes. Two hours 
after midnight the peasants withdrew, having failed in 
all their efforts. 

They now tried to enter into negotiations, either 
with the garrison or with Truchsess, who was advanc- 
ing at the head of his army. But this was going out of 
their path ; violence and victory alone could save them. 
After some little hesitation, they resolved to march 
against the imperial forces, but the cavalry and artil- 
lery made terrible havoc in their ranks. At Konigs- 
hofen, and afterwards at Engelstadt, those unfortunate 
creatures were totally defeated. The princes, nobles, 
and bishops, abusing their victory, indulged in the most 
unprecedented cruelties. The prisoners were hung on 
the trees by the wayside. The bishop of Wurtzburg, 
who had run away, now returned, traversed his diocese 
accompanied by executioners, and watered it alike with 
the blood of the rebels and of the peaceful friends of the 
word of God. Goetz von Berlichingen was sentenced to 
imprisonment for life. The Margrave Casimir of Ans- 
pach put out the eyes of eighty-five insurgents, who had 
sworn that their eyes should never look upon that prince 
again ; and he cast this troop of blinded individuals upon 
the world, who wandered up and down, holding each 



THE PEASANTS DEFEATED. 227 



ether by the hand, groping along, tottering and beg- 
ging their bread. The wretched boy who had played 
the dead-march on his fife at the murder of Helfenstein, 
was chained to a post ; a fire was kindled around him, 
and the knights looked on laughing at his horrible con- 
tortions. 

Public worship was everywhere restored in its an- 
cient forms. The most flourishing and populous districts 
of the empire exhibited to those who travelled through 
them nothing but heaiis of dead bodies and smoking 
ruins. Fifty thousand men had perished, and the peo- 
ple lost nearly everywhere the little liberty they had 
hitherto enjoyed. Such was the horrible termination of 
this revolt in the south of Germany. 



228 HI8T0E7 OF THB EEFORXATIOH. 



CHAPTER XI. 

jnzer at Mulhausen — Appeal to the people — March of the princQ« 
— End of the revolt — Influence of the reformers — SLiflferings— 
Changes — Two results. 

BtTP the evil was not coiifined to the south and west 
of Germany. Munzer, after having traversed a part of 
Switzerland, Alsace, and Swabia, had again directed his 
steps towards Saxony. A few citizens of Mulhausen, 
in Thuringia, had invited hira to their city, and elected 
him their pastor. The town-council having resisted, 
Munzer deposed it and nominated another, consisting of 
his friends, with himself at their head. Full of contempt 
for that Christ, " sweet as honey," whom Luther preach- 
ed, and being resolved to employ the most energetic 
measures, he exclaimed, ''Like Joshua, we must put all 
the Canaanites to the sword." He established a com- 
munity of goods, and pillaged the convents.* "Mun- 
zer," wrote Luther to Amsdorff on the 11th of April, 
1525 — "Munzer is not only pastor, but king and emper- 
or of Mulhausen." The poor no longer worked. If any 
one needed corn or cloth, he went and demanded it of 
some rich man : if the latter refused, the poor man took 
it by force ; if he resisted, he was hung. As Mulhausen 
was an independent city, Munzer was able to exercise 
his power for nearly a year without opposition. The 
revolt in the south of Germany led him to imagine that 
it was time to extend his new kingdom. He had a num- 
ber of heavy guns cast in the Franciscan convent, and 
endeavored to raise the peasantry and miners of Mans- 
feldt. " How long will you sleep ?" said he to them in 
a fanatical proclamation. " Arise, and fight the battle 
of the Lord. The time is come. France, Germany, and 
Italy are moving. On, on, on. Dran, Dran, Dran I . . . 
Heed not the groans of the impious ones. They will 
implore you like children ; but be pitiless. Dran, Dran, 
* Omnia simul communia. L. 0pp. 19. 292. 



TBRROR OJP THE PEOPLB. 



229 



Dran 1 . . * The fire is burning : let your sword be ever 
warm with blood.* Dran, Dran, Dran I . . . Wc^rk 
while it is yet day." The letter was signed, "Munzer, 
servant of God against the wicked." 

The country people, thirsting for plunder, flocked 
round his standard. Throughout all the districts of 
Mansfeldt, Stolberg, and Schwartzburg in Hesse, and 
the duchy of Brunswick, the peasantry rose in insurrec- 
tion. The convents of Michel stein, Ilsenburg, Walken- 
ried, Rossleben, and many others in the neighborhood of 
the Hartz, or in the plains of Thuringia, were devastat- 
ed. At Reinhardsbrunn, which Luther had visited, the 
tombs of the ancient landgraves were profaned, and the 
library destroyed. 

Terror spread far and wide. Even at Wittemberg 
some anxiety was felt. Those doctors who had feared 
neither the emperor nor the pope, trembled in the pres- 
ence of a madman. They were always on the watch 
for news, and every step of the rebels was counted. 
" We are here in great danger," said Melancthon. " If 
Munzer succeeds, it is all over with us, unless Christ 
should rescue us. Munzer advances with a worse than 
Scythian cruelty,f and it is impossible to repeat his 
dreadful threats." 

The pious elector had long hesitated what he should 
do. Munzer had exhorted him and all the princes to be 
converted, because, said he, their hour was come ; and 
he had signed these letters, "Munzer, armed with the 
sword of Gideon." Frederick would have desired to 
reclaim these misguided men by gentle measures. On 
the 14th of April, when he was dangerously ill, he had 
written to his brother John : " We may have given 
these wretched people more than one cause for insurrec- 
tion. Alas, the ipyj^jr are oppressed in many ways by 
their spiritual and temporal lords." And whan his atten- 
tion was directed to the humiliation, the revolutions, the 
dangers to which he would expose himself unless he 

• Lasset euer Schwerdt nicht kalt werden von Blut. L. 0pp. 
19. 289. t MoQcerus plus quam Scjthicam crudelitatem pns 
90 fert. Corp. Ref. 1. 741. 



230 HI8T0EY OP THE REl?0RMATIOir 



promptly stifled the rebellion, he replied, "Hitherto 1 
have been a mighty elector, having chariots and horses 
in abundance ; if it be God's pleasure to take them from 
me now, I will go on foot."* 

The youthful Philip, landgrave of Hesse, was the 
first of the princes who took up arms. His knights and 
Boldiers swore to live and die with him. After pacify- 
ing his own states, he directed his march towards Sax- 
ony On their side, duke John, the elector's brother, 
duke George of Saxony, and duke Henry of Brunswick, 
advanced and united their troops with those of Hesse. 
The peasants, terrified at the sight of this army, fled to 
a small hill, where, without any discipline, without arms, 
and for the most part without courage, they formed a 
rampart with their wagons. Munzer had not even 
prepared ammunition for his large guns. No succors 
appeared ; the rebels were hemmed in by the army ; 
they lost all confidence. The princes, taking pity on 
them, offered them propositions which they appeared 
willing to accept. Upon this, Munzer had recourse to 
the most powerful lever that enthusiasm can put in 
motion. To-day we shall behold the arm of the Lord," 
said he, "and all our enemies shall be destroyed." At 
this moment a rainbow appeared over their heads ; the 
fanatical host, who carried a rainbow on their flags, 
beheld in it a sure prognostic of the divine protection. 
Munzer took advantage of it. " Fear nothing," said he 
to the citizens and peasants ; " I will catch all their 
balls in my sleeve."f At the same time he cruelly put 
to death a young gentleman, Maternus von Geholfen, 
an envoy from the princes, in order to deprive the insur- 
gents of all hope of pardon. 

The landgrave, having assembled his horsemen, said 
to them^ " I well know that we princes are often in 
fault for we are but men ; but God commands all men 
to honor the powers that be. Let us save our wives 
and children from the fury of these murderers. The Lord 

* So woUe er hinkiiaftig zu Fuss gehen. Seek. p. 685. 
t Ihr soUt sehen, dass ich aUe Buchseusteine im Ermel fasaeo 
WiU. L. 0pp. 19. 297. 



END OF THE IKSURRECTION 231 



will give Tis the victory, for he has said, * Whosoever 
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God'^ 
Philip then gave the signal of attack. It was the 15th 
of May, 1525. The army was put in motion ; \)i\t the 
peasant host stood immovable, singing the hymn, " Come, 
Holy Ghost," and waiting for heaven to declare in their 
favor. The artillery soon broke down their rude rim- 
part, carrying dismay and death into the midst of ^he 
insurgents. Their fanaticism and courage at once for* 
sook them ; they were seized with a panic-terror, and ran 
away in disorder. Five thousand perished in the tlight. 

After the battle, the princes and their victorious 
troops entered Frankenhausen. A soldier who had gone 
into a loft in the house where he was quartered, found a 
man in bed.* " Who art thou ?" asked he ; art thou 
one of the rebels?" Then observing a pocket-book, he 
took it up, and found several letters addressed to Thom- 
as Munzer. "Art thou Munzer?" demanded the trooper 
The sick man answered, " No." But as the soldier 
uttered dreadful threats, Munzer, for it was really he, 
confessed who he was. " Thou art my prisoner," said 
the horseman. When Munzer was taken before duke 
George and the landgrave, he persevered in saying that 
he was right to chastise the princes, since they opposed 
the gospel. " Wretched man," replied they, think of 
all those of whose death you have been the cause." But 
he answered, smiling in the midst of his anguish, They 
would have it so." He took the sacrament under one 
kind, and was beheaded at the same time with Pfeiffer, 
his lieutenant. Mulhausen was taken, and the peasants 
were loaded with chains. 

A nobleman having observed among the crowd of 
prisoners a peasant of favorable appearance, went up 
and said to him, " Well, my man, which government do 
you like best — that of the peasants, or of the princes 1^ 
The poor fellow made answer with a deep sigh, "Ah, 
my lord, no knife cuts so deep as the rule of peasant 
over his fellows."f 

* So findet er eiaen am Bett. f Kein Messer scherpfei 

schirrt, denu wena eiu Baur des audern Herr wird. Mathes. p. 48. 



232 HISTOET OP THE EEFORMATIOIT. 



The relics of the insurrection were quenched in 
Wood; duke George, in particular, acted with the 
greatest severity. In the states of the elector, there 
were neither executions nor punishment.* The word 
of God, preached in all its purity, had shown its 
power to restrain the tumultuous passions of the peo- 
ple. 

From the very beginning, indeed, Luther had not 
ceased to struggle against the rebellion, which was, in 
his opinion, the forerunner of the judgment-day. Advice, 
prayers, and even irony had not been spared. At the 
end of the articles drawn up at Erfurth by the rebels, he 
had subjoined as a supplementary article, "JiJem, The 
following article has been omitted. Henceforward the 
honorable council shall have no power ; it shall do 
nothing ; it shall sit like an idol or a log of wood ; the 
commonalty shall chew its food, and it shall govern with 
its hands and feet tied ; henceforth the wagon shall 
guide the horses, the horses shall hold the reins, and 
we shall go on admirably, in conformity with the glori- 
ous system set forth in these articles." 

Luther did not confine himself to writing. While 
the disturbance was still at its height, he quitted Wit- 
temberg and went through some of the districts where 
the agitation was greatest. He preached, he labored to 
soften his hearers' hearts, and his hand, to which God 
had given power, turned aside, quieted, and brought 
back the impetuous and overflowing torrents into their 
natural channels. 

In every quarter the doctors of the Reformation 
exerted a similar influence. At Halle, Brentz had re- 
vived the drooping spirits of the citizens by the prom- 
ises of God's word, and four thousand peasants had fled 
before six hundred citizens.f At Ichterhausen, a mob 
of peasants having assembled with an intent to demol- 
ish several castles and put their lords to death, Fred- 
erick Myconius went out to them alone, and such was 

• EJc nulla camificiaa, nullum supplicium. Corp. Ref. 1. 762. 
t Eorum animos fractos et perturbatos verbo Dei erexit. H 
AdauLoi Yit. Br en til, p. 441. 



LUTHER S SPIEITCTAL A0Oinf. 233 



the power of his words, that they immediately fi^bandon- 
ed their design.* 

Such was the part taken by the reformers and the 
Reformation in the midst of this revolt ; they contended 
against it with all their might, with the sword of the 
word, and boldly maintained those principles which 
alone, in every age, can preserve order and subjection 
among the nations. Accordingly, Luther asserted that 
if the power of sound doctrine had not checked the fury 
of the people, the revolt would have extended its rava- 
ges far more widely, and have overthrown both church 
and state. Every thing leads us to believe that these 
melancholy prognostics would have been realized. 

If the reformers thus contended against sedition, it 
was not without receiving grievous wounds. That 
moral agony which Luther had first suffered in his cell 
at Erfurth, became still more serious after the insurrec- 
tion of the peasants. No great change takes place 
among men without suffering on the part of those who 
are its instruments. The birth of Christianity was 
effected by the agony of the cross ; but He who hung 
upon that cross addressed these words to each of his 
disciples: "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall 
drink of, and to be baptized with the same baptism that 
I am baptized with 

On the side of the princes, it was continually repeat- 
ed tHat Luther and his doctrine were the cause of the 
revolt ; and however absurd this idea may be, the re- 
former could not see it so generally entertained without 
experiencing the deepest grief. On the side of the peo- 
ple, Munzer and all the leaders of the insurrection repre- 
sented him as a vile hypocrite, a flatterer of the great,f 
and these calumnies easily obtained belief. The vio- 
lence with which Luther had declared against the rebels 
had displeased even moderate men. The friends of home 
exulted ;| all were against him, and he bore the heavy 

* Agmen rusticorum qui convenerant ad demoliendas arces, uai 
ca oratione sic compescuit. M. Adami Vita Fred. Myconii, p. 178 
t Quod adulator priucipum vocer. L. Epp. 2. 671. 
X Gaaaeat paplstae de nostro dissidio. Ibid. 612. 



234 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOIT. 



anger of his times. But his greatest afBiction was to 
behold the work of heaven thus dragged in the mire, 
and classed with the most fanatical projects. Here he 
felt was his Gethsemane : he saw the bitter cup that 
was presented to him ; and foreboding that he would be 
forsaken by all, he exclaimed, "Soon, perhaps, I also 
shall be able to say, *A11 ye shall be offended because 
of me this night.' "* Matt. 26:31. 

Yet in the midst of this deep bitterness, he preserved 
hib faith : **He who has given me power to trample the 
enemy under foot," said he, " when he rose up against 
me like a cruel dragon or a furious lion, will not permit 
this enem}^ to crush me, now that he appears before me 
with the treacherous glance of the basilisk.f I groan 
as I contemplate those calamities. Often have I asked 
aiyself whether it would not have been better to have 
allowed the Papacy to go on quietly, rather than witness 
the occurrence of so many troubles and seditions in the 
world. But no ; it is better to have snatched a few souls 
from the jaws of the devil, than to have left them all 
between his murderous fangs."f 

Now terminated the revolution in Luther's mind that 
had begun at the period of his return from the Wart- 
burg. The inner life no longer satisfied him : the church 
and her institutions now became most important in his 
eyes. The boldness with which he had thrown down 
every thing was checked at the sight of still more sweep* 
ing destructions : he felt it his duty to preserve, govern, 
and build up ; and from the midst of the blood-stained 
rums with which the peasant war had covered all Ger 
many, the edifice of the new church began slowly to 
arise. 

These disturbances left a lasting and deep impression 
on men's minds. The nations had been struck with dis- 
may. The masses, who had sought in the Reformation 
nothing but political reform, withdrew from it of their 

* L. Epp. 2. 671. t Q^i cum toties hacteaus sub pedibus 

meis calcavit et contrivit leonem et dracoaem. qci sinet etiam ba- 
eiliscum super me calcare. Ibid. t Es ist besser, einige aus 

dem Racheu dee Teufels herausrelssen. L. 0pp. H Fd. 9. 961. 



TWO RESULTS. 



235 



own accord, when they saw it offered them spiritual lib- 
erty only. Luther's opposition to the peasants was his 
renunciation of the ephemeral favor of the people. A 
seeming tranquillity was soon established, and the noise 
of enthusiasm and sedition was followed in all Germany 
by a silence inspired by terror.* 

Thus the popular passions, the cause of revolution, 
the interests of a radical equality, were quelled in the 
empire ; but the Reformation did not yield. These two 
movements, which many have confounded with each 
other, were clearly marked out by the difference of their 
results. The insurrection was from below ; the Refor- 
mation from above. A few horsemen and cannons were 
Buflficient to put down the one; but the other never 
ceased to rise in strength and vigor, in despite of the 
reiterated assaults of the empire and the church. 

* Ea res incassit . . . vnlgo terroren at nihil asqaam moyeatur 
Corp. Ref. 1. 762. 



236 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATIOK. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Death of the elector Frederick — The prince and the reformer --Ra 
man -catholic alliance — Plans of Charles V.~ Dangers. 

Meanwhile the cause of the Reformation itself ap- 
peared as if it would perish in the gulf that had swal- 
lowed up the liberties of the people. A melancholy 
event seemed destined to accelerate its fall. At the 
moment when the princes were marching against Mun- 
zer, and ten days before his defeat, the aged elector of 
Saxony, that man whom God had raised up to defend 
the Reformation against all dangers from without, de- 
scended to the tomb. 

His strength diminished day by day ; the horrors that 
accompanied the peasant war wrung his feeling heart. 
"Alas," exclaimed he with a deep sigh, "if it were God's 
will, I should die with joy. I see neither love, nor truth, 
nor faith, nor any good remaining upon earth."* 

Averting his eyes from the struggles then prevailing 
throughout Germany, this pious prince, who was at that 
time residing in the castle of Lochau, tranquilly prepared 
to depart. On the 4th of May, he called for his chaplain 
the faithful Spalatin : " You do right to come and see 
me," said he mildly, as the chaplain entered ; " for it is 
our duty to visit the sick." Then ordering his couch to 
be wheeled towards the table near which Spalatin was 
sitting, he bade his attendants leave the room, and then 
affectionately taking his friend^s hand, spoke with him 
familiarly about Luther, the peasants, and his approach- 
ing departure. Spalatin came again at eight in the even- 
ing ; the aged prince then unburdened his soul, and con- 
fessed his sins in the presence of God. On the morrow, 
it was the 5th of May, he received the communion under 
both kinds. No member of his family was near him ; 
his brother and his nephew were gone with the army ; 
but his domestics stood around him, according to the 
ancient custom of those times. As they gazed on that 
• Noch etwas gates mehr in der Welt. Seckend. p. 702, 



DEATH OP THE ELECTOU 



23? 



venerable prince, whom it had been so sweet a task to 
serve, they all burst into tears.* " My little children,'' 
said he tenderly, "if I have offended any one of you, for- 
give me for the love of God ; for we princes often give 
offence to the poor, and that is wrong." Thus did Fred- 
erick obey the injunction of the apostle : " Let him that 
ifc rich rejoice in that he is made low ; because as the 
flower of the grass he shall pass away." James 1 : 10. 

Spalatin did not leave him again ; he set before him 
the rich promises of the gospel, and the pious elector 
drank in its powerful consolations with indescribable 
peace. The doctrine of the gospel was no longer to him 
that sword which attacks error, following it up wherever 
it may be found, and after a vigorous contest triumph- 
ing over it at last ; it fell upon his heart like the dew, 
or the gentle rain, filling it with hope and joy. Frede- 
rick had forgotten the present world : he saw nothing 
but God and eternity. 

Feeling the rapid approach of death, he destroyed a 
will that he had made some years before, and in which 
he had commended his soul to "the mother of God ;" and 
dictated another, in which he called upon the holy and 
the sole merits of Jesus Christ "for the forgiveness of 
his sins," and declared his firm assurance " that he was 
redeemed by the precious blood of his beloved Saviour."f 
He then added, "I can say no more ;" and that evening, 
at five o'clock, he quietly fell asleep. " He was a child 
of peace," exclaimed his physician, "and in peace he has 
departed." " 0 bitter death to all whom he has left be- 
hind him I" said Luther. J 

Luther, who was then travelling through Thuringia 
to allay the excitement, had never seen the elector, ex- 
cept at a distance, at Worms at the side of Charles V. 
But these two men had met in spirit from the very mo- 
ment the reformer appeared. Frederick labored for na- 
tionality and independence, as Luther did for truth and 
reformation. Unquestionably the Reformation was above 

* Dass alle Umstehende zum weinea bewegt. . . . Seckend. 702 
t Durch das theure Blut meines allerliebsten Heylandes erl jset 
Itdd. 703. t 0 mors amara! L. Epp. 2. 659. 



238 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



all things a spiritual work ; but it was perhaps neceS' 
sary for its early success that it should be linked with 
some national interest. Accordingly Luther had no 
sooner risen up against indulgences than the alliance 
between the prince and the monk was tacitly concluded — 
an alliance that was purely moral, without contract or 
writing, or even words, and in which the strong man 
lent no aid to the weak, but only allowed him to act. 
But now that the vigorous oak was cut down under 
whose shelter the Reformation had gradually grown up — 
now that the enemies of the gospel were everywhere 
manifesting fresh force and hatred, and that its support- 
ers were compelled to hide themselves or remain silent, 
nothing seemed able to defend them any longer against 
the sword of those who were pursuing it with such vio- 
lence. 

The confederates of Ratisbon, who had conquered the 
peasants in the south and west of the empire, were in 
all parts attacking the Reformation and the revolt alike. 
At Wurtzburg and at Bamberg they put to death many 
of the most peaceable citizens, and even some of those 
who had resisted the peasants. " What matters it ?" said 
they openly ; these people were attached to the gospel." 
This was enough to make their heads fall on the scaffold.* 

Duke George hoped to impart his hatred and his 
afiFections to the landgrave and duke John. "See," said 
he to them after the defeat of the peasants, as he pointed 
to the field of battle, "see what miseries Luther has 
occasioned." John and Philip appeared to give him 
hopes that they would adopt his ideas. "Duke George," 
said the reformer, "imagines he shall triumph, now that 
Frederick is dead ; but Christ reigns in the midst of his 
enemies : in vain do they gnash their teeth, .... their 
desire shall perish.""!* 

George lost no time in forming a confederation in the 
north of Germany, similar to that of Ratisbon. The elec- 
tors of Mentz and Brandenburg, dukes Henry and Erick 
of Brunswick, and duke George, met at Dessau and con* 

* Rauke, Deutsche Gesch. 2. 226. f Dux Georgius, mortac 
Frederico, putat se omnia posse. L. Epp. 3. 22. 



239 



eluded a Eoiuish alliance in the month of Jnly.* George 
arged the new elector and his son-in-law the landgrave 
to join it. And then, as if to intimate what might be ex 
pected of it, he beheaded two citizens of Leipsic in whose 
house some of the reformer's writings had been found. 

At the same time letters from Charles V., dated from 
Toledo, arrived in Germany, by which another diet was 
convoked at Augsburg. Charles wished to give the em- 
pire a constitution that would enable him to dispose of 
the forces of Germany at his good pleasure. Eeligious 
differences offered him the means ; he had only to let 
loose the Catholics against the followers of the gospel, 
and when they had exhausted their strength, he would 
easily triumph over both. Down with the Lutherans, 
was therefore the cry of the emperor.f 

Thus all things combined against the Eeformation. 
Never had Luther's spirit been overwhelmed by so many 
fears. The remnants of Munzer's party had sworn to 
take his life ; his sole protector was no more ; duke 
George, he was informed, intended to have him arrested 
in Wittemberg itself ;J the princes who might have de- 
fended him bowed their heads, and seemed to have for- 
saken the gospel ; it was rumored that the university, 
the number of whose students was already diminished 
by these troubles, was about to be suppressed by the 
new elector ; and Charles, victorious at Pavia, was as- 
sembling a new diet with the end of giving a deathblow 
to the Reformation. What dangers must not Luther 
have foreboded I . . . This anguish, these inward strug- 
gles, that had so often tortured him to groans, now 
wrung his soul. How can he resist so many enemies ? 
In the midst of these agitations, in the face of so many 
dangers, beside the corpse of Frederick that was scarce- 
ly cold, and the dead bodies of the peasants that yet 
fftrewed the plains of Germany, Luther — none could cer- 
tainly have imagined such a thing — Luther married. 

♦ Habito conciliabulo conjuraverunt restlturos sese esse omoia 
. . L. Epp. 3. 22. t Sleidan. Hist, de la Ref. 1. 214 

t Keil, Luther's Leben, p. 160. 



840 HISTORY OF THE KEFORMATIOJI, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The nuns of Nimptsch — Luther's sentiments — The convent di jsolrod 

— ^Luther's marriage — Domestic happiness. 

In the monastery of Nimptsch, near Grimma, in Sax^ 
ony, dwelt, in the year 1523, nine nuns who were diligent 
in reading the word of God, and who had discovered the 
contrast that exists between a Christian and a cloistered 
life. Their names were Magdalen Staupitz, Eliza Canitz, 
Ava Grossen, Ava and Margaret Schonfeldt, Laneta Go- 
lis, Margaret and Catherine Zeschau, and Catherine Bora. 
The first impulse of these young women, after they were 
delivered from the superstitions of the monastery, was 
to write to their parents. The salvation of our souls," 
said they, " will not permit us to remain any longer in 
a cloister."* Their parents, fearing the trouble likely to 
arise from such a resolution, harshly rejected their pray- 
ers. The poor nuns were dismayed. How can they leave 
the monastery ? Their timidity was alarmed at so des- 
perate a step. At last, the horror caused by the papal 
services prevailed, and they promised not to leave one 
another, but to repair in a body to some respectable 
place, with order and decency.f Two worthy and pious 
citizens of Torgau, Leonard Koppe and Wolff Tomitzsch, 
offered their assistance,! which they accepted as coming 
from God himself, and left the convent of Nimptsch with- 
out any opposition, and as if the hand of the Lord had 
opened the doors to them.§ Koppe and Tomitzsch re- 
ceived them in their wagon ; and on the *Ith of April, 
1523, the nine nuns, amazed at their own boldness, stop 
ped in great emotion before the gate of the old Augus 
tine convent in which Luther resided. 

" This is not my doing," said Luther, as he received 
them ; but would to God that I could thus rescue all 

♦ Der Seelen Seligkeit halber. L. Epp. 2. 323. f Mit allet 
Zucht und Ehre an redliche Statte und Orte kommen. Ibid. 322- 

X Per honestos cives Torgavienses adductae. Ibid. 319. 

§ Mirabiliter evaserunt. Ibid. 



END OF THE CONVEITT 



241 



captive consciences and empty all the cloisters* — the 
breach is made." Many persons offered to receive these 
nuns into their houses, and Catherine Bora found a wel- 
come in the family of the burgomaster of Wittemberg. 

If Luther at that time thought of preparing for any 
solemn event, it was to ascend the scaffold, and not to 
::ij>proach the altar. Many months after this, he still 
replied to those who spoke to him of marriage, God 
may change my heart, if it be his pleasure ; but now at 
least I have no thought of taking a wife : not that I do 
not feel any attractions in that estate ; I am neither a 
stock nor a stone ; but every day I expect the death and 
the punishment of a heretic.^f 

Yet every thing in the church was advancing. The 
habits of a monastic life, the invention of man, were giv- 
ing way in every quarter to those of domestic life, ap- 
pointed by God. On Sunday, October 9, 1524, Luther, 
having risen as usual, laid aside the frock of the Augus- 
tine monk, and put on the dress of a secular priest ; he 
then made his appearance in the church, where this 
change caused a lively satisfaction. Renovated Chris- 
tendom hailed with transport every thing that announced 
that the old things were passed away. 

Shortly after this, the last monk quitted the con- 
vent ; but Luther remained ; his footsteps alone refechoed 
through the long galleries ; he sat silent and solitary in 
the refectory that had so lately resounded with the bab- 
bling of the monks. An eloquent silence, attesting the 
triumphs of the word of God. The convent had ceased 
to exist. About the end of December, 1524, Luther sent 
the keys of the monastery to the elector, informing him 
that he should see where it might please God to feed 
him.| The elector gave the convent to the university, 
and invited Luther to continue his residence in it. The 
abode of the monks was destined erelong to be the sano- 
fciary of a Christian family. 

* Un4 alle Kloster ledig machen. L. Epp. 2. 322. f Cum 
cxpectero quotidie mortem et meritum haeretici supplicium. Ibid. 
670. Letter to Spalatin, Nov. 30, 1524. t Muss und will loh 

sehen, wo mich Gott ernahret. Ibid. 582. 

HIA cTRtf. I|L T f% 



242 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



Luther, whose heart was formed to taste the sweetB 
of domestic life, honored and loved the marriage state ; 
it is even probable that he had some liking* for Catherine 
B)ra. For a long while his scruples, and the thought oi 
the calumnies which such a step would occasion, had 
prevented his thinking of her ; and he had offered the 
poor Catherine first to Baumgartner of Nuremberg,* and 
then to Dr. Glatz of Orlamund. But when he saw Baum 
gartner refuse to take her, and when she had declined 
to accept Glatz, he asked himself seriously whether he 
ought not to think of marrying her himself. 

His aged father, who had been so grieved when he 
embraced a monastic life, was urging him to enter the 
conjugal state.f But one idea above all was daily pres- 
ent before Luther's conscience, and with greater energy : 
marriage is an institution of God, celibacy an institution 
of man. He had a horror of every thing that emanated 
from Rome. He would say to his friends, " I desire to 
retain nothing of my papistical life."| Day and night 
he prayed and entreated the Lord to deliver him from 
his uncertainty. At last a single thought broke the labt 
links that still held him captive. To all the motives of 
propriety and personal obedience which led him to apply 
to himself this declaration of God, "It is not good that 
man should be alone/' Gen. 2 : 18, was added a motive 
of a higher and more powerful nature. He saw that if 
he was called to the marriage state as a man, he was 
also called to it as a reformer : this decided him. 

" If this monk should marry,'' said his friend Schurff 
the lawyer, **he will make all the world and the devil 
himself burst with laughter, and will destroy the woik 
that he has begun."§ This remark made a very differ- 
ent impression on Luther from what might have been 
supposed. To brave the world, the devil, and his ene- 
Diies, and by an action which they thought calculated io 
ruin the cause of the Reformation, prevent its success 

* Si vis Kelam tuam a Bora tenere. L. Epp. 2. 553. f Aua 
Begehren meines lieben Vaters. Ibid. 3. 2. t Ibid. 1. 

§ Bisuros mundum universaip et diabolum ipsum. M. Adaml 
Vita Luth. p. 130. 



LUTHER'S HAEUIAaE. 



243 



being in any measure ascribed to him, this was all he 
desired. Accordingly, boldly raising his head, he njplied, 
" Well, then, I will do it ; I will play the devil and the 
world this trick ; I will content my father, and marry 
Catherine/' Luther, by his marriage, broke off still more 
0)mpletelj from the institutions of the Papacy ; he con- 
firmed the doctrine he had preached by his own exam- 
ple, and encouraged timid men to an entire renunciation 
of their errors.* Rome appeared to be recovering here 
and there the ground she had lost ; she flattered herself 
with the hope of victory ; and now a loud explosion 
scattered terror and surprise through her ranks, and 
still more fully disclosed to her the courage of the ene- 
my she fancied she had crushed. " I will bear witness 
to the gospel,'' said Luther, " not by my words only, but 
also by my works. I am determined, in the face of my 
enemies who already exult and raise the shout of vic- 
tory, to marry a nun, that they may see and know that 
they have not conquered me.f I do not take a wife that 
I may live long with her ; but seeing the nations and 
the princes letting loose their fury against me, foresee- 
ing that my end is near, and that after my death they 
will again trample my doctrine under foot, I am resolved 
for the edification of the weak to bear a striking testi- 
mony to what I teach here below."J 

On the 11th of June, 1525, Luther went to the house 
of his friend and colleague Amsdorff. He desired Pome- 
ranus, whom he styled emphatically the pastor, to bless 
his union. The celebrated painter Lucas Cranach and 
Dr. John Apella witnessed the marriage. Melancthon 
was not present. 

No sooner was Luther married than all Europe was 
disturbed. He was overwhelmed with accusations and 
calumnies from every quarter. " It is incest," exclaim- 
ed Henry VIII "A monk has married a vestal," said 

• Ut confirmem facto quae docui, tarn multos inveuio pusillani- 
mes in tanta luce Evangelii. L. Epp. 3. 13. f Nonna ducta 

uxore in despectum triumphantium et clamantium Jo! Jol ho6> 
tiom. Ibid. 21. | Non duxi uxorem et dia viverem, sed quiHl 
none propiorem finem meum suspioarer. Jbid. 3^* 



244 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH 



some.'^ "Antichrist will be the offspring of such a 
union," said others ; "for a prophecy announces that lie 
will be born of a monk and a nun." To this Erasmus 
replied with a sarcastic smile, " If the prophecy is true, 
what thousands of antichrists do not already exist in the 
world."f But while Luther was thus assailed, many 
m&e and moderate men, whom the Roman church still 
counted among her members, undertook his defence. 

Luther," said Erasmus, "has taken a wife from the 
noble family of Bora, but she has no dowry."J A more 
Taluable testimony was now given in his favor. The 
master of Germany, Philip Melancthon, whom this bold 
step had at first alarmed, said with that grave voice to 
which even his enemies listened with respect, "It is 
false and slanderous to maintain that there is any thing 
unbecoming in Luther's marriage. § I think that in mar- 
rying he must have done violence to himself. A married 
life is one of humility, but it is also a holy state, if there 
be any such in the world, and the Scriptures everywhere 
represent it as honorable in the eyes of God." 

Luther was troubled at first when he saw such floods 
of anger and contempt poured out upon him ; Melanc- 
thon became more earnest in friendship and kindness 
towards him ;|| and it was not long before the reformer 
could see a mark of God's approbation in this opposition 
of man. "If I did not offend the world," said he, "I 
should have cause to fear that what I have done is dis- 
pleasing to God."^ 

Eight years had elapsed between the time when Lu- 
ther had attacked the indulgences and his marriage with 
Catherine Bora. It would be difficult to ascribe, as is 

• Monachus cum vestali copularetur. M. Ad. Vit. Luth. p. 131. 

t Quot Antichristorum milLa jam olim habet mundus. Er. Epp. 
789. t Erasmus adds, alluding to reports spread by Luther's 

enemies that he had not been married more than a fortnight when 
his wife was already brought to bed of a son, Partu maturo spon- 
88e vanus erat rumor.'' Ibid. 780, 789. § "On xjjevdog tovto Koi 

diadokrj koTL Corp. Ref. 1. 763, ad Camerarius. || Ildaa <mov6fi 
iLol evvoia. Ibid. IT And he adds, Offenditur etiam in carat 

IpsiuB divinitatis et creatoris. L. Epp. 3. 3;fi, 



LUTHER'S DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 246 



Btill done, his zeal against the abuses of the church to 
an "impatient desire" for wedlock. He was then forty* 
two years old, and Catherine Bora had already been two 
years in Wittemberg. 

Luther was happy in this union. "The best gift of 
God," said he, " is a pious and amiable wife, who fears 
God, loves her family, with whom a man may live in 
peace, and in whom he may safely confide." Some 
months after his marriage he informed one of his friends 
of Catherine's pregnancy,* and a year afttjr they came 
together she gave birth to a son.f The sweets of do- 
mestic life soon dispersed the storms that the exaspera- 
tion of his enemies had at first gathered over him. His 
Ketha, as he styled her, manifested the tenderest afifec- 
tion towards him, consoled him in his dejection by re- 
peating passages from the Bible, exonerated him from 
all household cares, sat near him during his leisure mo- 
ments, worked his portrait in embroidery, reminded him 
of the friends to whom he had forgotten to write, and 
often amused him by the simplicity of her questions. A 
certain dignity appears to have marked her character, 
for Luther would sometimes call her. My Lord Ketha. 
One day he said playfully, that if he were to marry 
again, he would carve an obedient wife for himself out 
of a block of stone, for, added he, "it is impossible to 
find such a one in reality." His letters overflowed with 
tenderness for Catherine ; he called her " his dear and 
gracious wife, his dear and amiable Ketha." Luther's 
character became more cheerful in Catherine's society, 
and this happy frame of mind never deserted him after- 
wards, even in the midst of his greatest trials. 

The almost universal corruption of the clergy had 
brought the priesthood into general contempt, from 
which the isolated virtues of a few faithful servants ol 
God had been unable to extricate it. Domestic peace 
and conjugal fidelity, those surest foundations of happi- 

• This letter is dated October 21, 1525. Catena mea simulat vel 
vere implet illud Genes. 3 : Tu dolore gravida eris. L. Epp. 3. 36. 

t Mir meine liebe Kethe einen Hansen Luther bracht hat, ge»> 
lern urn zwei. Ibid. 116. June 8, 1526. 



246 HISTOBT OP THE REPORMATIOlSr. 



ness here below, were continually disturbed in town and 
country by the gross passions of the priests and monks. 
No one was secure from those attempts at seduction. 
They took advantage of the access allowed them into 
every family, and sometimes even of the confidence of 
the confessional, to instil a deadly poison into the souls 
of their penitents, and to satisfy their guilty desires. 
Tlie Reformation, by abolishing the celibacy of the eccle- 
siastics, restored the sanctity of the conjugal state. The 
marriage of the clergy put an end to an immense num- 
ber of secret crimes. The reformers became the models 
of their flocks in the most intimate and important rela- 
tions of life ; and the people were not slow in rejoicing 
to see the ministers of religion once more husbands and 
fathers. 



THE ELECTOR JOHN 



247 



CHAPTER XIV 

The landgrave — The elector — Prussia — Reformation — Seculariza^ 
tion— The archbishop of Mentz — Conference at Friedwalt — Diet 
— Alliance of Torgau — Resistance of the reformers — Alliance of 
Magdeburg — The Catholics redouble their exertions— The empe- 
ror's marriage — Threatening letters — The two parties. 

At the first glance, Luther's marriage had, in truth, 
seemed to add to the difficulties of the Reformation. It 
was still sufiering from the blow inflicted on it by the 
revolt of the peasants ; the sword of the emperor and 
of the princes was yet unsheathed against it ; and its 
friends, the landgrave Philip and the new elector John, 
appeared discouraged and silenced. 

This state of things did not, however, last long. The 
youthful landgrave in a short time boldly raised his 
head. Ardent and courageous as Luther, the noble char- 
acter of the reformer had won his esteem. He threw 
himself into the Reformation with all the enthusiasm of 
a young man, and at the same time studied it with all 
the gravity of a superior mind. 

In Saxony, Frederick's place could not be supplied 
either in discretion or in influence ; but his brother, the 
elector John, instead of confining himself to the passive 
part of a protector, interposed more directly and with 
greater courage in religious affairs. As he was leaving 
Weimar on the 16th of August, 1525, he said to the 
assembled clergy, " I desire that you will in future 
preach the pure word of God, without any additions of 
man." Some aged ecclesiastics, who were puzzled how 
to obey his directions, replied artlessly, But we are 
not forbidden to say mass for the dead, or to bless the 
water and salt.'' "Every thing," said the elector, "cer- 
emonies as well as sermons, must be conformed to God's 
word." 

Erelong the landgrave formed the extraordinary 
project of converting hig father-in-law duke George* 



248 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOll. 



At one time he would establish the sufficiency of Scrip- 
ture ; at another, he would attack the mass, the Papacy, 
and compulsory vows. Letter followed letter, and all 
the declarations of the word of God were in turns op- 
posed to the faith of the aged duke * 

These ejBforts did not prove unavailing*. The son of 
duke George was won to the new doctrine. But Philip 
did not succeed with the father. "A hundred years 
hence we shall see who is right," said the latter. " A 
terrible saying," observed the elector of Saxony ; " what 
can that faith be which requires such long experience ?f 
Poor duke, .... he will wait long enough. I fear God 
has hardened his heart, as he did Pharaoh's of old." 

In Philip the evangelical party found a bold and in- 
telligent leader, capable of making head against the ter- 
rible attacks the enemy were planning against them. 
But have we not cause to regret that the chief of the 
Reformation should have been from this moment a man 
of the sword, and not simply a disciple of the word of 
God ? The human element expanded in the Reformation, 
and the spiritual element declined. This was injurious 
to the work ; for every work should develop itself in 
accordance with the laws of its own nature, and the 
Reformation was of a nature essentially spiritual. 

God was adding to the number of its supporters 
Prussia, that powerful state on the frontiers of Ger- 
many, had already taken its station with joy under the 
banner of the gospel. The chivalrous and religious 
spirit which had founded the Teutonic order, gradually 
faded away with the ages ir which it had arisen. The 
knights, consulting their own interests alone, had dis- 
satisfied the people under their rule. Poland had taken 
advantage of this, in 1466, to compel the order to recog- 
nize her supremacy. The people, the knights, the grand- 
master, the Polish domination, were so many coutrary 
powers ever in collision, and rendering the prosperity of 
the country impossible. 

Then came the Reformation, and it was perceived 

♦ Rommcrs Urkundenbuch, 1. 2. f Was das fiir ein Glaubo 
fey, der eine solche Erfahruug erfordert Seek. p. 7ii9. 



THE REFOUMATION IN PRUSSIA. 249 



that this was the only means of salvation remaining for 
the unhappy people. Brismann, Speratus, Poliander who 
had been Dr. Eck's secretary at the Leipsic dispute, and 
many others, preached the gospel in Prussia. 

One day a mendicant from the country under the 
rule of the Teutonic knights, arrived at Wittemberg, 
and stopping before Luther's house, sang with a solemn 
voice the beautiful hymn by Poliander : 

** To us at last salvation come."* 

The reformer, who had never heard this Christian 
strain, listened in astonishment and rapture ; the for- 
eign accent of the singer added to his delight : "Again, 
again," said he when the mendicant had finished. He 
then asked where he had learned the hymn ; and his 
tears began to flow when the poor man informed him 
that a cry of deliverance was sounding from the shores 
of the Baltic even to Wittemberg. Luther clasped his 
hands, and thanked God.f 

In truth the tidings of salvation had gone thither. 

** Have pity on our wretched state," said the people 
of Prussia to the grand-master, " and give us preachers 
who teach the pure doctrine of the gospel." Albert at 
first made no reply, but entered into correspondence 
with Sigismund, king of Poland, his uncle and lord- 
suzerain. 

The latter recognized him as hereditary duke of 
Prussia,! and the new prince made a public entry into 
his capital of Konigsberg with the ringing of bells and 
the acclamations of the people ; all the houses were 
splendidly decorated, and the streets strewn with flow- 
ers. " There is but one order," said Albert, " and that 
is Christianity." The monastic orders were disappear 
bag, and this divine order was re^'stablished. 

The bishops resigned their secular rights to the new 
duke ; the convents were changed into hospitals, the 
gospel was preached in the meanest villages, and in the 
following year Albert married Dorothea, daughter of the 

* Es ist das Heyl una kommen her. f Dankte Gott mil 

Freuden. Seek. p. 668. X Sleidan, Hist. Ref. 220. 



250 



HISTORT OF THE REFORMATION. 



king of Denmark, whose "faith in the one only Saviour" 
was not to be shaken. 

The pope called upon the emperor to take severe 
measures against this "apostate" monk, and Charles 
laid Albert under an interdict. 

Another prince of the family of Brandenburg, the 
cardinal archbishop of Mentz, was then on the point of 
following his cousin^s example. The peasant wars more 
especially threatened the ecclesiastical states ; the elec- 
tor, Luther, and all Germany imagined they were on the 
eve of a great revolution. The archbishop, thinking the 
only way of preserving his principality would be to sec- 
ularize it, secretly invited Luther to prepare the people 
for this daring step,* which the latter did by a letter 
addressed to the archbishop, and intended to be made 
public : " God," said he, " has laid his heavy hand upon 
the clergy ; they must fall, nothing can save them."f 
But the peasant war having come to an end more speed- 
ily than had been anticipated, the cardinal kept his 
temporal possessions ; his anxiety disappeared, and he 
renounced his plans of secularization. 

While John of Saxony, Philip of Hesse, and Albert 
of Prussia were taking so prominent a part in the Ref- 
ormation, and instead of the prudent Frederick three 
princes were found full of resolution and courage, the 
holy work was advancing in the church and among the 
nations. Luther entreated the elector to establish the 
evangelical ministry instead of the Eoman priesthood, 
and to direct a general visitation of the churches.J - 
About the same time they were beginning at Wittem- 
berg to exercise the episcopal functions and to ordain 
ministers. "Let not the pope, the bishops, the monks, 
and the priests exclaim, * We are the church ; whosoever 
separates from us, separates from the church.' There is 
Qo other church than the assembly of those who have 
the word of God, and who are purified by it."§ Such 
was the language of Melancthon. 

* Seckend. p. 712. f Er muss herunter. L. Epp 2. 674. 

t L. Epp. 3. 28, 38, 51, etc. § Dass Kirche sey allein diejenige, 
yo (Jottes Wort Haben und damit gereiniget werden. Corp. Ret 1. 766» 



THE DIET. 



251 



All this could not be said and done without occasion- 
ing a strong reaction. Rome had thought the Reform* 
tion extinguished in the blood of the rebellious peasants; 
but its flames burst forth again in every quarter with 
greater power and brightness. She resolved on making 
another effort. The pope and the emperor wrote threat- 
ening letters — the one from Rome, the other from Spain 
The imperial government prepared to set matters or 
their old footing ; and the idea was seriously entertained 
of effectually crushing the Reformation in the approach- 
ing diet. 

On the 7th of November, the electoral prince of Sax- 
ony and the landgrave met in alarm at the castle of 
Priedwalt, and agreed that their deputies at the diet 
should act in concert. Thus in the forest of Sullingen 
were created the first elements of an evangelical alliance, 
opposition to the leagues of Ratisbon and Dessau. 

The diet opened at Augsburg on the 11th of Decem- 
ber. The evangelical princes were not present in per- 
son. From the very first the deputies of Saxony and 
Hesse spoke out boldly: **The insurrection of the peas- 
ants," said they, "was owing to an impolitic severity. 
It is neither by fire nor sword that God's truth can be 
torn from the heart. If you determine to employ violent 
measures against the Reformation, more terrible calam- 
ities will befall you than those from which you have so 
recently and so narrowly escaped." 

It was felt that whatever resolution was adopted, 
its results would be of the greatest importance. Every 
one desired to put off the decisive moment, in order to 
increase his own strength. They therefore determined 
to assemble again at Spires in the month of May follow- 
ing, and that in the mean while the recess of Nuremberg 
should continue in force. Then, said they, we will enter 
thoroughly into the subject ** of the holy faith, of justice, 
and of peace." 

The landgrave persevered in his plan. He had a con- 
ference with the elector at Gotha at the end of February, 
1526. These two princes agreed that if they were at- 
tacked on account of the word of God, they should unite 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



their forces to resist their adversaries. This alliance 
was ratified at Torgau, and was destined to produce 
important results. 

The alliance of Torgau did not satisfy the landgrave. 
Convinced that Charles V. was endeavoring to form a 
league " against Christ and his holy word," he wrote 
letter after letter to the elector, representing to him the 
necessity of combining with other states. " As for me,'' 
wrote he, "I would rather die than renounce the word of 
God, and allow myself to be driven from my throne 

There was great uncertainty at the electoral court. 
In fact a serious obstacle stood in the way of any union 
between the evangelical princes, ai.d this obstacle was 
Luther and Melancthon. Luther desired that the evan- 
gelical doctrine should be defended by God alone. He 
thought that the less men interfered with it, the more 
striking would be God's interposition. It seemed to 
him that whatever measures they desired to take, they 
must be ascribed to an unworthy timidity or a blamable 
mistrust. Melancthon feared that the alliance of the 
evangelical princes would precipitate that very struggle 
which they were desirous of avoiding. 

The landgrave was not to be checked by these con- 
siderations, and he endeavored to bring the neighboring 
states into the alliance ; but his exertions were not 
crowned with success. Frankfort refused to enter it 
The elector of Treves abandoned his opposition, and ac- 
cepted a pension from the emperor. Even the elector 
palatine, whose evangelical disposition was well known 
rejected Philip's proposals. 

Thus the landgrave failed on the side of the Rhine ; 
but the elector, notwithstanding the opinions of the the- 
ologians of the Reformation, entered into negotiations 
with the princes who had at all times rallied round the 
powerful house of Saxony. On the 12th of June, the 
elector and his son, the dukes Philip, Ernest, Otho, and 
Francis of Brunswick and Luneburg, duke Henry of 
Mecklenburg, prince Wolff of Anhalt, counts Albert and 
Gebhard of Mansfeldt, assembled at Magdeburg ; and 
* Seckendorff, p. 768. 



ALLIANCE OF MAGDEBUEa. 253 



there, under the presidence of the elector, they foimed 
an alliance similar to that of Torgau. 

" jilmighty God," said these princes, " having in his 
unspeakable mercy revived among men his holy and 
eternal word, the food of our souls, and our greatest 
treasure here below ; and great exertions having been 
made on the part of the clergy and their adherents to 
suppress and extirpate it, we, being firmly assured that 
He who hath sent it to glorify his name upon earth, will 
also know how to maintain it, bind ourselves to pre- 
serve that blessed word for our people, and to that end 
to employ our goods, our lives, our states, our subjects, 
and all that we possess ; putting our trust, not in our 
armies, but solely in the omnipotence of the Lord, whose 
instruments we desire to be."* Such was the language 
of the princes. 

Two days after, the city of Magdeburg was received 
into the alliance, and the new duke of Prussia, Albert of 
Brandenburg, acceded to it by a separate treaty. 

The evangelical alliance was thus formed ; but the 
perils that it was intended to avert became every day 
more threatening. The clergy and the princes friendly 
to Rome had seen the Reformation, which they had 
thought stifled, suddenly growing up before them in a 
formidable shape. Already the partisans of the Refor- 
mation were almost as powerful as those of the pope. 
If they had a majority in the diet, the consequences to 
the ecclesiastical states might easily be imagined. Now 
or never. It is no longer a question of refuting a her- 
esy ; they have to contend against a powerful party 
Other victories than those of Dr. Eck are required to 
save Christendom. 

EflFectual precautions had already been taken. The 
metropolitan chapter of the collegiate church at Mentz 
had called a meeting of all its suffragans, and decided 
on sending a deputation to the emperor and the pope, 
calling on them to preserve the church. 

At the same time, duke George of Saxony, duke 

• Allein auf Gott den Allmachtigen, als dessen Werkzeuge sie 
ba&deljx Hortleder, Ursache dee Deutschen Krie^^es. 1. 14dQ. 



254 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



Henry of Brunswick, and the cardinal elector Albert, 
had met at Halle, and resolved to address a ni(imorial 
to Charles V. "The detestable doctrine of Luther,'' 
said they, 'Ms making rapid progress. Every day atr 
tempts are made to gain over even us ; and as they 
cannot succeed by gentle measures, they are stri ding 
to compel us, by exciting our subjects to revolt. We 
implore the assistance of the emperor."* Immediately 
after this conference, Brunswick himself set out for 
Spain in order to influence Charles' determination. 

He could not have arrived at a more favorable tlo- 
ment : the emperor had just concluded the famous treaty 
of Madrid with France ; he seemed to have nothing more 
to fear in that quarter, and his eyes were now turned 
solely towards Germany. Francis I. had offered to de- 
fray a moiety of the expenses of a war, either against 
the heretics or against the Turks. 

The emperor was at Seville, where he was about to 
marry a princess of Portugal, and the banks of the Gua- 
dalquivir ree'choed with the noise of his festivities. A 
glittering train of nobles and a vast concourse of peo- 
ple crowded that ancient capital of the Moors. Under 
the arched roof of its magnificent cathedral were dis- 
played all the pompous ceremonies of the church ; a 
legate from the pope ofiBciated, and never, even under 
the dominion of the Arabs, had Andalusia witnessed a 
spectacle of greater splendor and solemnity. 

At this very moment Henry of Brunswick arrived 
from Germany, and besought Charles to rescue the em- 
pire and the church from the attacks of the monk of 
Wittemberg. His request was immediately taken into 
consideration, and the emperor decided on adopting 
vigorous measures. 

On the 23d o^ March, 1626, he wrote to several of 
the princes and cities that had remained faithful to 
Rome. At the same time he gave Henry of Brunswick 
a special commission to inform them verbally that he 
had been seriously grieved to learn that the continual 
progress of the Lutheran heresy threatened to fill Ger- 
* Sobmidt, Deutsche Gescb. 8. 203. 



LUTHER'S AID 



255 



many with sacrilege, devastation, and bloodshed ; that 
on the contrary he beheld with extreme pleasure the 
fidelity of the majority of the states ; that laying aside 
all other occupations, he was about to leave Spain aud 
repair to Rome, to come to an understanding with the 
pope, and from thence proceed to Germany to fight 
against the abominable pest of Wittemberg ; that, on 
their parts, it was their duty to adhere to their faith ; 
and if the Lutherans sought to lead them into error by 
stratagem or force, they should form a close alliance and 
boldly resist them ; and that he would soon arrive and 
support them with all his power.* 

When Brunswick returned to Germany, the Eomish 
party were transported with joy and proudly lifted up 
their heads. The dukes of Brunswick and Pomerania; 
Albert of Mecklenburg, John of Juliers, George of Sax 
ony, the dukes of Bavaria, and all the princes of the 
church, thought themselves secure of victory, as they 
read the menacing letters of the conqueror of Francis I. 
They resolved to attend the approaching diet, to humble 
the heretical princes, and if they did not submit, to com- 
pel them by the sword. Duke George is reported to 
have said, "I may be elector of Saxony whenever I 
please ;"f he subsequently, however, endeavored to give 
another meaning to these words. Luther's cause will 
not last long : let him look to it," said the duke's chan- 
cellor one day at Torgau, with an air of triumph. 

Luther, indeed, was looking to it, but not as the 
chancellor understood the expression ; he was atten- 
tively watching the motions of the enemies of God's 
word, and like Melancthon, imagined he saw thousands 
of swords unsheathed against the gospel. But he sought 
for other and higher strength than that of man. Sa* 
tan," wrote he to Frederick Myconius, " is putting forth 
his fury ; ungodly pontiffs are conspiring ; and we are 
threatened with war. Exhort the people to contend 
valiantly before the throne of the Lord by faith and 
prayer, so that our enemies, vanquished by the Spirit of 

* Weimar State Papers. Seckendorff, p. 768. 

t Raake, Deutsche GescK 2. p. 349 ; Rommel, Urkuadeaj p. 22. 



25ft HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



God, may be constrained to peace. Our chief want, oui 
chief labor is prayer ; let the people know that they aie 
now exposed to the edge of the sword and to the lage 
of Satan, and let them pray/'* 

Thus were all things tending towards a decisive 
struggle. The Reformation had on its side the prayers 
of Christians, the sympathy of the people, and an in- 
creasing influence over men's minds that no power could 
check. The papacy had in its favor the ancient order 
of things, the strength of old custom, the zeal and ha- 
tred of formidable princes, and the power of that mighty 
emperor who reigned over two worlds, and who had just 
before given so rude a check to the ambition of Francis 
the First. 

Such was the state of affairs when the diet of Spires 
was opened. Now let us return to Switzerland. 

* Ut in mediis gladils et fororibne Satane posito et perioli^ti 
L. Epp. a 100. 



XJKITy IN DIVERSITY. 257 



BOOK XL 

DIVISIONS. 

SWITZERLAND— GERMANY. 1623- 1527. 

CHAPTER I. 

Unity in diversity — Primitive fidelity and liberty — Formation oi 
Uomish unity — Leo Juda and the monk — Zwingle's theses — Tht* 
disputation of January. 

We are about to contemplate the diversities, or, as 
they have been called, the variations of the Reformation 
These diversities are one of its most essential charac- 
teristics. 

Unity in diversity and diversity in unity, is a law of 
nature as well as of the church. 

Truth is like the light of the sun : it descends from 
neaven one and ever the same ; and yet it assumes dif- 
ferent colors upon earth, according to the objects on 
which it falls. In like manner, formularies somewhai 
different may sometimes express the same Christian idea 
considered under different aspects. 

How dull would creation be if this boundless vari* 
ety of forms and colors, which gives it beauty, were 
replaced by an absolute uniformity. But how melan- 
choly also would be its appearance, if all created beings 
did not form a magnificent unity. 

Divine unity has its rights, so also has human diver- 
sity. In religion, we must suppress neither God nor 
man. If you have not unity, your religion is not of 
God ; if you have not diversity, the religion is not of 
man ; but it ought to be of both. Would you erase 
fr( m creation one of the laws that God himself has im- 
posed on it, that of infinite diversity? *'And even 
things without life giving sound, whether pip^ or harp, 

17 



258 HISTORy OF THE REFORMATION 



except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall 
it be known what is piped or harped?" 1 Cor. 14 : 7. 
But if there is a diversity in religion arising from the 
difference of individuality, and which consequently must 
subsist even in heaven, there is one that proceeds from 
man^s rebellion, and this is indeed a great calamity. 

There are two tendencies which equally lead us into 
en'or : the one exaggerates diversity, the other exag* 
gerates unity. The essential doctrines of salvation are 
the limit bet^veen these two courses. To recniire more 
than these doctrines, is to infringe this diversity ; to 
require less, is to infringe unity. 

The latter excess is that of rash and rebellious minds, 
who look beyond Jesus Christ to form systems and doc- 
trines of men. 

The former exists in various exclusive sects^ and 
particularly in that of Rome. 

The church should reject erroi, and unless this be 
done, Christianity cannot be maintained. But if this 
idea were carried to extremes, it would follow that the 
church should take up arms against the least deviation, 
and put herself in motion for mere verbal disputes. 
Faith would thus be fettered, and the feelings of Chris- 
tians reduced to bondage. Such was not the condition 
of the church in the times of real catholicity — the cath- 
olicity of the primitive ages. She rejected the sects 
that attacked the fundamental truths of the gospel ; 
but these truths once received, it left full liberty to 
faith. Rome soon departed from this wise course ; and 
in proportion as the dominion and teaching of men arose 
in the church, there sprung up by their side a unity ot 
man. 

When a merely human system had been once ia« 
vented, coercion increased from age to age. The Chris^ 
tian liberty, respected by the Catholicism of the earlier 
ages, was at first limited, then enslaved, and finally sti- 
fled. Conviction, which according to the laws of human 
nature and of the word of God should be freely formed 
in the heart and understanding of man, was imposed 
JTrom without, completely formed and symmetrically 



FORMATION OF EOMISH UNITY. 259 



arranged by the masters of mankind. Reflection, will, 
feeling, all the faculties of the human being, which, sub- 
jected to the word and Spirit of God, should work and 
bear fruit freely, were deprived of their liberty, and con* 
strained to expand in shapes that had been determined 
upon beforehand. The mind of man became as a mirror 
on which extraneous objects are reflected, but which 
possesses nothing by itself. Doubtless there still ex- 
isted many souls that had been taught direct of God. 
But the great majority of Christians from that time 
received the convictions of others only ; a faith peculiar 
to the individual was rare ; it was the Reformation 
alone that restored this treasure to the church. 

And yet for some time there was a space within 
which the human mind was permitted to move ; there 
were certain opinions that might be received or reject- 
ed at will. But as a hostile army day by day presses 
closer to a besieged city, compels the garrison to move 
only within the narrow boundary of its ramparts, and 
at last forces it to surrender ; so the hierarchy, from 
age to age, and almost from year to year, contracted 
the space that it had temporarily granted to the human 
mind, until at last this space, from continual encroach- 
ments, had ceased to exist. All that man ought to love, 
believe, or do, was regulated and decreed in the offices 
of the Roman chancery. The faithful were relieved of 
the fatigue of examining, of reflecting, of contending ; 
all that they had to do was to repeat the formularies 
they had been taught. 

From that time, if there appeared in the bosom of 
Roman-catholicism any one wh( had inherited the Ca- 
tholicism of the apostolic ages, sdch a man, feeling his 
inability to expand in the bonds in which he was con- 
fined, was compelled to snap them asunder, and dis- 
play again to the astonished world the unfettered bear- 
ing of a Christian, who acknowledges no law save that 
of God. 

The Reformation, by restoring liberty to the cnurch, 
was destined also to restore its original diversity, and 
to people it with families united by the great features 



260 HISTORT OF THE REFOEMATIOK. 



of resemblance they derive from their common parent ; 
but different in their secondary features, and reminding 
us of the varieties inherent in human nature. Perhaps 
it would have been desirable for this diversity to exist 
in the universal church without leading to sectarian 
divisions. Nevertheless, we must not forget that these 
sects are but the expression of this diversity. 

Switzerland and Germany, which had till this time 
developed themselves independently of each other, be- 
gan to come in contact in the years whose history we 
are about to retrace, and realized the diversity of Vv^hich 
we have been speaking, and which was to be one of the 
characteristics of Protestantism. We shall there behold 
men perfectly agreed on all the great doctrines of faith, 
and yet differing on secondary points. Passion, indeed, 
entered into these discussions ; but while deploring such 
a melancholy intermixture, Protestantism, far from seek 
ing to conceal her diversity, publishes and proclaims it. 
Its path to unity is long and diflBcult, but this unity is 
the real unity. 

Zwingle was advancing in the Christian life. While 
the gospel had freed Luther from that profound melan- 
choly to which he had formerly given way in the con- 
vent of Erfurth, and had developed in him a serenity 
which often amounted to gayety, and of which the re- 
former afterwards gave so many proofs, even in the face 
of great dangers, Christianity had produced the very 
opposite effect on the joyous child of the Tockenburg 
mountains. Tearing Zwingle from his thoughtless and 
worldly life, it had imprinted a seriousness on his char- 
acter that was not natural to him. This seriousness 
was very necessary to him. We have seen how, towards 
the close of the year 1522, numerous enemies appeared 
rising up against the Reformation.* Zwingle was over- 
whelmed with reproaches from every quarter, and dis- 
putes would often take place even in the churches. 

Leo Juda, who, says a historian, was a man of small 
stature,f but full of love for the poor, and zeal against 

* See vol. II., book 8, near the end. f Er war ein kuraoi 

Fusslin Beytrage, 4. H- 



ZWINGLE'S THESES. 



261 



false teachers, had arrived at Zurich about the end ol 
the year 1522 to occupy the station of pastor of St. 
Peter's church. He had been replaced at Einsidlen by 
Oswald Myconius.* This was a valuable acquisition 
for Zwingle and for the Reformation. 

One day, not long after his arrival, as he was in the 
church of which he had been appointed pastor, he heard 
an Augustine monk asserting forcibly that man is able 
of himself to satisfy the righteousness of God. " Rev- 
erend father prior," said Leo, " listen to me for an in- 
stant ; and you, my dear citizens, keep still ; I will 
speak as becomes a Christian." He then proved to the 
people the falseness of the doctrine to which he had 
been listening.f Upon this a great disturbance arose 
in the church ; and immediately several persons angrily 
fell upon " the little priest" from Einsidlen. Zwingle 
appeared before the great council, requiring permission 
to give an account of his doctrine in presence of the 
deputies of the bishop ; and the council, desirous of put- 
ting an end to these disturbances, convened a confer- 
ence for the 29th of January, 1523. The news spread 
rapidly through the whole of Switzerland. His adver- 
saries exclaimed in their vexation, **Adiet of vagabonds 
is to be held at Zurich ; all the beggars from the high- 
ways will be there." 

Zwingle, desiring to prepare for the struggle, pub- 
lished sixty-seven theses. The mountaineer of the Tock- 
enburg boldly assailed the pope in the eyes of all Swit- 
zerland. 

" All those," said he, " who maintain that the gospel 
is nothing without the confirmation of the church, bias 
pheme God. 

" Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation for all 
those who have been, who are, or who shall be. 

" All Christians are Christ's brethren, and brethren 
of one another, and they have no father upon earth r 
thus orders, sects, and parties fall to the ground. 

" We should not constrain those who will not acknoiv- 

* Ut post abitum Leonis, monachis aliquid legam. Zw. B)ppi 
163. t J. J. Hottiuger, Helv. Kircli. Gesch. 106. 



262 HISTORY 0? THE UEPORMATIOK. 



ledge their error, unless they disturb the public peace 
by their seditious behavior." 

Such were some of Zwingle's propositions. 

Early in the morning of Thursday, January 29, more 
than six hundred persons had collected in the hall of the 
great council at Zurich. Citizens and strangers, schol- 
ars, men of rank, and the clergy, had responded to the 
call of the council. " What will be the end of all this?'^ 
asked they of one another.* No one ventured to reply ; 
but the attention, emotion, and agitation prevailing in 
this assembly, clearly manifested that they were expect- 
ing some extraordinary result. 

The burgomaster Roust, who had fought at Marig- 
nan, presided at the conference. The chevalier James 
d'Anwyl, grand-master of the episcopal court at (Jon- 
Btance, the vicar-general Faber, and many other doctors, 
were present as the bishop^s representatives. Sebastian 
Hofmeister had been sent by Schaffhausen, and he was 
the only deputy from the cantons ; such was still the 
weakness of the Reformation in Switzerland. On a table 
in the middle of the hall lay a Bible ; in front of it sat 
Zwingle : " I am agitated and tormented on every side," 
he had said, "and yet I stand firm, relying not on my 
own strength, but on Christ the rock, with whose help I 
can do all things."f 

Swingle stood up and said, " I have preached that 
salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone, and for this 
reason I am stigmatized throughout Switzerland as a 
heretic, a seducer of the people, a rebel. . . . Now, then, 
in the name of God, here I stand."J 

Upon this all eyes were turned towards Paber, who 
rose and made answer, "I was not sent here to dispute, 
but merely to listen." The assembly in surprise began 
to laugh. " The diet of Nuremberg," continued Faber, 

* Ein grosses Verwunderen, was doch uss der Sach werden 
wollte. BuUinger Chronik. 1. 97. f Immotus tamen maneo, 

non meis nervis nixus, sed petra Christo, in quo omnu possum 
Zw. Epp. p. 261. 

t Nun wohlan in dem Namen Gottes, hie bin ich. fiullingei 
Chronik. 1. 98. 



V 



aREAT COUNCIL AT ZURICH. 



263 



" has promised a council within a year ; we must wait 
antil it meets.'' 

" What/' said Zwingle, " is not this vast and learned 
meeting as good as any council ?" Then turning to the 
presidents, he added, " Gracious lords, defend the word 
of God." 

A deep silence followed this appeal ; it was inter- 
rupted by the burgomaster, who said, If there is any 
one here who has any thing to say, let him do so.'' 
There was another pause. " I call upon all those who 
have accused me, and I know that there are several 
here," said Zwingle, " to come forward and reprove me 
for the love of truth." No one said a word. Zwingle 
repeated his request a second and a third time, but to 
no purpose. Faber, thus closely pressed, dropped for 
an instant the reserve he had imposed on himself, to de- 
clare that he had convicted the pastor of Filispach of his 
error, and who was now confined in prison ; but imme- 
diately after resumed his character as a spectator. It 
was in vain that he was urged to set forth the reasons 
by which he had convinced this pastor ; he obstinately 
refused. This silence on the part of the Eomish doctors 
tired the patience of the meeting. A voice was heard 
exclaiming from the further part of the hall, " Where 
are now these valiant fellows,* who talk so loudly in 
the streets ? Come along, step forward, there 's your 
man." No one moved Upon this the burgomaster said 
with a smile, "It would appear that this famous sword 
with which you smote the pastor of Filispach will not 
come out of its sheath to-day ;" and he then broke up 
the meeting. 

When the assembly met again in the afternoon, the 
council declared that Master Ulrich Zwingle, not being 
reproved by any one, might continue to preach the holy 
gospel, and that the rest of the clergy in the canton 
should teach nothing that they could not substantiate 
by Scripture. 

" Praised be God, who will cause his holy word to 

• Sc. the monks. Wo sind nun die grossen Hansen, .... Zw. 
0pp. 1, 124 



264 HISTORY OP THE REPOEMAtlOH. 



prevail in heaven and earth," exclaimed Zwingle. Upon 
this, Faber could not restrain his indignation. "The 
theses of Master Ulrich,'' said he, " are contrary to the 
honor of the church and the doctrine of Christ ; and I 
will prove it." "Do so," replied Zwingle. But Faber 
ieclined his challenge, except it should be at Paris, Co- 
logne, or Friburg. "I will have no other judge than the 
gospel," said Zwingle. " Sooner than you can shake one 
of its words, the earth will open before you."* " The 
gospel !" sneered Faber, " always the gospel 1 . . . Men 
might live in holiness, peace, and charity, even if there 
were no g08pel."f 

At these words the spectators rose indignantly from 
their seats. Thus terminated the disputation. 

* Ee mils das Erdrych brechen. Zw. 0pp. 1. 148. f Man 
mocht denocht friintlieh, fridlich und tugendlich laben. wean gUcb 
keln Evangeliam were. Boll. Chron. p. 107 ; Zw, 0pp. 1. ISZ. 



PAPAL TEIMPTATIOKS. 



263 



CHAPTER II. 

Papa; temptutions — Progress of the Keformation — The idol at 6tt^ 
delhofen — Sacrilege — The ornaments of the saiats. 

The Reformation had gained the day ; it was now to 
accelerate its conquests. After this battle of Zurich, in 
which the most skilful champions of the Papacy were 
dumb, who would be bold enough to oppose the new 
doctrine ? But weapons of a diflferent kind were tried. 
Zwingle's firmness and republican bearing overawed his 
adversaries ; accordingly they had recourse to peculiar 
measures to subdue him. While Rome was pursuing 
Luther with her anathemas, she endeavored to win over 
the reformer of Zurich by gentleness. The dispute was 
scarcely ended when Zwingle received a visit from the 
captain of the pope's guard, the son of the burgomaster 
Roust. He was accompanied by the legate Einsius, the 
bearer of a papal brief, in which Adrian VI. called Zwin- 
gle his beloved son, and assured him of "his special 
favor."* At the same time, the pope urged Zink to gain 
over Zwingle. "And what has the pope commissioned 
you to offer him?" asked Oswald Myconius. "Every 
thing," replied Zink, " except the papal chair ."f 

There was no mitre, or crozier, or cardinal's hat, that 
the pope would not have given to bribe the reformer of 
Zurich. But Rome was strangely mistaken in this re- 
spect ; all her proposals were unavailing. In Zwingle, 
the Romish church had a still more pitiless enemy than. 
Luther. He cared far less than the Sasion reformer for 
the ideas and ceremonies of former ages : it was enough 
for him that any custom, however innocent in itself, was 
connected with some abuse ; he fell violently upon it. 
The word of God, thought he, should stand alone. 

But if Rome understood so imperfectly what was then 

* Cam dc tua egregia virtate specialiter nobis sit cognitum. 
Zw. Epp. p. 266. t Serio respondit : Omnia cert^ prffitei 

iedem papalem. Vita Zwingli, per Osw. Myc. 

Htitof KmL IZL 



266 



HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOH. 



taking" place in Christendom, she found counsellors who 
endeavored to put her in the way. 

Faber, exasperated at seeing the pope thus humble 
himself before his adversary, hastened to enlighten him, 
lie was a courtier with a constant smile upon his lips, 
and honied words in his mouth ; to judge from his own 
language, he was everybody's friend, even of those whom 
he accused of heresy. But his hatred was mortal. Ac- 
cordingly the reformer, playing on his name, Paber, used 
to say, "The vicar of Constance is a lie-smith. Let him 
openly take up arms, and see how Christ defends us.''* 

These words were no mere idle boasting ; for while 
the pope was complimenting Zwingle on his eminent 
virtues, and the special confidence he placed in him, the 
enemies of the reformer were increasing in number 
throughout Switzerland. The veteran soldiers, the 
great families, the herdsmen of the mountains, com- 
bined their hatred against this doctrine which thwarted 
their tastes. At Lucerne, the magnificent representa- 
tion of Zwingle's passion was announced ; in effect, the 
people dragged the reformer's efiigy to the scaffold, 
shouting out that they were going to put the heretic to 
death ; and laying hands on some Zurichers who hap- 
pened to be at Lucerne, compelled them to be spectators 
of this mock execution. "They shall not trouble my 
repose," said Zwingle ; "Christ will never be wanting 
to his followers."! Even the diet reechoed with threats 
against him. " My dear confederates," said the council- 
lor of Mullinen to the cantons, " make a timely resist- 
ance to the Lutheran cause At Zurich a man is 

no longer master in his own house." 

This agitation among the enemy announced what 
was passing in Zurich more loudly than any proclama- 
tions could have done. The victory was indeed bearing 
liuit ; the conquerors were gradually taking possession 
of the country, and every day the gospel made fresh 
progiess. Twenty-four canons and a great number of 
chaplains voluntarily petitioned the council to reform 

• Prodeant volo, palamque arma capiant. Zw. Epp. p. 292. 
t Christum buis nunquam defecturum. Ibid. 278. 



THE CRUCIFIX OF STADELHOFEK. 26? 



their statutes. It was decided to replace these sluggish 
priests by pious and learned men, with commission to 
give the Zurich youth a Christian and liberal education, 
and to establish in the place of their vespers and Latin 
masses, a daily explanation of a chapter in the Bible, 
according to the Hebrew and Greek texts, first for the 
learned, and afterwards for the people. 

There ars unfortunately in every army a number of 
those desperate heroes who leave their ranks and make 
nnseaoonable attacks on points that ought still to be 
respected. A young priest, Louis Hetzer, had published 
a treatise in German, entitled. The judgment of God 
against Images^ which produced a great sensation, and 
the images wholly engrossed the thoughts of a part of 
the people. It is only to the detriment of those essen- 
tials that ought to occupy his mind, that man can fix his 
attention on secondary matters. At a place called Sta- 
delhofen, outside the city gates, stood a crucifix elabo- 
rately carved and richly ornamented. The most zealous 
partisans of the Reformation, shocked at the supersti- 
tions to which this image gave rise, could not pass by 
without giving vent to their indignation. A citizen 
named Claude Hettinger, " a worthy man,'' says BuUin- 
ger, "and well read in the holy Scriptures," having 
fallen in with the miller of Stadelhofen, to whom the 
crucifix belonged, asked him when he intended to throw 
down his idols. " No one compels you to worship them,'' 
replied the miller. "But do you not know," retorted 
Hettinger, "that the word of God forbids us to have 
any graven images?" "Well, then," said the miller, 
"if you are authorized to remove them, I abandon them 
to you." Hettinger thought himself empowered to act, 
and shortly after, about the end of September, he wag 
seen to pass the gates with a body of citizens. On 
arriving at the crucifix, they deliberately dug round it^ 
until the image, yielding to their efibrts, fell to the eaith 
with a loud crash. 

This daring action spread dismay on every side : one 
might have thought that religion itself had fallen with 
the crucifix of Stadelhofen. " They are guilty of sacri^ 



26i HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 

lege ; they deserve to be put to death," exclaimed the 
friends of Rome. The council caused the image-break- 
ers to be apprehended. 

"No," cried Zwingle and his colleagues from their 
pulpits ; " Hettinger and his friends are not guilty in 
the sight of God, and worthy of death.* But they may 
bo punished for having acted with violence, and without 
the sanction of the magistrates.^f 

Meantime acts of a similar nature were continually 
taking place. A curate of St. Peter's one day remark- 
ing in front of the church a number of poor people ill 
fed and with tattered garments, said to one of his col- 
leagues, as he turned his eyes on the costly ornaments 
of the saints, **I should like to strip these idols of wood 
to procure clothing for these poor members of Jesus 
Christ." A few days later, at three o'clock in the morn- 
ing, the saints and all their ornaments disappeared. The 
council flung the curate into prison, notwithstanding he 
protested his innocence of this proceeding. "What,^ 
exclaimed the people, "is it these logs of wood that 
Jesus ordered us to clothe ? Is it on account of these 
images that he will say to the righteous, * I was naked, 
and ye clothed me V " 

Thus, the greater the resistance, the higher soared 
the Reformation ; and the more it was compressed, the 
more energetically did it spring forward, and threaten 
to overthrow all that withstood it. 

* An exposition of the same principles may be seen in the 
speeches of MM. de Broglie and Royer-CoUard, at the period of the 
famous debates on the law of sacrilege in France, 1824. 

t Dorum habend ir unser Herren kein racht zu inen, By eo 
Aen, Bulliager Chron. p. 127. 



PUBLIC DISPUTATION 



269 



CHAPTER III. 

pi3 dispntation of October — ^Zwingle on the church — The church-— 
Commencement of Presbyterianism — Discussion on the mass- 
Enthusiasts — The language of discretion — Victory — A charao* 
teristic of the Swiss Reformation— Moderation — ^Oswald Ujo 
nius at Zurich — Revival of literature — Thomas Plater of the 
Yalais. 

Even these excesses were destined to be salutary ; 
a new combat was needed to secure fresh triumphs ; 
for in the things of the Spirit, as in the affairs of the 
world, there is no conquest without a struggle ; and as 
the soldiers of Rome stood motionless, the conflict was 
to be brought on by the undisciplined sons of the Ref- 
prmation. In fact, the magistrates were embarrassed 
and agitated ; they felt the necessity of having their con- 
sciences enlightened, and with this view they resolved 
to appoint another public disputation in the German 
language, in which the question of idols should be ex- 
amined according to Scripture. 

The bishops of Coire, Constance, and Basle, the uni- 
versity of the latter city, and the twelve cantons, were 
accordingly requested to send deputies to Zurich. But 
the bishops declined the invitation, and calling to mind 
the wretched figure their deputies had made at the for- 
mer disputation, they had little inclination to repeat 
i^uch humiliating scenes. Let the evangelicals dispute, 
if they please, but let them dispute alone. On the first 
occasion, the Romish party had kept silence ; on the 
second, they were resolved not to appear. Rome may 
possibly have imagined that the great combat would 
cease for want of combatants. The bishops were not 
alone in refusing to attend. The men of Unterwalden 
replied that they had no scholars among them, but (mly 
worthy and pious priests, who explained the gospel as 
their fathers had done ; that they would send no deputy 
to Zwingle " and his fellows f but that, if he fell into 
their bands, they would treat bim in such a manner M 



270 HISTOEY OF THE EEFORMATION. 



to deprive him of all wish to relapse into the same 
faults * Schaflfhausen and St. Gall alone sent repre- 
sentatives. 

On the 26th of October, after the sermon, an assem- 
bly of more than nine hundred persons, composed of 
members of the great council and of three hundred and 
fifty priests, filled the large hall of the town-h( use. 
Zwingle and Leo Juda were seated at a table, on wnich 
lay the Old and New Testament in the original lan- 
guages. Zwingle spofee first, and overthrowing with a 
vigorous arm the authority of the hierarchy and of its 
councils, established the rights of every Christian church, 
and claimed the liberty of the primitive ages — of those 
times when the church knew neither general nor pro- 
vincial councils. " The universal church," said he, " is 
spread over the whole world, wherever there is faith in 
Christ, in India as well as at Zurich. . . . And as for 
particular churches, we have them at Berne, at Schaflf- 
hausen, and even here. But the popes, with their car- 
dinals and their councils, form neither the universal 
church nor a particular church.f The assembly before 
which I now speak," continued he with energy, " is the 
church of Zurich ; it desires to hear the word of God, 
and it has the right of ordering all that may appear to 
it conformable to the holy Scriptures." 

Thus did Zwingle rely on the church, but on the true 
church ; not on the clergy alone, but on the assembly of 
Christians — on the people. All that the Scriptures say 
of the church in general, he applied to particular church- 
es. He did not think that any church could err which 
listened with docility to the word of God. In his eyes, 
the church was represented politically and ecclesiasti- 
cally by the great council. J At first he explained every 
question from the pulpit ; and when his hearers' minds 
were convinced of the truth, he carried the matter be- 

* So wollten wir Ihm den Lohn geben, dasa er's nimmer mehr 
thate. Simmler Samml. MS. 9. f Der Pabste, Cardinale und 
Bischoffe Concilia sind nicht die christliche Kirche. Fussl. Beytr. 
a. 20. X Diacosion Senatus summa est potestas EcclesisQ viod. 

Zw, 0pp. 8. m 



PftESBYTERIANISM 



271 



fore the great council, who, in harmony with the minis- 
ters of the church, formed such decisions as the church 
called for.* 

In the absence of the bishop's deputies, Conrad Hoff- 
mann, the same aged canon who had procured Zwingle's 
election to Zurich, undertook the defence of the pope. 
He maintained that the church, the flock, the "third 
estate," had no right to discuss such matters. " I was 
thirteen years at Heidelberg," said he, "living in the 
house of a very great scholar, whose name was Doctor 
Joss, a worthy and pious man, with whom I long ate 
and drank and led a merry life ; but I always heard him 
say that it was not proper to discuss such matters ; so 

you see " All were ready to burst into laughter ; 

but the burgomaster checked them. " Let us therefore 
wait for a council," continued Hoffmann. "For the 
present, I shall not dispute, but obey the bishop's or- 
ders, even should he be a knave." 

"Wait lor a council I" replied Zwingle. "And who 
will attend a council? The pope with some sluggish 
and ignorant bishops who will do nothing but what 
suits their fancy. No ; the church is not there. Hong 
and Kussnacht" — these were two Zurich villages — "are 
certainly more of a church than all the bishops and 
popes put together." 

Thus did Zwingle vindicate the rights of the Chris- 
tian people, whom Rome had deprived of their privi- 
leges. The assembly before which he was speaking 
was not, in his judgment, the church of Zurich, but its 
first representative. This is the beginning of the Pres- 
byterian system in the age of the Reformation. Zwin- 
gle was withdrawing Zurich from the jurisdiction of the 
bishop of Constance, separating it from the Latin hie- 
rarchy, and founding on this idea of the flock, of the 
Christian assembly, a new ecclesiastical constitution, to 
which other countries were afterwards to adhere. 

* Ante omnia multitudinem de quasstione probe docere ita fao* 
turn est, ut quidquid diacosii — the great council of two hundred- 
cam verbi ministris ordinarent, jamdudum in animis fidelium ordir 
oatum esest. Zw. 0pp. B. 339. 



272 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION 



The disputation continued. Many priests having 
risen to defend the images, but without having recourse 
to holy writ, Zwingle and the other reformers confuted 
them by the Bible. " If no one stands forward to de- 
fend the use of images by arguments derived from 
Scripture," said one of the presidents, "we shall call 
upon some of their advocates by name." As no one 
arose, the priest of Wadischwyl was called. "He is 
asleep," answered one of the spectators. The priest of 
Horgen was next called. "He has sent me in his place," 
replied his curate, "but I will not answer for. him." 
Evidently the power of God's word was making itself 
felt in thi& assembly. The partisans of the Reformation 
were full of energy, liberty, and joy ; their adversaries 
appeared speechless, uneasy, and dejected. They sum- 
moned, one after another, the parish priests of Laufen, 
Glattfelden, Wetzikon, the rector and priest of Pfaffikon, 
the dean of Elgg, the priest of Baretschwyl, with the 
Dominicans and Gray-friars, notorious for their preach- 
ing in defence of images, the Virgin, the saints, and the 
mass ; but all made answer that they could say nothing 
in their favor, and that henceforward they would apply 
themselves to the study of the truth. " Hitherto," said 
one of them, " I have put my trust in the old doctors ; 
now, I will believe in the new." " You should believe 
not in us, but in God's word," exclaimed Zwingle ; " it 
is Scripture alone that can never err." The sitting had 
been long, and night was approaching. The president, 
Hofmeister of Schaffhausen, stood up and said, "Blessed 
be the almighty and everlasting God, for that in all 
things he has vouchsafed us the victory ;" and he then 
exhorted the councillors of Zurich to pull down all the 
images. 

On Tuesday the assembly met again in order to dis- 
cuss the doctrine of the mass. Vadian was in the chair. 
" My brethren in Christ," said Zwingle, " far from us be 
the thought that there is any deception or falsehood in 
the body and blood of Christ.* Our only aim is to show 

* Dass einigerley Betrug oder Falsch Byg in dem reinem Blul 
and Fleiscb Christi. Zw. 0pp. 1. 488. 



TICTORr. 



273 



that the mass is not a sacrifice that one man can offer 
to God for another, unless any one should maintain also 
that a man can eat and drink for his friend/' 

Vadian having twice demanded if any there present 
desired to uphold by Scripture the doctrine impugned, 
and no one having replied, the canons of Zurich, the 
chaplains, and many other ecclesiastics declared that 
they agreed with Zwingle. 

But scarcely had the reformers thus vanquiished the 
partisans of the old doctrines, than they had to contend 
against those impatient spirits who call for sudden and 
violent innovations, and not for wise and gradual re- 
forms. The wretched Conrad Grebel rose and said, "It 
is not enough to have disputed about the mass, we must 
put an end to its abuses.'' The council will draw up 
an edict on the subject," replied Zwingle. Upon this Si- 
mon Stumpf exclaimed, " The Spirit of God has already 
decided : why refer to the decision of the crmncil ?"* 

The commander Schmidt of Kiissnacht aiiose gravely, 
and in language full of wisdom said, **Let us teach 
Christians to receive Christ in their hearts.f Until this 
hour, ye have all gone after idols. The dwellers in the 
plain have run to the mountains, and those of the moun- 
tains have gone to the plain ; the French to Germany, 
and the Germans to France. Now ye know whither ye 
ought to go. God has combined all things in Christ. 
Ye noble citizens of Zurich, go to the true source ; and 
may Christ at length reenter your territory, and there 
resume his ancient empire." 

This discourse made a deep impression, and no one 
stood up to reply to it. Zwingle rose with emotion, and 

said, Gracious lords, God is with us He will 

defend his cause. Now, then, forward in the name of 
God." Here Zwingle's agitation became so great that 
he could not proceed. He wept, and many joined their 
tears with his.| 

* Der Geist Gottes urtheilet. Zw. 0pp. 1. 629. f Wie sy 

ChriBtum in iren Herzen soUiad bilden und machea, Ibid. 53i. 
I DoBH er sich selbst mit vil andren bewegt zu weineu. Ibid 

J8 



274 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



Thus ended the disputation. The presidents rose j 
the burgomaster thanked them ; and tne aged warrior, 
turning to the council, said gravely, with that voice 
which had so often been heard on the field of battle, 
Now, then, ... let us grasp the sword of God s word, 
and may the Lord prosper his work." 

This dispute, which took place in the month of Octo 
ber, 1623, was decisive. The majority of the priests 
who had been present at it, returned full of zeal to the 
different parts of the canton, and the effect of these two 
days was felt throughout Switzerland. The church of 
Zurich, that had always preserved a certain indepen- 
dence with respect to the see of Constance, was then 
entirely emancipated. Instead of resting on the pope 
through the bishop, it rested henceforward through the 
people on the word of God. Zurich recovered the priv- 
ileges that Rome had taken from her. Town and coun- 
try vied with each other in interest for the work of the 
Reformation, and the great council did but follow the 
movements of the people. On all important occasions 
the city and the villages made known their opinions. 
Luther had restored the Bible to the Christian world ; 
Zwingle went further, he restored their rights. This is 
a characteristic feature of the Swiss Reformation. The 
maintenance of sound doctrine was thus confided, under 
God, to the people ; and recent events have shovtn that 
a Christian people can guard this precious deposit bet- 
ter than priests and pontiffs.* 

Zwingle did not allow himself to be elated by victory; 
on the contrary, the Reformation, according to his wish, 
was carried on with great moderation. " God knoww 
my heart," said he, when the council asked his advice ; 
**he knows that I am inclined to build up, and not to 
throw down. I am aware that there are timid s( ula 
who ought to be conciliated ; let the mass, therefore, for 
some time longer be read on Sunday in all the churches, 

* In 1839, the celebrated pantheist and unbeliever Strauss, hav- 
ing been nominated professor of dogmatical theology in the uuiver* 
Bity of Zurich, the people of all the canton resisted tne appointment, 
and raised a new government into power. 



EBVIVAL OF LEAENma AT ZURICH. 



275 



and let ns avoid insulting the priests who celebrate 
it.''* 

The council drew up an edict to this purport. Het- 
tinger and Hochrutiner, one of his friends, were banished 
from the canton for two years, and forbidden to return 
without permission. 

The Reformation at Zurich followed a prudent and 
Christian course. Daily raising this city more and 
more, it surrounded her with glory in the ej es of all the 
friends of the word of God, Accordingly those in Swit- 
zerland who had saluted the new light that was dawn- 
ing upon the church, felt themselves powerfully attracted 
towards Zurich. Oswald Myconius, expelled from Lu- 
cerne, had been residing for six months at Einsidlen, 
when, as he was returning one day from a journey he 
had made to Glaris,f oppressed by fatigue and by the 
heat of the sun, he saw his little boy Felix running to 
meet him, and to tell him that he had been invited to 
Zurich to superintend one of the schools. Oswald could 
not believe such joyful tidings : he hesitated between 
fear and hope.J "I am thine,'' wrote he at last to Zwin- 
gle. Geroldsek saw him depart with regret ; gloomy 
thoughts filled his mind. "Alas," said he to Oswald, 
"all those who confess Christ are going to Zurich; I 
fear that one day we shall all perish there together."! 
A melancholy presentiment, which by the death of Ge- 
roldsek himself and of so many other friends of the gos- 
pel, was but too soon fulfilled on the plains of Cappel. 

At Zurich, Myconius found at last a safe retreat. 
His predecessor, who from his stature had been nick- 
named at Paris "the great devil," had neglected his du- 
ties ; Oswald devoted all his heart and strength to their 
fulfilment. He explained the Greek and Latin classics, 
taught rhetoric and logic, and the youth of the city lis- 
tened to him with delight. |1 Myconius was destined to 

* Ohne dass jemand sich imterstehe die Messpriester zu beschim- 
pfen. Wirtz. H. K. G., 5. 208. f Inesperato niintio excepil 

me filiuB redeuntem ex Glareana. Zw. Epp. p. 322. t Inter 

spem et metom. Ibid. § Ac deinde omnes simal pereamua. 

Ibid. 393. li Ja^entuB Ulom lubens audit, {bid. 



276 HIBTOEI OF THE EEFORMATION. 



become for the rising generation what Zwingle was to 
those of riper years. 

At first Myconius was alarmed at the advanced age 
of the scholars under his care ; but he had gradually 
resumed his courage, and was not long in distinguish- 
ing among his pupils a young man, twenty-four years 
of age, from whose eyes beamed forth a love of study. 
Thomas Plater, for such was his name, was a native of 
the Valais. In that beautiful valley, where the torrent 
of the Vi^ge rolls its noisy waters, after issuing from 
the sea of ice and snow which encircles mount Rosa, 
between St. Nicholas and Stalden, on the lofty hill that 
rises on the right bank of the river, may still be seen 
the village of Grachen. This was Plater's birthplace. 
From the neighborhood of these colossal Alps was to 
proceed one of the most original of all the characters 
that appeared in the great drama of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. At the age of nine years, he had been placed 
under the care of a priest who was his relation, by 
whom the little peasant was often so cruelly beaten 
that he cried, as he tells us himself, like a kid under 
the knife. He was taken by one of his cousins to attend 
the German schools. But he had already attained the 
age of twenty years, and yet, through running from 
school to school, he scarcely knew how to read.* When 
he arrived at Zurich, he came to the determination of 
gaining knowledge ; and having taken his place in Os- 
wald's school, he said to himself, ''There shalt thou learn 
or die." The light of the gospel shone into his heart. 
One very cold morning, when he had no fuel for the 
school-room stove, which it was his duty to keep up, he 
thought to himself, " Why should you want wood, while 
there are many idols in the church." There was no one 
as yet in the church, although Zwingle was to preach, 
and the bells were already summoning the congrega- 
tion. Plater entered very softly, laid hold of an image 
of St. John that stood upon an altar, and thrust it into 
the Btove, saying, " Down with you, for in you must 

* bis Aatobiography. 



THE (tOSPEL AT ZURICH. 277 

go." Most assuredly neither Myconius nor Zwingle 
would have sanctioned such a proceeding. 

It was in truth by better arms than these that incre- 
dulity and superstition were to be combated. Zwingle 
and his colleagues had given the hand of fellowship to 
Myconius ; and the latter daily expounded the New Tes- 
tament in the church of Our Lady before an eager and 
attentive crowd.* Another public disputation, held on 
the 13th and 14th of January, 1524, had again proved 
fatal to Rome ; and in vain did the canon Koch ex- 
claim, "Popes, cardinals, bishops, councils — these are 
my church." 

Every thing was making progress in Zurich ; metfs 
minds were becoming more enlightened, their hearts 
more decided, and the Reformation was increasing in 
strength, Zurich was a fortress gained by the new 
doctrine, and from her walls it was about to spread over 
the whole confederation. 

* Weise, Fusslin Beyt. 4. 66. 



ifd HIBTDRY OiP THE RfiFORllATION. 



CHAPTER IV. 

IMct of Lucerne — Hottinger arrested — His death — Deputation (ron 
tbe diet to Zurich — Abolition of religious processions -Abo\itioa 
of images — The two Reformations — Appeal to the people. 

The adversaries were aware of what might be the 
Con»equences of these changes in Zurich. They felt 
that they must now decide upon striking a vigorous 
blow. They had been silent spectators long enough. 
The iron-clad warriors of Switzerland determined to rise 
at last ; and whenever they arose, the field of battle 
had been dyed with blood. 

The diet had met at Lucerne ; the clergy were en- 
deavoring to excite the chief council of the nation in 
their favor. Friburg and the forest cantons proved their 
docile instruments ; Berne, Basle, Soleure, Glaris, and 
Appenzel were undecided. Schafi'hausen was inclining 
towards the gospel, but Zurich alone stood forward 
boldly in its defence. The partisans of Eome urged the 
assembly to yield to their demands and prejudices. 
" Let the people be forbidden," said they, " to preach 
or repeat any new or Lutheran doctrine in private or in 
public, and to talk or dispute about such things in tav- 
erns and over their wine."* Such was the ecclesiasti- 
cal law they were desirous of establishing in the con- 
federation. 

Nineteen articles were drawn up to this eflfect, ap- 
proved of by all the states, except Zurich, on the 26th 
of January, 1523, and sent to all the bailiffs with orders 
to see that they were strictly observed ; " which caused 
great joy among the priests," says BuUinger, "and 
great sorrow among believers." A persecution, regu- 
larly organized by the supreme authority of the confed- 
eration, was about to begin. 

* Es soil nieman in den Wirtzhiiseren, oder sunst hinter dem 
Wjn von Lutherigchen, oder newen Sachen uzid reden. BuUinger 
QbtOR, p. 144. 



AOTTINaER ARRESTED. 



279 



One of the first who received the mandate of the 
diet was Henry Flackenstein of Lucerne, bailiff of Ba- 
den. Hottinger, when banished from Zurich for pulling 
down the crucifix of Stadelhofen, had retired to this 
bailiwick, where he had not concealed his opinions. 
One day, as he chanced to be dining at the Angel tav- 
ern in Zurzach, he had said that the priests wrongly 
interpreted holy Scripture, and that man should put his 
trust in God alone.** The landlord, who was continually 
going in and out to bring bread or wine, listened to 
what appeared to him such very extraordinary lan- 
guage. Another day, Hottinger paid a visit to his 
friend John Schutz of Schneyssingen. After they had 
eaten and drunk together, Schutz asked him, " What is 
this new faith that the Zurich pastors are preaching V 
"They preach," replied Hottinger, "that Christ was sac- 
rificed once for all Christians ; that by this one sacrifice 
he has purified and redeemed them from all their sins ; 
and they show by holy Scripture that the mass is a lie.'- 

After this, in February, 1623, Hottinger had quitted 
Switzerland, and gone on business to Waldshut, on the 
other side of the Rhine. Measures were taken to seize 
his person, and about the end of the same month the 
poor unsuspecting Zuricher, having recrossed the river, 
had scarcely reached Coblentz, a village on the left bank 
of the Khine, before he was arrested. He was taken to 
tlingenau, and as he there frankly confessed his faith, 
the exasperated Flackenstein said, " I will take you to 
a place where you will find people to make you a suit- 
able answer." 

In efiect, the bailifi* conducted him successively be- 
fore the judges of Klingenau, before the superior tribu- 
Dal of Baden, and, since he could find no one who would 
declare him guilty, before the diet sitting at Lucerne. 
Ho was firmly resolved to seek judges who would con- 
demn his prisoner. 

The diet lost no time, and condemned Hottinger to 
bi behi^aded. When informed of his sentence, he gave 

* Wie wir unst^r pitt Uotfnung und Trost alleia of Gott Bui 
linger Chron. p. 146. 



280 HISTORY OF THE REFOUMATIOir. 



glory to God : "That will do,*^ said James Troger, one 
of his judges ; "we do not sit here to listen to sern.on8 
Yon can have your talk some other time." "He must 
have his head taken off this once," said the bailiff Am 
Ort, with a laugh ; " if he should ever get it on again, 
we will all embrace his faith." " May God forgive all 
those who have condemned me," said the prisoner. A 
monk then presented a crucifix to his lips, but he put it 
away, saying, "It is in the heart that we must receive 
Jesus Christ." 

When he was led out to execution, many of the speo 
tators could not refrain from tears. " I am going to 
eternal happiness," said he, turning towards them. On 
reaching the place where he was to die, he raised his 
hands to heaven, exclaiming, "Into thy hands, 0 my 
Redeemer, I commit my spirit." In another minute his 
head rolled upon the scaffold. 

The blood of Hottinger was hardly cold before the 
enemies of the Reformation seized the opportunity of 
still further inflaming the anger of the confederates. It 
was in Zurich itself that the mischief should be crushed. 
The terrible example that had .just been given must 
have filled Zwingle and his partisans with terror. An- 
other vigorous effort, and the death of Hottinger would 
be followed by that of the Reform The diet im- 

mediately resolved that a deputation should be sent to 
Zurich, calling upon the councils and the citizens to 
renounce their faith. 

The deputation received an audience on the 21st ol 
March. " The ancient Christian unity is broken," said 
the deputies ; " the disease is gaining ground ; already 
have the clergy of the four forest cantons declared, that 
unless the magistrates come to their aid, they must dis- 
continue their functions. Confederates of Zurich, join 
your efforts to ours ; stifle this new faith ;* dismiss 
Zwingle and his disciples, and then let us all unite to 
remedy the injuries that have been inflicted on the popes 
and their courtiers." 

• Zurich selbigen ausreuten und untertriicken helfe. Hot! 
Helv. K., G. 8. 170. 



IHE IMAOES DESTKOTED. 



281 



Thus spoke the adversaries : and what would the 
aitizens of Zurich do ? Would their hearts fail them ? 
Had their courage cooled with the blood of their fellow- 
citizen ? 

Zurich did not leave her friends or enemies long in 
Buspense. The council announced calmly and nobly 
that they could make no concessions in what concerned 
the word of God ; and then proceeded to make a still 
more forcible reply. 

Ever since the year 1361, it had been customary for 
a numerous procession, each member of which bore a 
cross, to go on Whit-Monday on a pilgrimage to Einsid- 
len to worship the Virgin. This festival, which had 
been established in commemoration of the battle of Tat- 
wyll, was attended with great disorders.* The proces- 
sion should have taken place on the 7th of May. On 
the petition of the three pastors it was prohibited by 
the council, and all the other processions were reformed 
in their turn. 

They did not stop here. The relics, that source of 
innumerable superstitions, were honorably interred -jic 
and then, at the request of the three pastors, the coun-« 
oil published a decree, to the effect that honor being due 
to God alone, the images should be removed from all 
the churches of the canton, and their ornaments sold 
for the benefit of the poor. Twelve councillors, one 
from each guild, the three pastors, the city anchitect. 
blacksmiths, carpenters, builders, and masons, went into 
the various churches, and having closed the doors,J 
took down the crosses, defaced the frescoes, white- 
washed the walls, and took away the images, to the 
great delight of the believers, who regarded this pro- 
ceeding, says Bullinger, as a striking homage paid to 
the true God. In some of the country churches, the 
ornaments were burnt "to the honor and glory of God.'* 
Erelong the organs were taken down, on account of 

* Uflf einea Creitzgang, sieben unehelicher kinden iiberl^ommen 
wurdend. Bullinger Chrou. p. 160. f Und es eerlich bestat» 

tet hat. Ibid. 1 61. X Habeud die nach inen zu beschlossea 

Ibid. 176. 



282 HISTORY OF THE UEFORMATIOK. 



their connection with many superstitious practices ; and 
a baptismal service was drawn up, from which every 
thing unscriptural was excluded.* 

The burgomaster Roust and his colleague with theii 
dying eyes joyfully hailed the triumph of the Reforma- 
tion. They had lived long enough, and they died at the 
vory time of this great renovation of public worship. 

Tb3 Swiss Reformation here presents itself under an 
aspect somewhat different from that of the German Ref- 
ormation. Luther had risen up against the excesses of 
those who had broken the images in the churches of 
Wittemberg ; and in Zwingle's presence the idols fell in 
the temples of Zurich. This difference is explained by 
the different lights in which tlie two reformers viewed 
the same object. Luther desired to maintain in the 
church all that was not expressly contrary to the Scrip- 
tures, and Zwingle to abolish all that could not be 
proved by them. The German reformer wished to re- 
main united to the church of the preceding ages, and 
was content to purify it of all that was opposed to the 
word of God. The Zurich reformer passed over these 
ages, returned to the apostolic times, and carrying out 
an entire transformation of the church, endeavored to 
restore it to its primitive condition. 

Zwingle's Reformation was therefore the more com- 
plete. The work that Providence had coniSded to Luther, 
the restoration of the doctrine of justification by faith, 
was doubtless the great work of the Reformation ; but 
when this was accomplished, others remained to be 
done, which, although secondary, were still important ; 
and to these Zwingle's exertions were more especially 
directed. 

In fact, two mighty tasks had been imposed on the 
reformers. Christian Catholicism, born in the midst of 
Jewish Pharisaism and Greek paganism, had gradually 
felt the intiuence of these two religions, which had trans- 
formed it into Roman-catholicism. The Reformation that 
was called to purify the church, was destined to purge 
it alike from the Jewish and the Pagan element 
* See note, voL p. 151. 



LUTHER AND ZWINaLE. 



283 



The Jewish element prevailed chiefly in that part of 
the Christian doctrine which relates to man. Catholi- 
cism had received from Judaism the pharisaical ideas of 
self-righteousness, of salvation by human strength or 
works. 

The Pagan element prevailed especially in that part 
of the Christian doctrine which relates to God. Pagan- 
ism had corrupted in the Catholic church the idea of an 
infinite Deity, whose power, being perfectly all-sufficient, 
is at work in all times and in all places. It had estab- 
lished in the church the reign of symbols, images, and 
ceremonies ; and the saints had become the demigods of 
popery. 

Luther's reform was directed essentially against the 
Jewish element. It was against this element that he 
had been compelled to struggle, when an impudent 
monk, on behalf of the p^^pe, was making a trade of the 
salvation of souls. 

Zwingle's reform was particularly directed against 
the Pagan element. It was this element with which he 
had come in contact at the temple of Our Lady of Einsid- 
len, when a crowd, gathered together from every side, 
fell down blindly before a gilded idol, as of old in the 
temple of the Ephesian Diana. 

The German reformer proclaimed the great doctrine 
of justification by faith, and with it inflicted a death- 
blow on the Pharisaical righteousness of Rome. The 
reformer of Switzerland unquestionably did the same : 
the inability of man to save himself forms the basis of 
the work of all the reformers. But Zwingle did some- 
thing more : he established the sovereign, universal, and 
exclusive agency of God, and thus inflicted a deadly 
blow on the Pagan worship of Rome. 

Roman-catholicism had exalted man and lowered 
God. Luther lowered man, and Zwingie exalted God. 

These two tasks, which were specially but not exclu- 
sively theirs, were the complement of each other. Lu- 
ther laid the foundation of the building ; Zwingle raised 
its crowning stone. 

It was reserved for a still more capacioud genius tc 



284 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



impress, from the banks of the Leman lake, these two 
characters conjointly upon the Eeformation.* 

But while Zwingle was thus advancing with mighty 
strides to the head of the confederation, the disposition 
of the cantons became daily more hostile. The Zurich 
government felt the necessity of relying on the people. 
The people, moreover, that is to say, the assembly of 
believers, was, according to Zwingle's principles, the 
highest power to which there could be any appeal on 
earth. It was resolved to test the state of public opin- 
ion, and the bailiffs were enjoined to demand of all the 
parishes whether they were ready to suffer every thing 
for our Lord Jesus Christ, "who," said the council, 
** gave his life and his blood for us sinners."f The whole 
canton had carefully followed the progress of the Eef- 
ormation in the city ; and in many places the cottages 
of the peasants had become Christian schools, wherein 
the holy Scriptures were read. 

The proclamation of the council was read and enthu- 
eiastically received in every parish. "Let our lords," 
answered they, "remain fearlessly attached to the word 
of God : we will aid them in upholding it ;J and if any 
one seeks to molest them, we will come to their support 
like brave and loyal fellow-citizens." The peasantry of 
Zurich showed then that the strength of the church is 
in the Christian people. 

But the people were not alone. The man whom God 
had placed at their head answered worthily to the call. 
Zwingle appeared to multiply himself for the service of 
God. All that were enduring persecution in the Hel- 
vetic cantons for the cause of the gospel addressed them- 
selves to him.§ The responsibility of public affairs, the 
care of the churches, the anxieties of the glorious con- 
flict that was going on in every valley of Switzerland, 

• Litterarischer Anzeiger, 1840, No. 27. f Der sin rosea* 

larw Bliit alein fur uns arme Siinder vergossen hat. Bull. Chron. 
p. 180. X Meine Herrn soUten auch nur dapfer bey dem Gotte* 
worte verbleiben. Fiisslin Beytr. 4, p. 107, which contains the 
replies given by all the parishes. § Scribunt ex Helretiis fermd 
omnos qui propter Christum premuntur. Zw. Epp. p 848. 



TWO aUEAT LiaHTS.. 



285 



weighed heavily upon the evangelist of Zurich.* At 
Wittemberg, the news of his courageous proceedings 
was received with joy. Luther and Zwingle were two 
great lights placed in Upper and Lower Germany ; and 
the doctrine of salvation, so powerfully proclaimed by 
both, filled the vast tracts that extend from the summit 
of the Alps to the shores of the Baltic and of the North 
aea. 

Negotiorum strepitas et ecclesiamm cnraa ita me mndiqae qp» 
ttoxLt Zw Epp. p. 348. 



286 HISTORY OP THE REFOKMATlUN- 



CHAPTER V. 

Kew opposition — ^Abduction of (Exlin — The family of the Wirlh»— 
The populace at the convent of Ittingen — The diet of Ziig — Tb8 
Wirths apprehended and given up to the diet — Their condemna- 
tion. 

The word of God could not thus invade extensive 
countries, without its triumphs exasperating the pope in 
his palace, the priest in his presbytery, and the Swiss 
magistrates in their councils. Their terror increased 
from day to day. The people had been consulted ; the 
Christian people became of consequence in the Christian 
church, and appeals were made to their sympathy and 
faith, and not to the decrees of the Roman chancery. 
So formidable an attack required a still more formidable 
resistance. On the 18th of April, the pope addressed a 
brief to the confederates, and the diet, which met at Zug 
in the month of July, yielding to the urgent exhortations 
of the pontiff, sent a deputation to Zurich, Schaffhausen, 
and Appenzel, commissioned to acquaint these states 
with the firm resolve of the diet to crush the new doc- 
trine, and to prosecute its adherents to the forfeiture of 
their goods, their honors, and even of their lives. Zu- 
rich did not hear this warning without emotion ; but a 
firm reply was made, that in matters of faith, the word 
of God alone must be obeyed. On receiving this an- 
swer, Lucerne, Schwytz, Uri, Unterwalden, Friburg, and 
Zug, trembled with rage ; and unmindful of the reputa- 
tion and strength the accession of Zurich had formerly 
given to the infant confederation, forgetting the prece- 
dence that had been immediately accorded to her, the 
simple and solemn oaths that had been made to her, and 
the many victories and reverses they had shared with 
her, these states declared that they would no longer sit 
in diet with Zurich. Thus in Switzerland, as in Ger- 
many, the partisans of Rome were the first to break the 
federtJ unity But threats and the rupture of alli^nc^ 



A PATRIARCHAL FAMILY. 



287 



were not enough. The fanaticism of the cantons called 
for blood ; and it was soon seen with what arms Rome 
intended combating the word of God. 

One of Zwingle's friends, the worthy (Exlin,* was 
pastor of Burg upon the Rhine, in the neighborhood of 
Stein. The bailiff Am-Berg, who had appeared to listeu 
to the gospel with delight,f being desirous of obtaining 
that bailiwicK, had promised the leading men of Schwytz 
to root out the new faith. (Exlin, although not within 
his jurisdiction, was the first upon whom he exercised 
his severity. 

About midnight on the *rth of July, 1524, some per- 
sons knocked at the pastor's door ; they were the bailiff's 
soldiers, who entered the house, seized (Exlin, and car- 
ried him away prisoner, in defiance of his cries. Think- 
ing they meant to assassinate him, he cried, " Murder f 
the inhabitants started from their beds in affright, and 
the village soon became the scene of a frightful tumult, 
which was heard as far as Stein. The sentinel on guard 
at the castle of Hohenklingen fired the alarm-gun, the 
tocsin was rung, and the inhabitants of Stein, Stamm- 
heim, and the adjoining places, were soon moving, and 
inquiring of one another in the darkness what was the 
matter. 

At Stammheim lived the deputy-bailiff Wirth, whos^ 
two eldest sons, Adrian and John, both young priests 
full of piety and courage, were preaching the gospel 
with great unction. John especially abounded in faith, 
and was ready to sacrifice his life for his Saviour. This 
was truly a patriarchal family. Hannah the mother, 
who had borne the bailiff many children, and brought 
them up in the fear of the Lord, was revered for her vir- 
tues throughout the whole district. At the noise of the 
tumult in Burg, the father and the two eldest sons went 
out like their neighbors. The father was indignant that 
the bailiff of Frauenfeld should have exercised his author- 
ity in a manner contrary to the laws of the country. 
The sons learned with sorrow that their brother, theii 

* See vol. IL, p. 334. f Der war anfangs dem Evangelio 

eriinstig. Bull. ChroQ. p. 18Q, 



288 HISTORY OF THE REPORMATIOK . 



friend, the man whose good example they were delight 
ed to follow, had been dragged away like a criminal. 
Each of them seized a halberd, and in spite of the fears 
of a tender wife and mother, the father and his two sons 
joined the band of citizens of Stein with the determinar 
tim of rescuing their pastor. Unhappily a number of 
tliose miscreants who make their appearance in every 
disorder had joined the expedition ; they pursued the 
bailiff's oflBcers ; the latter, hearing the tocsin and the 
shouts of alarm, redoubled their speed, dragging their 
victim after them, and soon placed the river Thur be- 
tween themselves and their pursuers. 

When the people of Stein and Stammheim reached 
the bank of the river, and found no means of crossing, 
they halted, and resolved to send a deputation to Frau- 
enfeld. "Oh," said the bailiff Wirth, "the pastor of 
Stein is so dear to us, that for his sake I would willing- 
ly sacrifice my goods, my liberty, and my life."* The 
populace finding themselves near the Carthusian con- 
vent of Ittingen, whose inmates were believed to have 
encouraged the tyranny of the bailiff Am-Berg, entered 
the building and took possession of the refectory. These 
miserable wretches soon became int )xicated, and shame- 
ful disorders were the consequence. Wirth vainly en- 
treated them to leave the convent ;f he was in danger 
of being maltreated by them. His son Adrian remained 
outside the cloister. John entered, but soon came out 
again, distressed at what he had seen.J The drunken 
peasants proceeded tc ransack the wine-cellars and the 
storerooms, to break the furniture, and burn the books. 

When the news of these disorders reached Zurich, 
some deputies from the council hastened to the spot, and 
ordered all persons under the jurisdiction of the canton 
to return to their homes. They did so immediately. 
But a body of Thurgovians, attracted by the disturb- 
ance, established themselves in the convent for the sake 
of its good cheer. On a sudden a fire broke out,« no 

* Sunder die Kuttlen im Buch fur Im wagen. Bull. Chron. pk 
193. t Und badt sy um Gottes willen, uss dem Kloster 

i;and. Ibid. p. 183. | Dan es Im leid was. Ibid. p. 19^ 



THE DIET AT ZUO. 



289 



one knew how, and the monastery was burnt to the 
ground. 

Five days after this, the deputies of the cantons met 
at Zug Nothing was heard in the assembly but threats 
of vengeance and of death. Let us march with bannere 
flying on Stein and Stammheim," said they, "and put 
the inhabitants to the sword." The deputy bailiff and 
his two sons had long been objects of especial dislike on 
account of their faith. " If any one is guilty," said the 
deputy of Zurich, "he must be punished, but according 
to the laws of justice, and not by violence." Vadian, 
deputy of St. Gall, supported this opinion. Upon this 
the avoyer John Hug of Lucerne, unable to contain him- 
self any longer, exclaimed with frightful imprecations,* 
** The heretic Zwingle is the father of all these insurrec- 
tions ; and you too, doctor of St. Gall, are favorable to 
his infamous cause, and aid him in securing its tri- 
umphs. . . . You ought no longer to havt; a seat among 
us." The deputy of Zug endeavored i(, restore peace, 
but in vain. Vadian left the hall, and as the populace 
had designs upon his life, he quitted the town secretly, 
and reached the convent of Cappel by a circuitous 
route. 

Zurich, intent on suppressing every disorder, resolv- 
ed to apprehend provisionally those persons who were 
marked out by the rage of the confederates. Wirth 
and his two sons were living quietly at Stammheim. 
"Never will the enemies of God be able to vanquish 
his friends," said Adrian Wirth from the pulpit. The 
father was warned of the fate impending over him, 
and was entreated to flee with his two sons. "No," 
answered he ; "I will wait for the officers, putting my 
trust in God." And when the soldiers made their ap- 
pearance at his house, he said, " My lords of Zi;rich 
might have spared themselves all this trouble : if they 
had only sent a child I should have obeyed their sum- 
mons."f The three Wirths were taken to Zurich and 
put in prison. Eutiman, bailiff of Nussbaum, shared 

• Mit Fluchea und Wiiten. Bull. Chion. p. 184. f Dann 

hattind sy mirein Kind geechikt. Ibid. p. 186- 

Risi of R«C nx. JO 



290 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



their fate. They were strictly examined, but nothmg 
reprehensible was found in their conduct. 

As soon as the deputies of the cantons had heard of 
the imprisonment of these four citizens, they required 
them to be sent to Baden, and ordered that in case of 
refusal their troops should march upon Zurich and carry 
them off by force. "To Zurich belongs the right of 
ascertaining whether these men are guilty or not," said 
the deputi'^B of that state ; " and we have found no fault 
in them." On this the deputies of the cantons exclaim 
ed, "Will you surrender them to us? Answer yes oi 
no, and not a word more." Two deputies of Zurich 
mounted their horses, and rode off with all haste to thoir 
constituents. 

On their arrival,, the whole town was in agitation. 
If the prisoners were refused, the confederates would 
come and seek them with an armed force ; to give them 
up was consenting to their death. Opinions were divid- 
ed : Zwingle declared for their refusal. "Zurich," said 
he, " ought to remain faithful to its constitution." At 
last it was supposed a middle course had been found. 
"We will deliver the prisoners into your hands," said 
they to the diet, " but on condition that you will exam- 
ine them solely with regard to the affair of Ittingen, and 
not on their faith." The diet acceded to this proposi- 
tion, and on the Friday before St. Bartholomew's day, 
August 18, 1524, the three Wirths and their friend, 
accompanied by four councillors of state and several 
armed men, quitted Zurich. 

A deep concern was felt by all the city at the pros- 
pect of the fate which awaited the two youths and their 
aged companions. Sobbing alone was heard as tliey 
passed along. " Alas," exclaims a contemporary, " what 
a mournful procession."* The churches were all filled^ 
"God will punish us," cried Zwingle. "Let us at least 
pray him to impart his grace to these poor prisonerb, 
and to strengthen them in the faith."f 

* 0 wehl was elender Fahrt war das! Bern. Weyss. Fusal. 
Beyt. 4. 66. f Sy troste und in warem glouben starckta 

BuUin, Ciiron. p. 188. 



EXAMINATION AND TORTURJB. 291 



On Friday evening the accused arrived at Baden^ 
Njchere an immense crowd was waiting for them. At 
first they were taken to an inn, and thence to prison. 
They could scarcely advance, the crowd so pressed 
around to catch a sight of them. The father, who walk* 
ed in front turned towards his two sons, and observed 
to them meekly, " See, my dear children, we are, as the 
apostle says, men appointed to death ; for we are made 
a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.'' 
1 Cor. 4 : 9. Then, as he saw among the crowd his 
deadly enemy Am-Berg, the cause of all his misfortunes, 
he went up to him and held out his hand, although the 
bailiff would have turned away. "There is a God in 
heaven who knows all things/' said he calmly, as he 
grasped his adversary's hand. 

The examination began on the following day : the 
bailiff Wirth was first brought in. He was put to the 
torture, without any regard to his character or his age ; 
but he persisted in declaring his innocence of the pil- 
lage and burning of Ittingen. He was then accused 
of having destroyed an image representing St. Anne. 
Nothing could be substantiated against the other pris- 
oners, except that Adrian Wirth was married, and 
preached after the manner of Zwingle and Luther ; and 
that John Wirth had given the sacrament to a sick man 
without bell and taper.* 

But the more apparent their innocence, the greater 
was the fury of their adversaries. Prom morning until 
noon they inflicted the cruelest tortures on the old man. 
His tears could not soften his judges. John Wirth was 
treated with still greater barbarity. **Tell us," they 
asked him in the midst of his anguish, " whence did you 
learn this heretical faith ? From Zwingle, or from any 
other person ?" And when he exclaimed, " 0 merciful 
and everlasting God, help and comfort me/' "Where is 
your Christ now?" said one of the deputies. When 
Adrian appeared, Sebastian of Stein, the Bernese depu- 
ty, said to him, " Young man, tell us the truth ; for if 

* On Kerzen, Schellen und anders, so bisshar geiipi ist. Bullm« 
Ohron. p. IdO. 



293 HISTORY OF THE UEFORMATIOK 



you refuse to do so, I swear by the knighthcod that 1 
gained on the very spot where the Lord suffered mar- 
tyrdom, that we will open your veins one after another.'* 
They then fastened the young man to a rope, and hoisted 
him into the air : " There, my little master," said Stein 
with a devilish sneer, "there is your wedding pres* 
mt alluding to the marriage of this youthful servant 
of the Lord. 

When the examination was ended, the deputies re» 
turned to their cantons to deliver their report, and did 
not meet again till four weeks after. The bailiff's wife, 
the mother of the two priests, repaired to Baden, carry- 
ing an infant child in her arms, to intercede with the 
judges. John Escher of Zurich accompanied her as her 
advocate. Among the judges he saw Jerome Stocker, 
landamman of Zug, who had been twice bailiff of Frauen- 
feld : " Landamman," said he, " you know the bailiff 
Wirth ; you know that he has always been an upright 
man." "You say the truth, my dear Escher," replied 
Stocker, " he has never injured anybody ; fellow-citizens 
and strangers were always kindly welcomed to his table; 
his house was a convent, an inn, and a hospital ;f and 
80, if he had committed robbery or murder, I would have 
made every exertion to obtain his pardon. But seeing 
that he has burnt St. Anne, Christ's grandmother, he 
must die." " The Lord have mercy upon us," exclaimed 
Escher. 

The gates were now shut : it was the 28th of Sep- 
tember, and the deputies of Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyiz, 
TJnterwalden, Zug, Glaris, Friburg, and Soleure, having 
proceeded to deliberate on their judgment with closed 
doors as was customary, passed sentence of death on 
the bailiff Wirth, on his son John, who was the firmest 
in his faith, and who appeared to have led away the 
others, and on the bailiff Rutiman. Adrian, the second 
son, was granted to his mother's tears. 

• Alls man inn am folter seyl uffzog, sagt der zum Stein : Herrli, 
das ist die Gaab, die wir iich zu iiwer Hussfrowen schanckend. Bul« 
lin. Chron. p. 190. f Sin Huss ist alwey gfiin wie ein Kloster, 
Wirtahass and PitalL Ibid. 198. 



EXECt'TION OP THE W1UTH8 



293 



The ofiScers proceeded to the tower to fetch the pris- 
oners. "My son/' said the father to Adrian, "nevef 
avenge our death, although we have not deserved pun- 
ishment." Adrian burst into tears. "Brother," said 
John, "the cross of Christ must always follow his 
word."* 

After the sentence was read, the three Christians 
were led back to prison ; John Wirth walking first, the 
two vice-bailifis next, and a priest behind them. As 
they were crossing the castle bridge, on which was a 
chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, the priest called out to 
the two old men, Fall down, and call upon the saints." 
John Wirth, who was in front, turned round at these 
words, and said, " Father, be firm. You know that there 
is only one Mediator between God and man, the Lord 
Jesus Christ." "Assuredly, my son," replied the old 
man, " and by the help of his grace I will continue faith- 
ful even to the end." Upon this they all three began 
to repeat the Lord's prayer, " Our Father which art in 
heaven," and so crossed the bridge. 

They were next conducted to the scaffold. John 
Wirth, whose heart was filled with the tenderest anxi- 
ety for his parent, bade him farewell. " My dearly be- 
loved father," said he, "henceforward thou art no longer 
my father, and I am no longer thy son, but we are 
brothers in Christ our Lord, for whose name we must 
suffer death.f To-day, if it be God's pleasure, my be- 
loved brother, we shall go to Him who is the Father of 
us all. Fear nothing." " Amen," replied the old man, 
" and may God Almighty bless thee, my beloved son and 
brother in Christ." 

Thus, on the threshold of eternity, did father and son 
take leave of each other, hailing the new mansions in 
which they should be united by everlasting ties. The 
greater part of those around them shed floods of tears.J 
The bailiff Rutiman prayed in silence. 

• Doch all wag das Criitz darbey. BuUinger Chron. p. 198. 

t Fiirohip bist du nitt me mia Vatter und ich din Sun, sondem 
vir Bind Briidern in Christo. Ibid. p. 204. X D^s gnadeofi 

Teyneten vil Liithen herzlich. Ibid. 



294 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



All three then knelt down '*in Christ's name,'' and 
their heads rolled upon the scaffold. 

The crowd, observing the marks of torture upon 
their bodies, gave loud utterance to their grief. The 
two bailiffs left twenty-two children, and forty-five 
grandchildren. Hannah was obliged to pay twelve 
golden crowns to the executioner who had deprived her 
husband and her son of life. 

Thus blood, innocent blood, had been shed. Switzer* 
land and the Reformation were baptized with the blood 
of the martyrs. The great enemy of the gospel had 
done his work ; but in doing it, his power was broken. 
The death of the Wirths was to accelerate the triumphs 
of the Eeformation, 



ABOLITION OF THE MASS. 



295 



CHAPTER VI 

Abolition of the mass — Zwingle's dream — Celebration of he Lord'i 
supper — Fraternal charity — Original sin — The oligarchs opposed 
to the reform — Various attacks. 

It was not thought desirable to proceed to the abo- 
lition of the mass in Zurich immediately after the sup- 
pression of images ; but now the proper moment seemed 
to have arrived. 

Not only had the light of the gospel been diffused 
among the people, but the violence of the blows struck 
by the enemy called upon the friends of God to reply to 
them by some impressive demonstration of their unalter- 
able fidelity. Every time that Rome erects a scaffold, 
and that heads fall upon it, the Reformation will exalt 
the holy word of the Lord, and throw down some abuses. 
When Hottinger was executed, Zurich suppressed im- 
ages ; and now that the heads of the Wirths have rolled 
on the ground, Zurich will reply by the abolition of the 
mass. The more Rome increases her cruelties, the more 
will the Reformation increase in strength. 

On the 11th of April, 1525, the three pastors of Zu- 
rich, accompanied by Megander and Oswald Myconius, 
appeared before the great council, and demanded the 
refe'stablishment of the Lord's supper. Their language 
was solemn ;* all minds were absorbed in meditation ; 
every man felt the importance of the resolution which 
the council was called upon to take. The mass, that 
mystery which for more than three centuries had been 
tlie very soul of the religious service of the Latin church, 
was to be abolished, the corporeal presence of Christ to 
be declared an illusion, and the illusion itself removed 
from the minds of the people. Courage was needed to 
arrive at such a resolution, and there were men in the 
council who shuddered at this daring thought. Joachim 
Am-Griitt, under-secretary of state, alarmed at the bold 

* IJnd yermantend die ernstlich. Bullinger Chron. p. 263. 



296 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 



demand of the pastors, opposed it with all his might 
"These words, ^This is my body,'" said he, "unques 
tionably prove that the bread is the body of Christ him- 
self." Zwingle observed that karl (is) is the proper word 
in the Greek language to express signifies^ and he quoted 
several instances in which this word is employed in a 
figurative sense. The great council were convinced, and 
did not hesitate ; the gospel doctrines had penetrated 
their hearts ; besides, as they were separating from the 
church of Rome, there was a certain satisfaction in mak- 
ing that separation as complete as possible, and in dig- 
ging a gulf between it and the Reformation. The coun- 
cil therefore ordered the mass to be suppressed, and 
decreed that on the next day. Holy Thursday, the Lord's 
supper should be celebrated in conformity with the apos- 
tolical usages. 

Zwingle was seriously engrossed by these thoughts, 
and when he closed his eyes at night, was still seeking 
for arguments with which to oppose his adversaries. 
The subjects that had so strongly occupied his mind 
during the day presented themselves before him in a 
dream. He fancied that he was disputing with Am- 
Griitt, and that he could not reply to his principal ob- 
jection. Suddenly a figure stood before him, and said, 
" Why do you not quote the 11th verse of the 12th chap- 
ter of Exodus : * Ye shall eat it,' the lamb, * in haste : it 
is the Lord's passover?'" Zwingle awoke, sprung out 
of bed, took up the Septuagint translation, and there 
found the same word harl^ (is,) which all are agreed is 
synonymous with signifies in this passage. 

Here then, in the institution of the paschal feast 
under the old covenant, is the very meaning that Zwin- 
gle defends. How can he avoid concluding that the two 
passages are parallel ? 

On the following day Zwingle preached a sermon on 
this text, and spoke so forcibly that he removed every 
d3ubt. 

This circumstance, which admits of so simple an 
explanation, and the very expression Zwingle employs 
to show that he could not recall the appearance of the 



THE LORD^S StTPPEIt CELEBRATED. 2d? 



figure he had seen in his dream,* have given rise tc the 
assertion that Zwingle received this doctrine from the 
devil. 

The altars had disappeared ; plain tables bearing 
the sacramental bread and wine were substituted in 
their place, and an attentive crowd pressed round them. 
There was something particularly solemn in this multi- 
tude. On Holy Thursday, the young people — on Friday, 
the day of the Passion, the adult men and women — and 
on Easter Sunday, the aged, celebrated in turn the death 
of the Lord.f 

The deacons read aloud the passages of Scripture 
that relate to this sacrament ; the pastors addressed the 
flock in an earnest exhortation, calling upon all to retire 
from this sacred feast who, by persevering in their sin, 
would pollute the body of Jesus Christ. The people 
knelt down, the bread was carried round on large plat- 
ters or wooden plates, and each one broke oflf a morsel ; 
the wine was next distributed in wooden goblets : in 
this manner it was thought they made a nearer approach 
to the simplicity of the primitive supper. Emotions of 
surprise or joy filled every heart. J 

Thus was the reform carried on in Zurich. The sim- 
ple celebration of the Lord's supper appeared to have 
shed anew over the church the love of God and of the 
brethren. The words of Jesus Christ were once more 
spirit and life. While the different orders and parties 
in the church of Rome were incessantly disputing among 
themselves, the first effect of the gospel was to restore 
charity among the brethren. The love of the first ages 
was then r^^vived in Christendom. Enemies were seen 
renouncing their long-cherished and inveterate enmities, 
and embracing one another after having partaken of the 
sacramental bread. Zwingle, delighted at these affect- 
ing manifestations, returned thanks to God that the 

• Ater fuer t an albus nihU memini — I do not remember whether 
he was white or black ; eomnium enim narro. f Fiisslin Bey- 

irage, 4. 64. { Mit grossen verwundern viler Liithen und 

noch mit tU grossern frduden der Gloubigen. Balliager Chron. p. 
264. 



298 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



Lord's supper was again working those miracles oi 
charity which the sacrifice of the mass had long ceased 
to accomplish.* 

Peace dwells in our city," exclaimed he ; " among 
us there is no fraud, no dissension, no envying, no strife. 
Whence can proceed such harmony except from the I^ord, 
and that the doctrine we preach inclines us to innocence 
ind peace ?"f 

Charity and unity then prevailed, although there was 
DO uniformity. Zwingle in his " Commentary on True and 
False Religion,^! which he dedicated to Francis I., in 
March, 1525, the year of the battle of Pavia, had put 
forward some truths in the manner best calculated to 
procure their reception by human reason, following in 
this respect the example of several of the most distin- 
guished scholastic divines. In this way he had given 
the name of disease to our original corruption, and re- 
served the appellation of sin for the actual transgression 
of the law.§ But these statements, which called forth 
some objections, did not, however, interrupt brotherly 
love ; for Zwingle, even when he persisted in calling 
original sin a disease, added that all men were lost 
by this disease, and that Jesus Christ was the only 
remedy. II In this position there is no error of Pelagi* 
anism. 

But while the celebration of the Lord's supper at 
Zurich was attended by a return to Christian brother- 
hood, Zwingle and his friends had to support a severer 
struggle against their adversaries from without. Zwin- 
gle was not only a Christian teacher, he was also a true 
patriot ; and we know how zealously he contended 

* Expositio fidei. Zw. 0pp. 2. 241. f Ut tranquillitatis et 
iDnocentiae studiosos reddaU Zw. Epp. p. 390. i De vera et 

falBa religione commentarius. Zw. 0pp. 3. 145-325. 

§ Peccatum ergo morbus est cognatus nobis, quo fugimus aspera 
et gravia, sectamur jucunda et voluptuosa : secuado loco accipitur 
peccatum pro eo qiiod contra legem tit. Ibid. 204. || Origi- 

nali morbo perdimnr omnes : remedio vero quod contra ipsum inve- 
nit Deus, incolumitati restituimur. De peoc. orig. declaratio ttd 
Urbanum Rbegium. Ibid. 1. 032. 



VAUIOUS ATTACKS 



299 



against the foreign capitulations, pensions, and allian- 
ces. He felt convinced that these external influence^ 
must tend to destroy piety, blind the reason, and scatter 
discord on every side. But his bold protests were des- 
tined to prejudice the advancement of the Reformation. 
In almost every canton, the chiefs who received the pen- 
sions of the foreigner, and the officers who led the youth 
of Helvetia to battle, formed powerful factions, formida- 
ble oligarchies, that attacked the Reformation, not so 
much on behalf of the church, as on account of the inju- 
ry it would inflict on their interests and honors. They 
had already gained the victory in Schwytz; and that 
canton, where Zwingle, Leo Juda, and Oswald Myconius 
had taught, and which seemed as if it would walk in the 
footsteps of Zurich, had suddenly reverted to the mer- 
cenary capitulations, and shut its gates against the 
Reformation. 

Even in Zurich, some wretches, instigated by for- 
eign intrigues, attacked Zwingle during the night, flung 
stones at his house, broke the windows, and called 
with loud cries for " the red-haired Uli, the vulture of 
Claris f so that Zwingle awoke from his sleep and ran 
to his sword.* This action is very characteristic of the 
man. 

But these isolated attacks could not paralyze the 
movement by which Zurich was carried onward, and 
which was beginning to shake all Switzerland. They 
were pebbles thrown into a torrent to check its course. 
Everywhere its waters were swelling, threatening to 
sweep away the most formidable obstacles. 

The Bernese having informed the people of Zurich 
that several states had refused to sit with them in fu- 
ture in the diet, " Well then," replied these men of Zurich 
with calmness, and raising their hands towards heaven, 
as the heroes of Rutli in old time, "we have the Arm 
assurance that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 
in whose name the confederation was formed, will not 
desert us, and will at last, of his great mercy, make us 

* Interea surgere Zwinglius ad ensem suum. Zw. 0pp. 3. 411. 
UU is an abridgment of Ulrich. Zwingle had been priest at Glaria 



300 HISTOEY OF THE ^EFOHlltAtlOIT. 



sit at tbe right hand of his sovereign majesty.''* Pos* 
sessing such faith, the Reformation had nothing to fear. 
But would it gain similar victories in the other states of 
the confederation? Would not Zurich remain alone on 
the side of God's word? Would Berne, Basle, and 
other cantons remain subject to the power of Rome? 
This we shall soon see. Let us therefore turn towards 
Berne, and study the progress of the Reformation iu the 
most influential state of the confederation 



* Ibni zuletzt sitzsen. 



Kirchhofer Ref. 6. Bern, p, 66. 



XHB WATTEVILLES. 



aoi 



CHAPTER VII. 

Berne — The provost Watteville — ^First successes of the reformoc! 
docfrrines — Haller at the convent — Accusation and deliverance — 
The monastery of Konigsfeldt — Margaret Watteville to Zwingle 
— The convent opened — Two champions — Clara May and tho 
provost Watteville. 

Nowhere was the struggle likely to be so severe as 
at Berne, for there the gospel counted both powerful 
friends and formidable adversaries. At the head of the 
reforming party were the banneret John Weingarten, 
Bartholomew May, member of the smaller council, his 
sons Wolfgang and Claudius, his grandsons James and 
Benedict, and above all, the family of the Wattevilles. 
The avoyer James Watteville, who since 1512 had occu- 
pied the first station in the republic, had early read the 
writings of Luther and Zwingle, and had often convers- 
ed about the gospel with John Haller, pastor of Ansel t- 
ingen, whom he had protected against his persecutors. 

His son Nicholas, then thirty-one years of age, had 
been for two years provost of the church of Berne, and 
as such, by virtue of the papal ordinances, enjoyed great 
privileges ; accordingly Berthold Haller used to call him 
'*our bishop."* 

The prelates and the pope spared no endeavors to 
bind him to the interests of Rome ;f and it seemed as if 
every thing would keep him from a knowledge of the 
gospel ; but the ways of God are more powerful than 
the flatteries of man. Watteville was turned from dark- 
ness to the mild light of the gospel, says Zwingle.J As 
a friend of Berthold Haller, he read all the letters which 

* Episcopus noster Vadivillius, Zw. Epp. p. 285. f Tantum 
favoris et amicitiae quae tibi cum tanto summorum pontificum et 
potentissimorum episcoporum coetu hactenus intercessit. Zw. Oppw 
1. anc. ed. lat. 305. { Ex obscuris ignorantift tenebris in amo 
D£UD Evangelii luoem produotam. Ibid. 



302 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATJON. 



the latter received from Zwin^le, and could not find Ian 
guag-e to express his admiration.* 

The influence of the two Wattevilles, one of whom 
was at the head of the state, and the other of the church, 
would apparently draw after it the whole republic. But 
the opposite party was not less powerful. 

Among" its leaders were the schulthess of Erlach, the 
banneret Willading, and many patricians whose inter- 
ests were identical with those of the convents under 
their administration. Behind these influential men were 
an ignorant and corrupted clergy, who called the evan- 
gelical doctrine "an invention of hell.'' "My dear con- 
federates," said the councillor MuUinen before a full 
assembly in the month of July, "take care that this 
reformation does not come here ; at Zurich a man is not 
safe in his own house, and he is obliged to have a guard 
to protect him.'^ Accordingly they invited to Berne the 
reader of the Dominicans of Mentz, one John Hein, who 
^went into the pulpit and declaimed against the Reforma- 
tion with the eloquence of a St. Thomas.f 

Thus were the two parties drawn up in battle-array 
against each other ; a struggle seemed inevitable, and 
already the result did not appear doubtful. In fact, one 
common faith united a part of the people to the most 
distinguished families of the state. Berthold Haller ex- 
claimed, full of confidence in the future, " Unless God's 
anger be turned against us, it is not possible for the 
word of God to be banished from this city, for the Ber- 
nese are hungering after it."J 

Shortly after this, two acts of the government ap- 
peared to incline the balance to the side of the Reforma- 
tion. The bishop of Lausanne having announced an 
episcopal visitation, the council intimated to him through 
the provost Watteville, that he had better refrain frcm 
so doing.§ And at the same time the councils of Berne 

• Epistolas tuae et cruditionis et humanitatis testes locupletissi- 
mas. Zw. Epp. p. 287. f Suo Thomistico Marte omnia inver- 
tere. Ibid. X Famem verbi Bernates habent. Ibid. 295. 

§ Ut neo oppidum, nee pagos Bernatam visltare prsetend&t omr 
nino. Ibid. 



FIRST SUCCESSES OF THE REFORM. 303 

{ssned an ordinance which, while in appearance it con- 
ceded something to the enemies of the Reformation, 
sanctioned the principles of the new doctrines. They 
decreed that the gospel and the doctrine of God, as it is 
laid down by. the books of the Old and New Testament, 
should be preached exclusively, freely, and openly ; and 
that the ministers should abstain from every doctrine, 
discussion, or writing, proceeding from Luther or other 
teachers.* Great was the surprise of the adversaries of 
the Reformation when they saw the evangelical preach- 
ers boldly appealing to this ordinance. This decree, 
which was the basis of all those that succeeded, was the 
legal commencement of the Reformation in Berne. From 
that time the progress of this canton was more decided, 
and Zwingle, whose attentive eyes watched every thing 
that was passing in Switzerland, was able to write to 
the provost Watteville, "All Christians are overjoyed, 
on account of the faith which the pious city of Berne 
has just received."f " The cause is the cause of Christ,'* 
exclaimed the friends of the gospel ;| and they devoted 
themselves to it with an increase of courage. 

The enemies of the Reformation, alarmed at these 
first advantages, closed their ranks, and resolved to 
strike a blow that would secure their victory. They 
conceived the project of getting rid of these ministers 
whose bold discourses were overthrowing the most 
time-honored customs ; and it was not long before a 
favorable opportunity occurred. There existed in Berne, 
on the spot now occupied by the hospital of the island, 
a convent of nuns of St. Dominic, consecrated to St. 
Michael. The anniversary of the archangel, the 29th of 
September, was a great festival at the monastery. Many 
of the clergy were present this year, and among others 
Wittenbach of Bienne, Sebastian Meyer, and Berthold 
Haller. Having entered into conversation with the 
nuns, among whom was Clara, daughter of Claudius 

* Alein das heilig Evaagelium und die lehr Gottes frey, offent- 
lich und unverborgen. Bullin. Chr. p. 111. f AUe Christen sicb 
alleuthalben frciuwend des glaubens. Zw. 0pp. 1. 426. t Christi 
oe^otium agitur. Zw. Epp., May 9, 1523. 



304 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH. 



May, a supporter of the Reformation, Haller said to her, 
in the presence of her grandmother, " The merits of the 
conventual life are imaginary, while marriage is an 
tionorable state, instituted by God himself." Some of 
the nuns to whom Clara repeated Berthold^s words were 
horrified at them. " Haller maintains,'' was the rumcr 
in the city, "that all nuns are children of the devil.'* 
The opportunity which the enemies of the Reformation 
were looking for was found. Going before the smaller 
council, they referred to an ancient law which enacted 
that whoever carried off a nun from her convent should 
lose his head, but asked for a mitigation of the penalty, 
and that, without giving the three ministers a hearing, 
they should be banished for life. The smaller council 
acceded to their prayer, and the matter was immedi- 
ately carried before the great council. 

Thus was Berne about to be deprived of her reform- 
ers ; the intrigues of the papal party were successful. 
But Rome, who triumphed when she addressed herself 
to the oligarchs, was beaten before the people or their 
representatives. Scarcely had they heard the names of 
Haller, Meyer, and Wittenbach, men whom all Switzer- 
land venerated, than an energetic opposition was mani- 
fested by the great council against the smaller council, 
and the clergy. *'We cannot condemn the accused 
unheard," exclaimed Tillman ; their testimony is surely 
as good as that of a few women." The ministers were 
called before them : the affair was embarrassing. At 
length John Weingarten said, "Let us give credit to 
both parties." They did so : the ministers were dis- 
charged, with an intimation to confine themselves to 
their pulpits, and not to meddle with the cloisters. But 
the pulpit was sufficient for them. The efforts of their 
adversaries had redounded to their own disgrace. It 
was a great victory for the Reformation. Accordingly 
one of the patricians exclaimed, " It is all over now : 
Luther's affair must go forward."* 

And it did in fact go forward, and in the very placea 
♦ Es ist nun gethan. Der Lutherische Handel miiss vorgebea. 
iUuhelm, Wirtz. K. G. 5. 290. 



THE CONVENT OF KONiaSFELDT. 305 



where they expected it the least. At KOnigsfeldt, on 
the Aar, near the castle of Hapsburg, stood a monastery 
adorned with all the conventual magnificence of the 
middle ages, and where reposed the ashes of several 
members of that illustrious house which had given so 
many emperors to Germany. Here the daughters of the 
greatest families of Switzerland and Swabia used to 
take the veil. It was not far from the spot where, on 
the Ist of May, 1308, the Emperor Albert had fallen by 
the hand of his nephew John of Swabia : and the beau- 
tiful painted windows of the church of Konigsfeldt rep- 
resented the horrible punishments that had been inflict- 
ed on the relations and vassals of the murderer. Cath- 
erine of Waldburg-Truchsess, abbess of the convent at 
the period of the Reformation, numbered among her 
nuns Beatrice of Landenberg, sister to the bishop of 
Constance, Agnes of Mullinen, Catherine of Bonstetten, 
and Margaret of Watteville, the provost's sister. The 
liberty enjoyed in this convent, which in former times 
had given room for scandalous disorders, now permitted 
the holy Scriptures with the writings of Zwingle and 
Luther to be introduced ; and soon a new life entirely 
changed its aspect. Near that cell to which Queen 
Agnes, Albert's daughter, had retired, after having 
bathed in torrents of blood as in maydew," and where, 
plying the distaff or embroidering ornaments for the 
church, she had mingled exercises of devotion with 
thoughts of vengeance, Margaret Watteville had only 
thoughts of peace, and divided her time between read- 
ing the Scriptures and compounding salutary ingredients 
to form an excellent electuary. Retiring to her coll, this 
youthful nun had the boldness to write to the doctor of 
Switzerland. Her letter displays to us, better than any 
reflections could do, the Christian spirit that existed in 
those pious women, who are still so grievously calum- 
niated even in our own days. 

"May grace and peace in the Lord Jesus be given 
and multiplied towards you always by God our heav- 
enly Father," wrote the nun of KOnigsfeldt to Zwingle 

20 



806 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



^' Most learned, reverend, and dear sir, I entreat yon to 
take in good part the letter I now address to you. Tho 
love which is in Christ constrains me to do so, especially 
since I have learnt that the doctrine of salvation is 
spreading day by day through your preaching of the 
word of God. For this reason I give praise to the ever 
lasting God for enlightening us anew, and sending us 
by his Holy Spirit so many heralds of his blessed word ; 
and at the same time I offer up my ardent prayers that 
he will clothe with his strength both you and all those 
who proclaim his glad tidings, and that, ai-ming you 
against all the enemies of the truth, he will cause his 
divine word to grow in all men. Very learned sir, I 
venture to send your reverence this trifling mark of my 
affection : do not despise it ; it is an offering of Chris- 
tian charity. If this electuary does you good, and you 
should desire more, pray let me know ; for it would be 
a great pleasure to me to do any thing that was agree- 
able to you ; and it is not I only who think thus, but 
all those who love the gospel in our convent of Konigs- 
feldt. They salute your reverence in Jesus Christ, and 
we all commend you without ceasing to his almighty 
protection.* 

"Saturday before Laetare, 1523." 

Such was the pious letter that the nun of Kdnigs- 
feldt wrote to the doctor of Switzerland. 

A convent into which the light of the gospel had 
thus penetrated could not persevere in the observances 
of a monastic life. Margaret Watteville and her sisters, 
convinced that they could better serve God in the bosom 
of their families than in the cloister, asked permission 
to leave it. The council of Berne in alarm endeavored 
at first to bring these nuns to reason, and the provin- 
cial and abbess employed threats and promises by turns ; 
but the sisters Margaret, Agnes, Catherine, and their 
friends, were not to be shaken. Upon this the discipline 
of the convent was relaxed, the nuns were exempted 
from fasting and matins, and their allowance was in- 

• Cujus pra&sidio auxilioque prsesentissimo, nos vestram dignita^ 
Icm &s6ida^ Qonunondamus. Zw. £pp. p. 280. 



THE aOSPEL AT BEEKB. 



307 



creased. "It is not the liberty of the flesh that we 
require," said they to the council ; " it is that of the 
spirit. We, your poor and innocent prisoners, entreat 
you to have pity on us.'' " Our prisoners, our prison- 
ers 1'' exclaimed the banneret Krauchthaler ; " they shall 
be no prisoners of mine.'' This language from one ol 
the firmest supporters of the convents decided the coun- 
cil ; the convent gates were opened, and shortly after, 
Catherine Bonstetten was married to William of Dies- 
bach. 

And yet Berne, far from siding openly with the re- 
formers, held a middle course, and endeavored to pursue 
a seesaw system. An opportunity soon occurred for 
showing this vacillating procedure. Sebastian Meyer, 
reader of the Franciscans, published a retraction of his 
Eomish errors, which created a great sensation, and in 
which, describing a conventual life, he said, "In the 
convents the monks live more impurely, fall more fre- 
quently, recover themselves more tardily, walk more 
unsteadily, rest more dangerously, are pitied more rarely, 
are cleansed more slowly, die more despairingly, and 
are condemned more severely."* At the very time 
Meyer was thus denouncing the cloisters, John Heim, 
reader of the Dominicans, was exclaiming from the pul- 
pit, " No ; Christ has not, as the evangelists teach, made 
satisfaction to his Father once for all. It is further 
necessary that God should every day be reconciled to 
man by the sacrifice of the mass and by good works." 
Two citizens who chanced to be present, interrupted 
him by saying, " It is not true." There was immedi- 
ately a great disturbance in the church ; Heim remained 
silent ; many persons urged him to continue, but he left 
the pulpit without finishing his sermon. On the mor- 
row, the great council struck a blow at once against 
Rome and the Reformation ; they turned the two great 
controversialists, Meyer and Heim, out of the city. 
" They are neither muddy nor clear,"f it was said of the 

* Langsamer gereiniget, verzweifelter stirbt, barter verdammei. 
Ku'chhofer, Reform, von Bern. p. 4^, f Dass sie we4er lutbei 
uoch triib seyen. Ibid. dO 



308 flISTOEY OF THE REPORMATIOH. 



Bernese, playing- on the word Luther^ which in old Gej 
man signifies dear,^ 

• Romish writers, and M. de Haller in particular, following Si^ 
lat and Tschudi, both enemies of the Reformation, quote a pretended 
letter of Zwingle's, addressed about this time to Kolb at Berne. It 
I0 as follows : 

Health and blessing from God our Lord. Dear Francis, pity 
ceed gently in the affair : at first throw the bear only one sour pear 
among many sweet ones ; then two, and afterwards three ; and when 
he has begun to eat them, throw him more and more — sour and 
Bweet all together ; at last empty the sack entirely, hard and soft, 
sweet, sour, and unripe ; he will eat them all, and will no longer 
allow them to be taken away, or himself to be driven from them. 
" Your servant in Christ, 

"ULRICH ZWINaLE. 
"Zurich, Monday before St. George's day, 1525." 

There are decisive reasons against the authenticity of this letter : 
1. In 1525, Kolb was pastor at Wertheimer ; he did not remove to 
Berne until 1527. See Zw. Epp. p. 526. M. de Haller, indeed, 
very arbitrarily substitutes 1527 for 1525 ; this correction was no 
doubt very well meant ; but here, unfortunately, Haller is at vari- 
ance with Salat and Tschudi, who, although they do not agree as 
to the day on which this letter was alluded to in the diet, are unan- 
imous as to the year, which with both is clearly 1525. 2. There 
Is a difference as to the manner in which this letter was divulged : 
according to one version, it was intercepted ; according to another, 
some of Kolb^s parishioners communicated it to an inhabitant of the 
smaller cantons who chanced to be at Berne. 3. The original is in 
German ; but Zwingle always wrote in Latin to his learned friends ; 
and besides, he saluted them as their orother, and not as their ser- 
vant, 4. If we read Zwingle's letters, we shall see that it is impofih 
sible to find two styles more unlike than that of the pretended let- 
ter and his. Zwingle would never have written a letter to say so 
little ; his epistles are generally long, and full of news. To cal) tjjp 
paltry jest preserved by Salat a letter ^ is mere mockery. 5. As a 
historian, Salat deserves little confidence, and Tscbudi appears to 
have copied him, with a few variations. It is possible that a man of 
the smaller cantons may have had communication from some Ber- 
nese of Zwingle's letter to Haller, which we have mentioned in our 
second volume, p. 383, where Zwingle employs this same comparison 
of the bears with much dignity, which moreover occurs in all the 
authors of that time. This may have suggested to some wag the 
Idea of inventing this spurious letter as addressed by Zwingle ta 



LEAVING THE CONVEHT. 309 



But in vain did they seek to stifle the Reformatior. 
in Berne. It was advancing on every side. The sisters 
of the convent of the island had not forgotten Haller^s 
visit. Clara May, and several of her friends, anxiously 
pondering on what they ought to do, wrote to the learn- 
ed Henry Bullinger. " Saint Paul," replied he, "enjoins 
young women not to make vows, but to marry, and not 
to live in idleness under a false show of piety. 1 Tim. 
6 : 13, 14. Follow Jesus Christ in humility, charity, 
patience, purity, and kindness."* Clara, praying for 
help from on high, resolved to adopt this advice, and 
renounce a life so contrary to the word of God, invented 
by men, and fraught with temptation and sin. Her 
father Bartholomew, who had spent fifty years on the 
battle-field or in the council-chamber, heard of his daugh- 
ter's resolution with delight. Clara left the convent. 

The provost Nicholas Watteville, whose whole inter- 
est bound him to the Eoman hierarchy, and who was to 
be raised to the first vacant bishopric in Switzerland, 
also renounced his titles, his revenues, and his expecta- 
tions, that he might preserve an unspotted conscience ; 
and snapping all the bonds by which the popes had en- 
deavored to entangle him, he entered into the marriage 
state, established by God from the creation of the world. 
Nicholas Watteville married Clara May ; and about the 
same time, her sister Margaret, the nun of Konigsfeldt, 
was united to Lucius Tscharner of Coire.f 

• Euerem Herrn Jesu nachfolget in Demuth. Kirchh. Reform, 
ron Berne, 60. f Zw. Epp. annotatio, p. 451. The Tschamerff 
if Berne are descended from this marriage. 



310 HISTORY OP THE REFOEMATIOH 



CHAPTER VIII, 

Baale — CEcolampadius — He visits Augsburg — Enters a convents- 
Retires to Sickingen's castle — Returns to Basle — ^Ulrich Hiitten— 
His plans — Last effort of chivalry — Hiitten dies at Ufnau. 

Thus every thing announced the triumphs that the 
Reformation would soon obtain at Berne. Basle, a city 
of no less importance, and which was then the Athens 
of Switzerland, was also arming herself for the great 
combat that has distinguished the sixteenth century. 

Each of the cities of the confederation had its pecul- 
iar character. Bern-e was the city of the great families, 
and it seemed that the question would be decided by the 
part adopted by certain of the leading men. At Zurich, 
the ministers of the word — Zwingle, Leo Juda, Myco 
nius, and Schmidt — carried with them a powerful class 
of citizens. Lucerne was the <5ity of arms and military 
capitulations ; Basle, of learning and the printing press. 
Here Erasmus, the head of the literary republic in the 
sixteenth century, had taken up his abode ; and prefer- 
ring the liberty he enjoyed in this capital to the flatter- 
ing invitations of popes and kings, he had become the 
centre of a numerous concourse of men of letters. 

But a humble, meek, and pious man, though in gen- 
ius far inferior to Erasmus, was destined erelong to 
exercise in this very city a more powerful influence than 
that of the prince of the schools. Christopher of Uten- 
heim, bishop of Basle, in concert with Erasmus, was 
endeavoring to surround himself with men fitted to 
accomplish a kind of half-way reformation. With this 
view he had invited Gapito and CEcolampadius to his 
court. In the latter person there was a taint of monas- 
ticism that often annoyed the illustrious philosopher. 
But CEcolampadius soon became enthusiastically attach- 
ed to him, and perhaps would have lost all independence 
in this close intimacy, if Providence had not separated 
him from his idol. In 1517, he returned to Weinsberg, 



(ECOLAMPADIUS. 



311 



ois native place, where he was soon disgusted with the 
disorders and profane jests of the priests. He has left 
as a noble monument of the serious spirit whidi then 
animated him, in his celebrated work on the Easter 
revels, which appears to have been written about that 
time.* 

Having been invited to Augsburg about the end of 
1518, as cathedral preacher, he found that city still agi- 
tated by the famous conference held there in the month 
of May between Luther and the papal legate. He had 
to decide between one party and the other ; (Ecolam- 
padius did not hesitate, and declared in favor of the 
reformer. This frankness soon gave rise to a violent 
opposition against him ; and feeling convinced that his 
timidity and the weakness of his voice would be preju- 
dicial to his success in the world, he looked around him, 
and fixed his eyes on a convent of monks of St. Bridget, 
near Augsburg, celebrated for their piety and their pro- 
found and liberal studies. Feeling the need of repose, 
of leisure, of study, and of prayer, he turned towards 
these friars, and inquired, Can I live among you ac- 
cording to the word of God The latter having replied 
in the affirmative, CEcolampadius entered the monastery 
on the 23d of April, 1520, with the express condition 
that he should be free, if ever the service of God's word 
should call him elsewhere. 

It was well that the future reformer of Basle should, 
like Luther, become acquainted with that monastic life 
which is the highest expression of Roman-catholicism. 
But here he found no repose ; his friends blamed the 
step ; and he himself openly declared that Luther was 
nearer the truth than his adversaries. Accordingly Eck 
and the other Romish doctors pursued him with their 
Qienaces, even in his calm retreat. 

At this time CEcolampadius was neither reformed 
nor a follower of Rome ; he desired a certain purified 
Catholicism which is nowhere to be found in history, 
but the idea of which has often bridged the way to 
many minds. He began to correct the rules of his ordei 
• Herzog, StucLen und Kritiken, 1840, p. 334. 



312 



HISTORY OF THE UEFOUMATIOK. 



in conformity with the word of God. "Do not, I be 
seech you," said he to his brethren, " set a higher value 
upon your statutes than on the ordinances of God/'' 
" We desire no other law," replied the brothers, than 
that of our Saviour. Take our books, and mark, as if 
in the presence of Christ himself, whatever you find con- 
trary to his word." (Ecolampadius applied himself to 
the task, but was almost wearied by the labor. " 0 
Almighty God," exclaimed he, " what abominations Las 
not Rome approved of in these statutes !" 

As soon as he pointed out some of them, the anger 
of the monks was aroused. " Heretic," exclaimed they, 
" apostate, you deserve to be thrown into a dungeon for 
the rest of your days." They excluded him from public 
prayers. But the danger from without was still greater. 
Eck and his party had not relinquished their projects. 
"In three days," he was told, "they will be here to 
arrest you." He went to the brethren, and said, " Will 
you give me up to assassins ?" The monks were silent 
and undetermined ; they neither wished to save nor to 
destroy him. At this moment some friends of (Ecolam- 
padius arrived near the cloister with horses to carry 
him to a place of safety. On being informed of this, 
the monks resolved to allow the departure of a brother 
who had brought trouble into their convent. "Fare- 
well," said he, and was free. He had remained nearly 
two years in the cloister of St. Bridget. 

CEcolampadius was saved ; at last he began to 
breathe. " I have sacrificed the monk," wrote he to a 
friend, "and have regained the Christian." But his 
flight from the convent and his heretical writings were 
known everywhere, and everywhere people shrunk back 
at his approach. He knew not what would become of 
him, when, in the spring of 1522, Sickingen ofiered him 
an asylum, which he accepted. 

His mind, oppressed by monastic servitude, took a 
new flight in the midst of the noble warriors of Ebern- 
burg. " Christ is our liberty," exclaimed he, " and 
death, which men consider their greatest misfortune, is 
a real gain to us." He directly began reading the goa* 



SUCCESS AND ALARM. 



sia 



pels and epistles in German to the people. " As soon 
as these trumpets sound/' said he, "the walls of Jericho 
will fall down." 

Thus, in a fortress on the banks of the Ehine, and in. 
the midst of illiterate warriors, the most humble man of 
his age was preparing for that change of worship which 
Christianity was shortly to undergo. But Ebernburg 
was too confined for him, and he felt the need of other 
society tlmn these armed men. The bookseller Cratan- 
der invited him to Basle ; Sickingen allowed him to 
depart, and (Ecolampadius, delighted at the thought of 
seeing his old friends again, arrived in that city on the 
16th of November, 1522. After having lived there some 
time, simply as a man of learning without any public 
occupation, he was nominated curate of St. Martin's 
church, and it was this call to a humble and obscure 
employment* that possibly decided the reformation of 
Basle. An immense crowd filled the church whenever 
(Ecolampadius went into the pulpit.f At the same time 
the public lectures delivered by himself and Pellican 
were crowned with such success that even Erasmus 
was forced to exclaim, " (Ecolampadius triumphs."! 

In efiect, this mild yet firm man, says Zwingle, 
spread around him the sweet savor of Christ, and all 
those who crowded about him grew in truth. § Often, 
indeed, a rumor was circulated that he would be forced 
to leave Basle and recommence his perilous pilgrimage. 
His friends, Zwingle in particidar, were alarmed ; but 
erelong the tidings of fresh victories gained by (Ecolam- 
padius scattered their fears and raised their hopes. The 
renown of his lectures extended even to Wittemberg, 
and delighted Luther, who talked with Melancthon about 
him every day. And yet the Saxon reformer was not 
without anxiety. Erasmus was at Basle, and Erasmus 

• Meis sumtibus non Bine contemptu et invidia. CEcolamp. ad 
Pirckh. de Eucharistia. f Das er kein Predigt thate, er hatte 

oin machtig Volk darinn, says his contemporary Peter Ryf Wirta. 
5. 350. t CEcolampadias apud nos triumphat. Eras, ad Zwing. 
Zw, Epp. p. 812. § lUi magis ac magis in omni bono auge» 

ount. Ibid. 

msk of Rmc in. 



314 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



was the friend of (Ecolampadius. ... Luther thought 
it his duty to put the man whom he loved on his guard. 
•'I much fear," wrote he, "that Erasmus, like Moses, 
will die in the country of Moab, and never lead us into 
the land of promise."* 

Erasmus had taken refuge at Basle, as in a quiet city, 
lying in the centre of the literary movement, and from 
the bosom of which he could, by means of the press of 
Frobenius, act upon France, Germany, Switzerland, Ita- 
ly, and England. But he did not wish men to come and 
trouble him there ; and if he looked upon (Ecolampadius 
with suspicion, another man inspired him with still 
greater apprehension. Ulrich' Hiitten had followed (Fco- 
lampadius to Basle. For a long while he had been 
attacking the pope, as one knight engages with anotner, 
'*The axe," said he, "is already laid at the root of the 
tree. Germans, faint not in the heat of the battle ; the 

die is cast ; the work is begun Liberty for ever." 

He had abandoned Latin, and now wrote only in Ger- 
man ; for it was the people he wished to address. 

His views were noble and generous. It was his 
idea that there should be an annual meeting of the bish- 
ops to regulate the interests of the church. A Christian 
constitution, and above all, a Christian spirit was to go 
forth from Germany, as from Judea in other times, and 
spread through the whole world. Charles V. was to be 
the youthful hero appointed to realize this golden age ; 
but Hiitten, having seen the failure of his hopes in this 
quarter, had turned towards Sickingen, and sought from 
knighthood what the empire had refused. Sickingen, at 
the head of the feudal nobility, had played a distinguished 
part in Germany ; but the princes had besieged him in his 
castle of Landstein, and the new invention of cannons had 
crushed those aged walls, accustomed to other attacks.f 
The taking of Landstein had proved the final defeat of 
chivalry — the decisive victory of artillery over shields 
and lances — the triumph of modern times over the mid- 
dle ages. Thus the last exploit of the knights was des- 

* Et in terram promissionls ducere non potest L. Epp. 2. 363. 
t VoLI.,p. 144. 



HUTTEN REPELLED BY ERASMUS. 316 



tined to be in favor of the Reformation ; the first eCFori 
of these new arms and systems of warfare was to be 
against it. The mailed warriors that fell beneath the 
unlooked for storm of balls, and lay among the ruins of 
Landstein, gave way to other soldiers. Other conflicts 
were about to begin ; a spiritual chivalry succeeded to 
that of the Du Guesclins and Bayards. And those old 
and ruined battlements, those battered walls, these dy- 
ing heroes, proclaimed with, greater energy than even 
Luther could have done, that not by such allies or such 
arms would the gospel of the Prince of peace obtain the 
victory. 

The fall of Landstein and of chivalry had blasted all 
Hutten's hopes. Standing beside the corpse of Sickin- 
gen, he bade farewell to those brighter days which his 
Imagination had conjured up before him, and losing all 
confidence in man, he sought only for seclusion and 
repose. In search of these he visited Erasmus in Swit- 
zerland. These two men had long been friends ; but 
the unpolished and turbulent knight, braving the opin- 
ions of others, ever ready to lay his hand upon the 
sword, dealing his blows right and left on all whom he 
met, could scarcely live in harmony with the squeamish 
and timid Dutchman, with his refined manners, his mild 
and polished language, his love of approbation, and his 
readiness to sacrifice every thing for its sake, and fear- 
ing nothing in the world so much as a dispute. On 
arriving at Basle, Hiitten, poor, sick, and a fugitive, 
immediately inquired for his old friend. But Erasmus 
trembled at the thought of receiving at his table a per- 
son under the ban of the pope and the emperor, who 
would spare no one, who would borrow money of him, 
and would no doubt be dragging after him a crowd of 
those "Gospellers" whom Erasmus dreaded more and 
more.* He refused to see him, and shortly after, the 

• "Ille egens et omnibus rebus destitutus quaerebat nidum ali- 
quern ubi moveretur. Erat mihi gloriosus ille miles cum sua scabie 
in sedes recipiendus, simulque recipiendus ille chorus titulo Evan* 
gelicorum^^^ writes Erasmus to Melancthon, in a letter in which he 
endeavors to excuse himself. £r. Epp. p. 949. 



316 HISTOR? OP THfi REFORMATION 



magistrates of Basle desired Hiitten to leave the city 
Wounded to the quick, and exasperated against hia 
timid friend, Hiitten repaired to Mulhausen, and there 
published a violent pamphlet against Erasmus, to which 
the latter replied in a paper overflowing with wit. The 
knight had grasped his uword with both hands, and 
aimed a crushing blow at his antagonist ; the scholar, 
adroitly stepping aside, peck«d the soldier smartly in 
return.* 

Hiitten was again compelled to flee ; he reached 
Zurich, and there met with a generous reception from 
the noble-hearted Zwipgle. But intrigues again com- 
pelled him to leave that city ; and after passing some 
time at the baths of Pfeffers, he repaired with a letter 
from the Swiss reformer to the pastor John Schnepp, 
who inhabited the small island of Ufnau in the lake of 
Zurich. This poor minister entertained the sick and 
fugitive knight with the most touching charity. It wag 
in this peaceful and obscure retreat that Ulrich Hiitten, 
one of tne most remarkable men of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, died obscurely about the end of August, 1523, 
after a most agitated life, expelled by one party, perse- 
cuted by another, deserted by nearly all, and having 
always contended against superstition, but, as it would 
seem, without having ever possessed the truth. The 
poor pastor, who had some skill in the healing art, had 
vainly lavished on him all his cares. With him chivalry 
expired. He left neither money, nor furniture, nor 
books — ^nothing in the world but a pen.f Thus was 
broken the arm of iron that had presumed to support 
the ark of God. 

* Expostulatio Hutteni. Erasmi Spongia. f Libroe nulloR 
habait, Bapellectilem nallam, prseter calamum. Zw. Epp. p. 81Sb 



BEASHUS ANP LUXHE&. $11 



CHAPTER IX. 

StosnTiB and Luther — ^Vacillations of Erasmus — Luther to Erasmos 

— Erasmus' treatise against Luther on freewill — Three opin- 
ions — Effect upon Luther — Luther on freewill — The Jansenists 
and the reformers — Homage to Erasmus — His anger — The three 
days. 

There was in Germany a man more formidable to 
Erasmus than the ill-fated Hiitten : this was Luther. 
The moment had now arrived when these two great 
champions of the age were to measure their strength 
hand to hand. The two reformations at which they 
arrived were very different. While Luther desired a 
thorough reform, Erasmus, a friend to half measures, 
was endeavoring to obtain concessions from the hie- 
rarchy that would unite the extreme parties. The vacil- 
lations and inconsistency of Erasmus digusted Luther. 
" You desire to walk upon eggs without crushing them,*' 
said the latter, " and among glasses without breaking 
them.*'* 

At the same time he met the vacillations of Eras- 
mus with absolute decision. We Christians,*' said he, 
** ought to be sure of our doctrine, and able to say yea 
or no without hesitation. To presume to hinder us 
from affirming our belief with full conviction, is depriv- 
ing us of faith itself. The Holy Ghost is no sceptic ;f 
and he has written in our hearts a firm and strong as- 
surance, which makes us as certain of our faith as we 
are of life itself." 

These words alone suffice to show us on which side 
strength was to be found. To accomplish a religious 
transformation, there is need of a firm and living faith. 
A salutary revolution in the church will never proceed 
from philosophical views and mere human opinions. To 
fertilize the earth after a long drought, the lightning 

• Auf Eyern gehen und keines zu treten. L. 0pp. 19. H, 
f Per heilige Geist^ ist kein Scepticus. Ibid. 8, 



318 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



must cleave the cloud and the windows of heaven must 
be opened. Criticism, philosophy, and even history may 
prepare the way for the true faith, but cannot supply its 
place. In vain would you clear the water-courses and 
repair the dikes, so long as the rain does not come dowi. 
from heaven. All human learning without faith is but 
an aqueduct without water. 

"Whatever might have been the essential difference 
between Luther and Erasmus, the friends of Luther, and 
even the reformer himself, had long hoped to see Eras- 
mus unite with them against Rome. Many sayings 
which his caustic humor let fall were quoted, as show- 
ing his disagreement with the most zealous defenders of 
Romanism. One day, for instance, when he was in Eng- 
land, he had a keen discussion with Thomas More on 
transubstantiation : *^ Believe that you have the body of 
Christ,'' said the latter, " and you have it really." Eras- 
mus made no reply. Shortly after, when leaving Eng- 
land, More lent him a horse to carry him to the seaside ; 
but Erasmus took it with him to the Continent. As soon 
as More was informed of this, he wrote very severely to 
him about it. Erasmus, by way of reply, sent him these 
lines : 

"You said of the bodily presence of Christ, 
Believe that you have, and you have him. 
Of the nag that I took, my reply is the same : 
Believe that you have, and you have him."* 

It was not only in England and Germany that Eras- 
mus had thus become known. It was said at Paris that 
Luther had only opened the door, after Erasmus had 
picked the lock.f 

Tho position taken by Erasmus was by no means 
easy : " J shall not be unfaithful to the cause of Christ,*^ 

* Quod mihi dixisti nuper de corpore Christi j 
Crede quod habes, et habes ; 
Hoc tibi rescribo tantum de tuo caballo : 
Crede quod habes, et habes. 

Paravicini Singularia, p. 71. 
t nistoire Cathol. de notre temps, par S. Fontaine, de I'ordre 
gt. Francois, Paris, 1562. 



LUTHER TO ERASMUS. 



819 



wrote he to Zwingle, " at least so far as the age will 
permit ne."* In proportion as he beheld Rome rising 
up againbt the friends of the Reformation, he prudently 
retreated. He was applied to from all quarters ; the 
pope, the emperor, kings, princes, scholars, and even his 
most intimate friends, entreated him to write against 
the reformer.f " No work," wrote the pope, " can be 
more acceptable to God, and worthier of yourself and of 
your genius."! 

Erasmus long resisted these solicitations ; he could 
not conceal from himself that the cause of the reformers 
was the cause of religion as well as of letters. Besides, 
Luther was an adversary with whom every one feared 
to try his strength, and Era&mus already imagined he 
felt the quick and vigorous blows of the Wittemberg 
champion. " It is very easy to say. Write against Lu- 
ther," replied he to a Romish theologian ; but it is a 
matter full of peril."§ Thus he would — and yet he 
would not. 

This irresolution on the part of Erasmus drew on 
him the attacks of the most violent men of both parties. 
Luther himself knew not how to reconcile the respect 
he felt for Erasmus' learning with the indignation he 
felt at his timidity. Resolving to free himself from so 
painful a dilemma, he wrote him a letter in April, 1524, 
which he intrusted to Camerarius. You have not yet 
received from the Lord," said Luther, " the courage nec- 
essary to walk with us against the Papists. We put 
up with your weakness. If learning jSourishes — if by 
its means the treasures of Scripture are opened to all, 
this is a gift which God has bestowed on us through 
you ; a noble gift, and for which our thanksgivings 
ascend to heaven. But do not forsake the task that has 
been imposed upon you, and pass over to our camp. No 

* Quantum hoc seculum patitur. Zw. Epp 221. ] A poa- 
tifice, a Caesare, a regibus, et principibus, a doctissimis etiam et ca- 
rissimis amicis hue provocor. Erasm. Zw. Epp. 308. t Nulla t€ 
et ingeaio, eruditione, eloquentiaque tua diguior esse potest. Adri* 
anus Papa, Epp. Er. 1202. § Res est periculi plena. lilraain< 
Epp. 758, 



HISTORY OF THE RE FORMATION. 



doubt your eloquence and genius might be very useful 
to us ; but since you are wanting in courage, remain 
where you are. I could wish that our people would 
allow your old age to fall asleep peacefully in the Lord. 
The greatness of our cause has long since gone beyond 
your strength. But on the other hand, my dear Era*' 
mus, refrain from scattering over us with such prcfusioii 
that pungent salt which you know so well how to con- 
ceal under the flowers of rhetoric ; for it is more dan- 
gerous to be slightly wounded by Erasmus, than to be 
ground to powder by all the Papists put together. Be 
satisfied to remain.- a spectator , of our tragedy,* and 
publish no books against me ; and for my part, I will 
write none against you." 

Thus did Luther, the man of strife, ask for peace ; it 
was Erasmus, the man of peace, who began the conflict. 

Erasmus received this communication from the re- 
former as the bitterest of insults ; and if he had not yet 
determined to write against Luther, he probably did so 
then. " It is possible," he replied, that Erasmus by 
writing against you will be of more service to the gos- 
pel than certain dunces who write for you,f and who do 
not permit him to be a simple spectator of this tragedy." 

But he had other motives besides. 

Henry VIIL of England, and the nobility of that king- 
dom, earnestly pressed him to declare himself openly 
against the Reformation. Erasmus, in a moment of 
courage, suffered the promise to be wrung from him. 
His equivocal position had become a source of constant 
trouble to him : he loved repose, and the necessity he 
felt of continually justifying his conduct disturbed his 
existence : he was fond of glory, and already men were 
accusing him of fearing Luther, and of being too weak 
to answer him ; he was accustomed to the highest soat^ 
and the little monk of Wittemberg had dethroned the 
mighty philosopher of Rotterdam. He mast then, by 
some bold step, recover the position he had lost. All 

* Spectator tantum sis tragoediae nostrae. L. Epp. 2. 501. 
t Quidam stolidi scribeutes pro te. Unscbuldige Nachricbt, p. 
646. 



LUTHEU^S SENTIMENTS. 



821 



Christendom that adhered to the old worship irnploi 
him to do so. A capacious genius and the greatest rep- 
utation of the age were wanted to oppose the Reforma 
tion. Erasmus answered the call. 

But what weapons will he employ ? Will he hurl 
the thunders of the Vatican ? Will he defend the abuses 
that disgrace the Papacy ? Erasmus could not act thus. 
Tlie great movement that agitated men^s minds after the 
lethargy of so many centuries filled him with joy, and 
he would have feared to trammel it. Unable to be the 
champion of Romanism in what it has added to Chris- 
tianity, he undertook to defend it in what it had taken 
away. In attacking Luther, Erasmus selected the point 
where Romanism is lost in Rationalism — the doctrine 
of freewill, or the natural power of man. Thus, while 
undertaking the defence of the church, Erasmus gratified 
the men of the world, and while battling for the popes, 
he contended also on behalf of the philosophers. It has 
been said that he had injudiciously confined himself to 
an obscure and unprofitable question.* Luther, the re- 
formers, and their age, judged very differently ; and we 
agree with them. I must acknov/ledge,'' said Luther, 
" that in this controversy you are the only man that has 
gone to the root of the matter. I thank you for it with 
all my heart ; for I would rather be occupied with this 
subject than with all those secondary questions about 
the pope, purgatory, and indulgences, with which the 
enemies of the gospel have hitherto pestered me."f 

His own experience, and an attentive study of the 
holy Scriptures and of St. Augustine, had convinced 
Luther that the natural powers of man are so inclined 
to evil, that he cannot, of himself, reach any further 
than a certain outward rectitude, altogether insufficient 
in the eyes of the Deity. He had at the same time reo 
ognized that it was God who gives true righteousness. 

• On this subject, M. Nisard says — Erasme, Revue des deui 
mondes, 3. 411 — We are grieved for our kind, when we see meii 
capable of grappling with eternal truths, fencing all their live^ 
Against trivialities, like gladiators fighting against flies." 

t L. 0pp. 19. 146. 

21 



822 



HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATIOH 



by carrying on freely the work of faith in man by his 
Holy Spirit. This doctrine had become the mainspring 
of his religion, the predominant idea in his theology, and 
the point on which the whole Reformation turned. 

While Luther maintained that every good thing in 
man came down from God, Erasmus sided with those 
who thought that this good proceeded from man him* 
Qelf, God or man, good or evil — these are certainly no 
paltry questions ; and if trivialities" exist, they must 
be looked for elsewhere. 

It was in the autumn of 1524 that Erasmus publish 
ed his famous treatise entitled, "Dissertation on the Free- 
dom of the Will and it had no sooner appeared, than 
the philosopher could hardly believe his own boldness. 
With eyes fixed on the arena, he looked tremblingly at 
the gauntlet he had flung to his adversary. **The die is 
cast," wrote he with emotion to Henry VIII. ; " the book 
on freewill has appeared. Trust me, this is a daring 
act. I expect I shall be stoned for it. But I console 
myself by the example of your majesty, whom the rage 
of these people has not spared."* 

His alarm soon increased to such a degree that he 
bitterly regretted the step he had taken. " Why was I 
not permitted to grow old in the garden of the Muses ?" 
exclaimed he. Here am I, at sixty, driven into the 
arena, and holding the cestus and the net of the gladisi- 
tor, instead of the lyre. I am aware," wrote he to the 
bishop of Rochester, "that in writing upon freewill, I 
have gone beyond my sphere. . . . You congratulate 
me upon my triumphs. Ah, I know not that I triumph. 
The faction," that is, the Reformation, "is spreading 
daily.f Was it then fated, that at my time of life I 
phould be transformed from a friend of the muses into a 
wretched gladiator ?" 

It was no doubt an important matter for the timid 
jSrasmus to have risen up against Luther ; he was, how- 
t)ver, far from showing any very great boldness. In his 

♦ Jacta est alea .... audax, mihi crede, facinus .... expecto 
lapidatioaem. Er. Epp. 811. f Quomodo triumphans nescio* • 
Fw5Uo crescit in dies latius. Ibid. 809. 



EFFECT ON LUTHER. 



323 



book he seems to ascribe but little to man's will, and to 
leave the greater portion to divine grace : but at the 
same time he chose his arguments in a manner to make 
it be believed that man does every thing, and God noth- 
ing. Not daring openly to express his thoughts, he 
affirms one thing and proves another ; and hence we 
may be allowed to suppose that he believed what he 
proved, and not what he affirmed. 

He distinguishes three several opinions, opposed in 
three different degrees to Pelagianism. " Some think," 
said he, " that man can neither will, nor commence, and 
still less perform any good work, without the special 
and continual aid of divine grace ; and this opinion 
seems probable enough. Others teach that man^s will 
is powerless except for evil, and that it is grace alone 
which works in us any good ; and finally, there are 
some who assert that there has never been any freewill 
either in angels, or in Adam, or in us, either before or 
after grace, but that God works in man both good and 
evil, and that every thing happens from an absolute 
necessity."* 

Erasmus, while seeming to admit the former of these 
opinions, makes use of arguments that confute it, and 
which the most decided Pelagian might employ. In this 
manner, quoting the passages of Scripture in which God 
offers man the choice between good and evil, he adds, 
"Man must therefore have the power to will and to 
choose ; for it would be ridiculous to say to any one, 
Choose, when it was not in his power to do so.'' 

Luther did not fear Erasmus, "Truth," said he, " is 
mightier than eloquence. The victory remains with him 
who lisps out the truth, and not with him who puts forth 
a lie in flowing language."f But when he received 
ErasmusV treatise, in the month of October, 1524, he 
found it so weak that he hesitated to reply to it. " What, 
so much eloquence in so bad a cause?" said he ; "it is 
as if a man were to serve up mud and dung on dishes of 

* De libero arbitrio Diatribe. Erasm 0pp. 9. 1215, pq. 
t Victoria est penes balbutientem veritatem, non apud mendib 
#em eloquentiam. L. Epp. 2. 200. 



824 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION 



silrer and gold.* One cannot lay hold of you. You are 
like an eel that slips through the fingers ; or like the 
fabulous Proteus, who changed his form in the very 
arms of those who wished to grasp him." 

But as Luther did not reply, the monks and scholas- 
tic divines began to utter shouts of victory. " Well, 
where is your Luther now ? -Where is the great Mac- 
cabeus ? Let him come down into the lists ; let him 
come forth. Ah, ah, he has met with his match at last. 
He has learnt now to remain in the background ; he 
has found out how to hold his tongue.''f 

Luther saw that he must write an answer ; but it 
was not until the end of the year 1625 that he prepared 
to do so ; and Melancthon having informed Erasmus 
that Luther would be moderate, the philosopher was 
greatly alarmed. " If I have written with moderation," 
said he, it is my disposition ; but Luther possesses the 
wrath of Peleus' son Achilles. And how can it be other- 
wise ? When a vessel braves a storm such as that 
which has burst upon Luther, what anchor, what ballast, 
what helm does it not require to prevent it from being 
driven out of its course. If therefore he replies to me 
in a manner not in accordance with his character, these 
sycophants will cry out that we are in collusion."^ We 
shall see that Erasmus was soon relieved of this appre- 
hension. 

The doctrine of God's election as the sole cause ol 
man's salvation had always been dear to the reformer, 
but hitherto he had considered it in a practical light 
only. In his reply to Erasmus, he investigated it par- 
ticularly in a speculative point of view, and endeavored 
to establish by such arguments as appeared to him most 
conclusive, that God works every thing in man's con 
version, and that our hearts are so alienated from the 
love of God that they cannot have a sincere desire foi 

• Als wenn einer in silbern oder giildern Schiisseln wolte Mist 
and Unflath auftragen. L. 0pp. 19. 4. f Sebet, sehet nun da 
zul wo ist nun Luther. Ibid. 3. | Ille &i hie multum ml dis 
aimilis faerit, clamabunt sycophantae colludere nos. Eraam. Eppi 
p. 819. 



tiTTTHER'S REPLY. 



323 



righteoTisiiess, except by the regenerating influence of 
the Holy Spirit. 

" To call our will a free will," said he, "is to imitate 
those princes who accumulate long titles, styling them- 
selv^es lords of sundry kingdoms, principalities, and dis^ 
tant islands — of Rhodes, Cyprus, and Jerusalem, etc. — 
while they have not the least power over them." HerCj 
however, Luther makes an important distinction, clearly 
showing that he by no means participated in the third 
opinion that Erasmus had pointed out and imputed to 
him. " Man's will may be called a free will, not in rela- 
tion to that which is above him, that is to say, to God ; 
but with respect to that which is below, that is, to the 
things of the earth.* As regards my property, my 
fields, my house, my farm, I can act, do, and manage 
freely. But in the things of salvation, man is a captive ; 
he is subjected to the will of God, or rather of the devil.f 
Show me but one of all these advocates of freewill," he 
exclaims, " that has found in himself sufficient strength 
to endure a trifling injury, a fit of anger, or merely a 
look from his enemy, and bear it with joy, then, with- 
out even asking him to be ready to give up his body, 
his life, his wealth, his honor, and all things, I acknow 
ledge you have gained your cause." J 

Luther's glance was too penetrating not to disco vei 
the contradictions into which his opponent had fallen. 
And accordingly, in his reply he endeavors to fasten the 
philosopher in the net in which he had become entan- 
gled. " If the passages you quote," said he, " establish 
that it is easy for us to do good, why do we dispute ? 
What need have we of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost ? 
Christ would then have acted foolishly in shedding hie 
blood to acquire for us a power that we already pos- 
sessed by nature." In truth, the passages cited by 
Erasmus must be taken in quite a different sense. This 
much-debated question is clearer than it appears to be 
at first sight. When the Bible says to man, Che ose, it 
presupposes the assistance of God's grace, by whieh 

* Der Wilie dos Menschen mag. ... L. 0pp. 19. 29. 



326 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATiOK.- 



alone he can do what it commands. God, in giving the 
commandment, also gives the strength to fulfil it. If 
Christ said to Lazarus, Comie forth, it was not that 
. Lazarus had power to restore himself, but that Christ, 
by commanding him to leave the sepulchre, gave him 
also the strength to do so, and accompanied his words 
with his creative power. He spoke, and it was done. 
Moreover, it is very true that the man to whom God 
speaks must will ; it is he who wills, and not another ; 
he can receive this will but from God alone ; but it is in 
him that this will must be, and the very commandment 
that God addresses to him, and which, according to 
Erasmus, establishes the ability of man, is so reconcila- 
ble with the workings of God, that it is precisely by 
these means that the working is effected. It is by say- 
ing to the man, "Be converted," that God converts him. 

But the idea on which Luther principally dwelt in 
his reply is, that the passages quoted by Erasmus are 
intended to teach men their duty, and their inability to 
perform it, but in no way to make known to them the 
pretended power ascribed to them. How frequently it 
happens," says Luther, " a father calls his feeble child 
to him, and says, *Will you come, my son? come then, 
come,' in order that the child may learn to call for his 
assistance, and allow himself to be carried."* 

After combating Erasmus' arguments in favor of 
freewill, Luther defends his own against the attacks of 
his opponent. "Dear Dissertation," says he ironically, 
"mighty heroine, who pridest thyself in having over- 
thrown these words of our Lord in St. John, * Without 
me ye can do nothing,' which thou regardest neverthe- 
less as the prop of my argument, and callest it Luther^s 
Ackilles, listen to me. Unless thou canst prove that this 
word nothing not only may but must signify little^ all 
thy high-sounding phrases, thy splendid examples, have 
no more effect than if a man were to attempt to quench 
an immense fire with a handful of straw. What are 
Buch assertions as these to us : * This may mean ; that 
maj be understood,' .... while it was thy duty to show 

• L. 0pp. 19. 66. 



JANSENISM AND CHEISTIANirY 327 



as that it must be so understood. . . . Unless thou doest 
BO, we take this declaration in its literal meaning, and 
laugh at all iny examples, thy great preparations, and 
thy pompous triumphs."* 

Finally, in a concluding part, Luther snows, and 
always from Scripture, that the grace of God does exery 
thing. **In short," says he at the end, " since Scripture 
everywhere contrasts Christ with that which has not the 
spirit of Christ — since it declares that all which is not 
Christ and in Christ is under the power of error, dark- 
ness, the devil, death, sin, and the wrath of God, it fol- 
lows that all these passages of the Bible that speak of 
Christ are opposed to freewill. Now such passages are 
numberless ; the holy Scriptures are full of them."")" 

We perceive that the discussion which arose between 
Luther and Erasmus is the same as that which a century 
after took place between the Jansenists and Jesuits, 
between Pascal and Molina.l How is it that, while the 
results of the Reformation were so immense, Jansenism, 
though adorned by the noblest geniuses, wasted and 
died away ? It is because Jansenism went back to Au- 
gustine and relied on the fathers ; while the Reformation 
went back to the Bible and leaned upon the word of God. 
It is because Jansenism entered into a compromise with 
Rome, and wished to establish a middle course between 
truth and error ; while the Reformation, relying upon 
God alone, cleared the soil, swept away all the rubbish 
of past ages, and laid bare the primitive rock. To stop 
half way is a useless work ; in all things we should per- 
severe to the end. Accordingly, while Jansenism has 
passed away, the destinies of the world are bound up 
with evangelical Christianity. 

Further, after having keenly refuted error, Luther 
paid a brilliant, but perhaps a somewhat sarcastic hom- 
age to Erasmus himself. " I confess," said he, that 
you are a great man ; where have we ever met with 

* L. 0pp. 19. 116. t Ibid. 143. { It is unnecessary 

to state that 1 do not speak of personal discussions between these 
two men, one of whom died in ItiOO, and the lAher was not born 
antil 162a. 



328 HISTORT OP THE REFOEMATIO^. 



more learning, intelligence, or ability, both in speaking 
And writing ? As for me, I possess nothing of the kind ] 
there is only one thing from which I can derive any 
glory — I am a Christian. May God raise you infinitely 
above mc in the knowledge of the gospel, so that you 
may surpass me as much in this respect as you do 
already in every other."* 

Erasmus was beside himself when he read Luther's 
reply ; and would see nothing in his encomiums but the 
honey of a poisoned cup, or the embrace of a serpent at 
the moment he darts his envenomed sting. He immedi^ 
ately wrote to the elector of Saxony, demanding justice ; 
and Luther having desired to appease him, he lost his 
usual temper, and, in the words of one of his most zeal- 
ous apologists, began " to pour forth invectives with a 
broken voice and hoary hair."f 

Erasmus was vanquished. Hitherto, moderation had 
been his strength — and he had lost it. Passion was his 
only weapon against Luther's energy. The wise man 
was wanting in wisdom. He replied publicly in his 
HyperaspisteSy accusing the reformer of barbarism, ly- 
ing, and blasphemy. The philosopher even ventured on 
prophesying. "I prophesy," said he, "that no name 
under the sun will be held in greater execration than 
Luther's." The jubilee of 1817 has replied to this proph- 
ecy, after a lapse of three hundred years, by the enthusi- 
asm and acclamations of the whole Protestant world. 

Thus, while Luther with the Bible was setting himself 
at the head of his age, Erasmus, standing up against 
him, wished to occupy the same place with philosophy. 
Which of these two leaders has been followed ? Both 
undoubtedly. Nevertheless Luther's influence on the 
nations of Christendom has been infinitely greater than 
that of Erasmus. Even those who did not thoroughly 
understand the grounds of the dispute, seeing the con- 
viction of one antagonist and the doubts of the other, 
could not refrain from believing that the first was right 
and the second wrong. It has been said that the three 
Ust centuries, the sixteenth, the seventeenth, and the 

* L. 0pp. 19. 146, 147. t M. Nisard, Eiasme, p. 419. 



THE THREE BATS 



329 



eighteenth, may be conceived as an immense battle of 
three days' duration.* We willingly adopt this beauti- 
ful comparison, but not the part that is assigned to each 
of the days. The same struggle has been ascribed to 
the sixteenth and to the eighteenth century. On the 
first day, as on the last, it is philosophy that breaks the 
ranks, The sixteenth century philosophical I . . . Strange 
error. No ; each of these days has its marked and dis- 
tinct character. On the first day of the conflict, it was 
the word of God, the gospel of Christ, that triumphed ; 
and then Rome was defeated, as well as human philoso- 
phy, in the person of Erasmus and her other representa- 
tives. On the second day, we grant that Eome, her 
authority, her discipline, her doctrine, reappeared and 
were about to triumph by the intrigues of a celebrated 
society and the power of the scaffold, aided by men of 
noble character and sublime genius. On the third day, 
human philosophy arose in all its pride, and finding on 
the field of battle, not the gospel, but Rome, made short 
work, and soon carried every entrenchment. The first 
day was the battle of God, the second the battle of the 
priest, the third the battle of reason. What will be the 
fourth ? . . . . In our opinion, the confused strife, the 
deadly contest of all these powers together, to end in 
the victory of Him to whom triumph belongs. 

• Port Boyal, by M. Sainte Beuve, 1. 20. 



830 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATION 



CHAPTER X. 

The three adversaries — Source of truth — Grebel — The fanatics and 
Zwingle — Constitution of the church — Prison — The prophet Blau- 
rock — Fanaticism at Saint Gall — Schucker and family — Discus- 
sion at Zurich — The limits of the Reformation — Punishment of 
the fanatics. 

But the battle fought by the Reformation in the great 
day of the sixteenth century, under the standard of the 
word of God, was not one and single, but manifold. 
The Reformation had many enemies to contend with at 
once ; and after having first protested against the decre- 
t^ls and the supremacy of the pope, and then against 
Ihe cold apophthegms of the rationalists, philosophers, 
or schoolmen, it had equally to struggle with the rev- 
eries of enthusiasm and the hallucinations of mysticism ; 
opposing a'Kke to these three powers the shield and the 
sword of divine revelation. 

It must be admitted that there is a great similarity, 
a striking unity, between these three powerful adversa- 
ries. The false systems that in every age have been the 
most opposed to evangelical Christianity, have always 
been distinguished by their making religious knowledge 
proceed from within the man himself. Rationalism 
makes it proceed from reason ; mysticism from certain 
inner lights ; and Romanism from an illumination of the 
pope. These three errors look for truth in man : evan- 
gelical Christianity looks for it wholly in God ; and 
while mysticism, rationalism, and Romanism, admit a 
permanent inspiration in certain of our fellow-men, and 
thus open a door to every extravagance and diversity, 
evangelical Christianity recognizes this inspiration S(»lely 
in the writings of the apostles and prophets, and alone 
presents that great, beautiful, and living unity which is 
ever the same in all ages. 

The task of the Reformation has been to reestablish 
the rights of the word of God, in opposition not only to 
Romanism, but also to mysticism and rationalism. 



GREBEL AKD THE FANATICS. 331 



The fanaticism which had been extinguished in Ger- 
many by Luther's return to Wittemberg, reappeared in 
full vigor in Switzerland, and threatened the edifice that 
Zwingle, Haller, and (Ecolampadius had built on the 
word of God. Thomas Munzer, having been forced to 
quit Saxony in 1521, had reached the frontiers of Swit^ 
zerland. Conrad Grebel, whose restless and ardent dis- 
position we have already noticed,* had become con- 
nected with him, as had also Felix Manz, a canon's son, 
and several other Zurichers ; and Grebel had immedi- 
ately endeavored to gain over Zwingle. In vain had 
the latter gone farther than Luther ; he saw a party 
springing up which desired to proceed farther still. 
" Let us form a community of true believers," said Gre- 
bel to him ; " for to them alone the promise belongs ; 
and let us found a church in which there shall be no 
sin."f We cannot make a heaven upon earth," replied 
Zwingle ; and Christ has taught us that we must let 
the tares grow up along with the wheat."| 

Grebel having failed with the reformer, would have 
desired to appeal to the people. "The whole commu- 
nity of Zurich," said he, "ought to have the final decis- 
ion in matters of faith." But Zwingle feared the influ- 
ence these radical enthusiasts might exercise over a large 
assembly. He thought that, except on extraordinary 
occasions, when the people might be called upon to ex- 
press their accordance, it was better to confide the inter- 
ests of religion to a college, which might be considered 
the chosen representatives of the church. Accordingly 
the council of two hundred, which exercised the supreme 
political authority in Zurich, was also intrusted with the 
ecclesiastical power, on the express condition that they 
should conform in all things to the holy Scriptures. No 
doubt it would have been better to have thoroughly 
organized the church, and called on it to appoint its own 
representatives, who should be intrusted solely with the 
religious interests of the people ; for a man may be very 
capable of administering the interests of the state, and 

• Vol. II. p. 372. t Vermeintend ein Kilchen ze versamm- 

len die one Siind war Zw. 0pp. 2. 231. % Ibid. 3. 362, 



332 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 



yet Tery unskilful in those of the church ; just as the 
reverse of this is true also. Nevertheless the inconven- 
ience was not then so serious as it would have been in 
these days, since the members of the great council had 
frankly entered into the religious movement. But Low- 
ever this may be, ZwinglC; while appealing to the church, 
was careful not to make it too prominent, and preferretl 
the representative system to the actual sovereignty of 
the people. This is what, after three centur'es, the 
states of Europe have been doing in the political world 
for the last fifty years. 

Being rejected by Zwingle, Grebel turned to another 
quarter. Rubli, formerly pastor at Basle, Bri)dtlein, 
pastor at Zollikon, and Louis Herzer, received him with 
eagerness. They resolved to form an independent con- 
gregation in the midst of the great congregation, a 
church within the church. The baptism of adult believ- 
ers only, was to be thdr means of assembling th#ir con- 
gregation. " Infant baptism," said they, *Ms a horrible 
abomination, a flagrant impiety, invented by the wicked 
spirit, and by Nicholas II., pope of Rome."* 

The council of Zurich was alarmed, and ordered a 
public discussion to be held ; and as they still refused 
to abjure their opinions, some of the Zurichers among 
their number were thrown into prison, and several for- 
eigners were banished. But persecution only inflamed 
their zeal : " Not by words alone," cried they, " but with 
our blood we are ready to bear testimony to the truth 
of our cause." Some of them, girding themselves with 
cords or ozier twigs, ran through the streets, exclaim- 
ing, "Yet a few days, and Zurich will be destroyed. 
Woe to thee, Zurich. Woe, woe I" The simple-minded 
and pious were agitated and alarmed. Fourteen men, 
among whom was Felix Mantz, and seven women, were 
apprehended, in despite of Zwingle's intercession and 
put on bread and water in the heretic^s tower. After 
being confined a fortnight, they managed to loosen 
some planks in the night, and aiding one another, efifect- 

* Impietatem maaifegtissimam, a cacodsemone, a NicolaoIL esaOi 
Hottinger 3. 219 



THE PROPHET BLAUEOCK. 



333 



ed their escape. "An angel," said they, "had opened 
the prison and led them forth."* 

A monk who had escaped from his convent, George 
Jacob of Coire, surnamed Blaurock, as it would seem, 
from the blue dress he constantly wore, joined their sect, 
and from his eloquence was denominated a second Paul. 
This daring monk travelled from place to place, con- 
straining many, by his imposing fervor, to receive his 
baptism. One Sunday, when at Zollikon, the impetuous 
monk interrupted the deacon as he was preaching, call- 
ing out in a voice of thunder, " It is written, * My house 
is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of 
thieves.'" Then raising the staff he carried in his hand, 
he struck four violent blows. 

" I am a door," exclaimed he ; " whosoever entereth 
by me shall find pasture. I am a good shepherd. My 
body I give to the prison ; my life I give to the sword, 
the stake, or the wheel. I am the beginning of the 
baptism and of the bread of the Lord."f 

While Zwingle was opposing this torrent in Zurich, 
Saint Gall was soon inundated with it. Grebel arrived 
there, and was received by the brethren with acclamar 
tions ; and on Palm-Sunday he proceeded to the banks 
of the Sitter with a great number of his adherents, whom 
he there baptized. 

The news quickly spread through the adjoining 
cantons ; and a great crowd flocked from Zurich, 
Appenzel, and several other places to the " Little Jeru- 
salem." 

Zwingle's heart was wrung at the sight of this agita- 
tion. He saw a storm bursting on these districts where 
the seed of the gospel was just beginning to spring up. J 
Kesolving to oppose these sentiments on baptism, § he 
wrote a treatise on that subject, || which the council of 

• Wie die Apostel von dem Engel Gottes gelediget. Bull. Chr. 
261. t Ich bin ein Anfanger der Taufe und des Herrn Erodes. 
Fusel. Beytr. 1. 264. t Mich beduret seer das ungewitter. Zw. 
to Council of St. Gall, 2, 2*30. § See vol. I., p. 151, bot. 

II Vom Tauf, vom Widertauf, und vom KinderUuit Zw, tc 
Cknincil of St Gr&U, 2. 230. 



334 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



St. Gdll, to whom it was addressed, ordered to be road 
In the church before all the people. 

" My dear brethren in the Lord," said Zwingle, the 
water of the torrents that issue from our rocks carries 
with it every thing within its reach. At first it is only 
small stones ; but these dash violently against larger 
ones, until at last the torrent becomes so strong that it 
carries away all it meets, and leaves in its track wail- 
ing and vain regrets, and fertile meadows changed into 
a wilderness. The spirit of strife and self-righteousness 
acts in a similar manner : it excites discord, destroys 
charity, and where it found beautiful and flourishing 
churches, leaves behind it nothing but flocks plunged 
into mourning and desolation." 

Thus spoke Zwingle, the child of the Tockenburg 
mountains. " Give us the word of God," exclaimed one 
who was present in the church ; " and not the word of 
Zwingle." Immediately confused voices were heard : 
" Away with the book, away with the book !" shouted 
the multitude. After this they rose and quitted the 
church, crying out, **You may keep the doctrine of 
Zwingle ; as for us, we will keep the word of God."* 

The fanaticism now broke forth into the most lament- 
able disorders. Maintaining that the Lord had exhorted 
us to become like children, these unhappy creatures be- 
gan to clap their hands, and skip about in the streets, 
to dance in a ring, sit on the ground, and tumble each 
other about in the dust. Some burnt the New Testa- 
ment, saying, " The letter killeth, the Spirit giveth life.** 
Others, falling into convulsions, pretended to have reve- 
lations from the Holy Ghost. 

In a solitary house on the Miillegg, near St. Gall, 
lived an aged farmer, John Schucker, with his five sons. 
They had all of them, including the domestics, received 
the new religion ; and two of the sons, Thomas and 
Leonard, were distinguished for their fanaticism. On 
Shrove-Tuesday, Feb. t, 1526, they invited a large party 
to their house, and their father killed a calf for the feast 

• So woUen wir Gottes Wort haben. Zw. to Council of St Gall, 
2. 237. 



JOHN SCHUCKER AND SONS. 335 



The viands, the wine, and this numerous assembl}^ heat- 
ed their imaginations ; the whole night was passed in 
fanatical conversation and gesticulations, convulsions, 
visions, and revelations.* 

In the morning, Thomas, still agitated by this night 
of disorder, and having, as it would seem, lost his rea- 
son, took the calf ^s bladder, and placing in it part of the 
gall, intending thus to imitate the s^^mbolical language 
of the prophets, approached his brother Leonard, saying 
with a gloomy voice, Thus bitter is the death thou art 
to suffer." He then added, Brother Leonard, kneel 
down." Leonard fell on his knees ; shortly after, "Broth- 
er Leonard, arise." Leonard stood up. The father, 
brothers, and others of the company looked on with 
astonishment, asking themselves what God would do. 
Thomas soon resumed : " Leonard, kneel down again." 
He did so. The spectators, alarmed at the gloomy coun- 
tenance of the wretched man, said to him, Think of 
what you are about, and take care that no mischief hap- 
pens." " Fear not," replied Thomas ; " nothing will hap- 
pen but the will of the Father." At the same time he 
hastily caught up a sword, and striking a violent blow 
at his brother, kneeling before him as a criminal before 
the executioner, he cut off his head, exclaiming, " Now 
the will of the Father is accomplished." All the by- 
standers recoiled with horror at the deed ; and the farm 
resounded with groans and lamentations. Thomas, who 
had nothing on but a shirt and trousers, rushed bare- 
footed and bareheaded out of the house, ran to St. Gall 
with frenzied gestures, entered the house of the burgo- 
master Joachim Vadian, and said to him with haggard 
looks and wild cries, I proclaim to thee the day of the 
Lord." The frightful news soon spread through St. Gall. 
" He has slain his brother, as Cain slew Abel," said the 
people f The culprit was seized. It is true I did it," 
he continually repeated ; " but it is God who did it 
through me." On the 16th of February, this unhappy 

* Mit wunderbaren geperden und gesprachen, verzucken, ge- 
sichteu und oflfenbarungen. Builinger Ghron. 1. 324. f Gljcb 
wie Kain den Abel sinen Binder ermorl> hat I Ibid. 



336 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOK. 



creature lost his head by the sword of the executioner 
Fanaticism had made its last effort. Men's eyes were 
opened, and according to an old historian, the same 
blow took off the head of Thomas Schucker and of fana1> 
icism in St. Gall, 

It still prevailed at Zurich. On the 6th of Novem- 
ber in the preceding year, a public discussion on the 
subject of infant baptism* had been held in the council- 
ball, when Zwingle and his friends proposed the follow- 
ing theses : 

" Children born of believing parents are children of 
God, like those who were born under the Old Testament, 
and consequently may receive baptism.* 

''Baptism* under the New Testament is what cir- 
cumcision was under the Old ; consequently, baptism 
ought now to be administered to children, as circumcis- 
ion was formerly. 

" We cannot prove the custom of rebaptizing* either 
by examples, texts, or arguments drawn from Scrip- 
ture ; and those who are rebaptized crucify Jesus Christ 
g^fresh." 

But the dispute was not confined to religious ques- 
tions ; they called for the abolition of tithes, on the 
ground that they were not of divine appointment. Zwin- 
gle replied, that the maintenance of the schools and 
churches depended on the tithes. He desired a complete 
religious reform ; but was decided not to permit the pub- 
lic order or political institutions to be in the least de- 
gree shaken. This was the limit at which he perceived 
that word from heaven, written by the hand of God, 
" Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." Job 38 : 11. 
It was necessary to stop somewhere, and here Zwingle 
and the reformers halted, in spite of those headstrong 
men who endeavored to hurry them further still. 

But if the reformers halted, they could not stop the 
enthusiasts, who seemed placed at their sides as if in 
contrast with their discretion and prudence. It was not 
enough for them to have formed a church ; this church, 
in their eyes, was the state. When they were summoned 
* See note, vol. L, p. 151. 



MANTZ AND BLAUROCK PUNISHED. 337 



before the tribunals, they declared they did not recog- 
nize the civil authority, that it was only a remnant of 
paganism, and that they would obey no other power than 
God. They taught that it was not lawful for Christians 
to fill public offices, or to carry the sword ; and resem- 
bling in this respect certain irreligious enthusiasts that 
have sprung up in our days, they looked upon a com 
munity of goods as the perfection of humanity.* 

Thus the danger was increasing ; the existence of 
civil society was threatened. It rose up to reject from 
its bosom these destructive elements. The government, 
in alarm, suffered itself to be hurried into strange meas- 
ures. Being resolved to make an example, it condemned 
Mantz to be drowned. On the 5th of January, 152T, he 
was placed in a boat ; his mother — the aged concubine 
of the canon — and his brother were among the crowd 
that followed him to the water's edge. "Persevere 
unto the end," exclaimed they. When the executioner 
prepared to throw Mantz into the lake, his brother burst 
into tears ; but his mother, calm and resolute, wit- 
nessed with dry and burning eyes the martyrdom of her 
son.f 

On the same day Blaurock was scourged with rods 
As they were leading him outside of the city, he shook 
nis blue cloak and the dust from off his feet against the 
city of Zurich.^ It would appear that two years later 
this unhappy creature was burned alive by the Eoman 
catholics of the Tyrol. 

Undoubtedly a spirit of rebellion existed ; no doubt 
the old ecclesiastical law, condemning heretics to death, 
was still in force, and the Reformation could not in one 
or two years reform every error ; and further, there is 
no question that the Romish states would have accused 
the Protestant states of encouraging disorder, if they 
had not punished these enthusiasts ; but these consid- 
erations may explain, although they cannot justify the 

* Fiisslin Beytrage, 1. 229-258; 2. 263. f Ohne das er 

Oder die Mutter, sondern nur der Bruder, geweinet. Hott. Helv. 
K. Gesch 3. 385, | Und schiittlet sinen blauen Rock und 

tone Schiih iiber die Statt Zurich. BuUinger Chron. ] 



838 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



severity of the magistrates. They might have taken 
measures against every thing that infringed the civil 
authority ; but religious errors, being combated by the 
teachers, should have enjoyed complete liberty before 
the civil tribunals. Such opinions are not to be expel- 
led by the scourge ; they are not drowned by throwing 
their professors into the water ; they float up agam 
from the depth of the abyss ; and fire but serves to kin* 
die in their adherents a fiercer enthusiasm and thirst for 
martyrdom. Zwingle, with whose sentiments on this 
subject we are acquainted, took no part in these sever- 
ities.* 

* Quod homines seditiosi, reipublicae turbatores, magistratuum 
hostesjusta Senatus sententia, damnati sunt, num idZwinglio fraa« 
di eooe poterit ! Bod. Gualteri £p. ad lectorem, 0pp. 1514. 2. 



PEOOEESSION AND IMMOBJLITl 339 



CHAPTER XI. 

Ftogression and immobility — Zwingle and Luther — Luther's retnni 

to scholasticism — Respect for tradition — Occam — Contrary ten- 
dency in Zwingle — Beginning of the controversy — OEcolampa- 
dius and the Swabian Syngramma — Strasburg mediates. 

It was not, however, on baptism* alone that diver- 
sities were to prevail ; more serious differences were to 
arise on the doctrine of the Lord's supper. 

The human mind, freed from the yoke that had 
pressed upon it for so many ages, made use of its lib- 
erty ; and if Roman-catholicism has to fear the shoals 
of despotism. Protestantism is equally exposed to those 
of anarchy. Progression is the character of Protestant- 
ism, as immobility is that of Romanism. 

Roman-catholicism, which possesses in the papacy a 
means of continually establishing new doctrines, appears 
at first sight, indeed, to contain a principle eminently 
favorable to variations. It has in truth largely availed 
itself of it, and from age to age we see Rome bringing 
forward or ratifying new doctrines. But its system 
once complete, Roman-catholicism has declared itself 
the champion of immobility. In this its safety lies ; it 
resembles those buildings which tremble at the least 
motion, and from which nothing can be taken without 
bringing them wholly to the ground. Permit the Ro- 
mish priests to marry, or aim a blow at the doctrine of 
transubstantiation, and the whole system is shaken, the 
whole edifice crumbles into dust. 

It is not thus with evangelical Christianity. Its 
principle is much less favorable to variations, and much 
more so to progression and to life. In fact, on the one 
hand it recognizes Scripture only as the source of truth, 
one and always the same, from the beginning of the 
church to the end : how then should it vary as Popery 

• Vol I., p. 161, bot 



340 HISTORY OP THE REPORMATIOK. 



has done ? But, on the other hand, each Christian is to 
go and draw for himself from this fountain ; and hence 
proceed action and liberty. Accordingly, evangelical 
Christianity, while it is the same in the nineteenth as in 
the sixteenth century, and as in the first, is in every age 
full of spontaneity and motion, and .s now filling the 
world with its researches, its labors, Bibles, missiona- 
ries, light, salvation, and life. 

It is a great error to classify together and almost to 
conforjid evangelical Christianity with mysticism and 
rationalism, and to impute their irregularities to it. 
Motion is in the very nature of Christian Protestantism ; 
it is directly opposed to immobility and lethargy ; but 
it is the motion of health and life that characterizes it, 
and not the aberrations of man deprived of reason, or 
the convulsions of disease. We shall see this charac- 
teristic manifested in the doctrine of the Lord's supper. 

Such a result might have been expected. This doc- 
trine had been understood in very different manners in 
the former ages of the church, and this diversity existed 
until the time when the doctrine of transubstantiation 
and the scholastic theology began simultaneously to 
rule over the middle ages. But when this dominion 
was shaken, the old diversities were destined to reap- 
pear. 

Zwingle and Luther, who had each been developed 
separately, the one in Switzerland and the other in Sax- 
ony, were however one day to meet face to face. The 
same spirit, and in many respects the same character, 
animated both. Both alike were filled with love for the 
truth and hatred of injustice ; both were naturally vio- 
lent ; and this violence was moderated in each by a sin- 
cere piety. But there was one feature in Zwingle's char- 
acter destined to carry him farther than Luther. It was 
not only as a man that he loved liberty, but also as a 
re})ublican and fellow-countryman of Tell. Accustomed 
to the decision of a free state, he did not permit himself 
to be stopped by those considerations before which Lu 
ther recoiled. He had moreover studied less profuundly 
the scholastic theology, and thus found hia motions Ighb 



ZWINaLE AND LUTHER. 



341 



fettered. Both were ardently attached to their own 
convictions ; both resolved to defend them ; and little 
habituated to yield to the convictions of another, they 
were now to meet, like two proud war-horses, which^ 
rushing through the contending ranks, suddenly encoui> 
ter each other in the hottest of the strife. 

A practical tendency predominated in the character 
of Zwingle and in the reformation of which he was the 
author, and this tendency was directed to two great 
objects, simplicity of worship and sanctifi cation of life. 
To harmonize the worship with the necessities of the 
mind, that seeks not external pomp, but invisible 
things — this was Zwingle's first aim. The idea of the 
corporeal presence of Christ in the Lord's supper, the 
origin of so many ceremonies and superstitions of the 
churcli, must therefore be abolished. But another desire 
of the Swiss reformer led to the same results. He found 
that the Roman doctrine of the eucharist, and even that 
of Luther, presupposed a certain magical influence prej- 
udicial to sanctification ; he feared lest Christians, im- 
agining they received Jesus Christ in the consecrated 
bread, should henceforward less earnestly seek to be 
united to him by faith in the heart. " Faith," said he, 
" is not knowledge, opinion, imagination ; it is a reali- 
ty.* It leads to a real unity with divine things." 
Thus, whatever Zwingle's adversaries may have as- 
serted, it was not a leaning to rationalism, but a pro- 
foundly religious view that led him to his peculiar 
doctrines. 

But there was another element in Zwingle's convic- 
tions : he was subject to those historical influences 
which we must everywhere recognize in the annals of 
the church as in that of the world. It has been long 
supposed that he was acquainted with the sentiments 
of Katram, Wickliffe, and Peter Waldo ; but we pos- 
sess a much safer historical clue to the convictions of 
the Swiss reformer. 

The two Netherlanders, Ehodius and Sagarus, whom 

* Fidem rem esse, non scleatiam, non opinionem vel imaginatio- 
fiem. Coxxuaent. de vera relig. Zw. 0pp. 3. 230. 



342 HISTORY OF THE HEFOUMATIOK. 



we have seen arrive at Wittemberg, and there occasion 
the first difference between Luther and Carlstadt, had 
turned their steps towards Switzerland, carrying with 
them WessePs manuscripts, and reached Basle, where 
Luther himself had commended them to CEcolampadius, 
The latter person, who was of timid character, finding 
that Luther did not approve of the opinions which these 
brethren from Holland were endeavoring to propagate, 
did not venture to declare his sentiments, and sent them 
to Zwingle. They arrived at Zurich in 1521, and having 
waited on the reformer, immediately turned the conver- 
sation on the doctrine of the Lord^s supper.* 

Rhodius and his friend did not at first make known 
their opinions, but after listening to Zwingle, they gave 
thanks to God for having delivered them from so great 
an error.f They then presented the letter from Cor- 
nelius Hoen, which Zwingle read, and published shortly 
after. 

This letter had an incalculable influence on the des- 
tinies of the Reformation. Hoen, resting his arguments 
on Christ^s words in the sixth chapter of St. John, said, 
" Christ gives himself to us by means of the bread :| 
but let us distinguish between the bread we receive by 
the mouth, and Christ whom we receive by faith. Who- 
ever thinks that he receives only what he takes into his 
mouth, does not discern the body of the Lord, and eats 
and drinks to his own condemnation, because by eating 
and drinking he bears testimony to the presence of 
Christ, while by his unbelief he remains far from him.'' 
At the same time the Netherlanders laid WessePs theses 
before Zwingle.§ These writings made a deep impres- 
sion on the reformer's mind. 

* Factum est ut Johannes Rhodius et Georgius Sagarus, pii et 
docti viri, Tigurum venirent, ut de Eucharistia cum Zwinglio con- 
ferrent. Lavateri Hist, de origine controv. sacram. Tiguri, 1664, 
p. 1 t Qui cum ejus sententiam audivissent dissimulantes 

Buam, gratias egerunt Deo, quod a tanto errore liberati essent at- 
que flonii Batavi epistolam protulerunt. Ibid. X Dominua 

per panem se ipsum tradit nobis. Epist. Christiana per Honnium 
Batavum Hist. Ey. 1. 231-260. § Propositioues ax evangelic 



RESULT OF ZWINaLE'S INQUIRIES. 34S 



The result of Zwingle's inquiries corresponded with 
his tendencies. By studying Scripture as a whole, 
whicli was his custom, and not in detacliod passages, 
and by having recourse to classical antiquity for the 
solution of the difficulties of language, he arrived at the 
conviction that the word is, employed in the formula of 
the institution of the Lord's supper, ought to be takeu.^ 
as Hoen said, in the meaning of signifies, and a.^ early 
as 1523 he wrote to his friend Wittembach that the 
bread and wine are, in the eucharist, what the water is 
in baptism. "It would be in vain," added he, ''for us 
to plunge a man a thousand times in water, if he does 
not believe. Faith is the one thing needful."* 

It would appear, besides, that Zwingle had been pre- 
pared,! indirectly at least, for these views by Erasmus. 
Melancthon says, "Zwingle confessed to me, at Mar- 
burg, that it was originally from the writings of Eras- 
mus that he had derived his opinions on the Lord's sup- 
per." In fact Erasmus wrote in 1526, "The sentiments 
of (Ecolampadius would not displease me if the testi- 
mony of the church were not against them. I do not 
see what an insensible body can do, or what utility 
would be derived from it, even if we could feel it ; it is 
enough that spiritual grace be found in the symbols."| 

Luther at first set out, in appearance at least, from 
principles very similar to those of the Zurich doctor. 
" It is not the sacrament that sanctitic th," said he, " but 
faith in the sacrament." But the extravagances of those 
whose mysticism spiritualized every thing, led to a 
great change in his views. When he saw enthusiasts 
who pretended to a particular inspiration, breaking 

de corpore et sanguine Christi sumendo, etc. It is uncertain 
whether Zwingle had, at this time, received Wessel's treatise dc 
Eucharistid. 

* Hand aliter hic panem et vinum esse .puto quam aqua est la 
baptismo. Ad Wittenbachium Ep. June 15, 1523. f Zwiiigliug 
mihi confessus est, se ex Erasnii scriptis primum hausisse opin^ouem 
Buam de ccena iJomini. Corp. Ref. 4. 970. X Nec enim video 

quid agat corpus insensibile, nec utilitatem allaturum si sentiretuTj 
modo ad&it in Symbolis gratia spiritualis. Er. 0pp. 3. 941, 



844 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



images, rejecting baptism, f and denying the presence 
of Christ in the Lord's supper, he was alarmed ; he had 
a sort of prophetic presentiment of the dangers that 
would threaten the church if this ultraspiritual tendency 
should get the upperhand^ and he accordingly threw 
himself into the very opposite course ; like a pilot who, 
seeing his boat lean too much on one side and near 
foundering, throws himself on the other to restore the 
equilibrium. 

From that time Luther attached a higher importance 
to the sacraments. He maintained that they were not 
only signs, by means of which Christians were outwardly 
distinguished, as Zwingle said, but testimonials of the 
divine will, calculated to strengthen our faith. More 
than this, Christ, in his view, had determined to give 
believers a full assurance of their salvation, and in 
order to seal this promise in the most effectual manner, 
he had added his real body to the bread and wine. 
" Just as iron and fire," continued he, " which are never- 
theless two distinct substances, are confounded together 
in a heated mass of iron so that in each of its parts there 
is at once iron and fire ; in like manner, and with much 
greater reason, the glorified body of Christ is found in 
all the parts of the bread." 

Thus at this period there seems to have been some 
return on the part of Luther towards the scholastic the- 
ology. In his doctrine of justification by faith, he had 
entirely renounced it ; but in that of the sacrament he 
abandoned one point only, transubstantiation, and pre- 
served the other, the corporeal presence. He even went 
so far as to say, that he would rather receive the blood 
only with the pope, than the wine only with Zwingle. 

Luther's great principle was never to depart from 
the doctrine and customs of the church, except when the 
language of Scripture rendered it absolutely necessary. 

Where has Christ commanded us to elevate the host 
and exhibit it to the people ?" Carlstadt had demanded 
"And where has Christ forbidden it?" was Luther's 
reply. In this answer lies the principle of the two ref* 
• Vol. I., p. 161, bot 



RESPECT FOR TRADITION. 



345 



ormations. Ecclesiastical traditions were dear to the 
Saxon reformer. If he separated from them on several 
points, it was not until after terrible struggles, and be» 
cause, above all, it was necessary to obey the Scriptures. 
But when the letter of the word of God appeared in har- 
mony with the tradition and usages of the church, he 
adhered to it with immovable firmness. Now this was 
what happened in the question of the eucharist. He did 
not deny that the word is might be taken in the sense 
indicated by Zwingle. He acknowledged, for instance, 
that in the words, That rock was Christ," 1 Cor. 10 : 4, 
it must be so understood ; but he denied that this word 
must have the same meaning in the institution of the 
Lord^s supper. 

He found in one of the later schoolmen, Occam,* 
whom he preferred to all others, an opinion which he 
embraced. Like Occam, he gave up the continually 
repeated miracle, by virtue of which, according to the 
Roman church, the body and blood of Christ took the 
place of the bread and wine after every consecration by 
the priest ; and with this doctor, he substituted a uni- 
versal miracle, worked once for all — that of the ubiquity 
and omnipresence of the body of Jesus Christ. "Christ,'' 
said he, " is present in the bread and wine, because he 
is present everywhere, and above all, wherever he willa 
to be."t 

The turn of Zwingle's mind was very different from 
Luther's. He was less inclined to preserve a certain 
union with the universal church and to maintain his 
oonnection with the traditions of past ages. As a the- 
ologian, he looked at Scripture alone, and thence only 
would he receive his faith freely and immediately, with- 
out troubling himself about what others had thought 
before him. As a republican, he looked to his commune 
of Zurich. It was the idea of the present church that 
engrossed his thoughts, and not that of the church of 
former times. He clung particularly to these words of 

* Diu multumque legit scripta Occami, cujus acumen antefere- 
f)at Thomas et Scoto. Melancth. Vita Luth. f Occam und 

Lather, Stttdicn und KriHkeUy 1889, p. 69. 



3iG HISTORY OF THE REFOILMATIOJS. 



St Paul, "For we being many, are one bread, and om 
bo ly f and he saw in the Lord's supper the sign of a 
Bp<ritual communion between Christ and all Christians. 
'•Whoever acts unworthily," said he, "is guilty tow- 
aris the body of Christ, of which he is a member.'' 
His thought had a great practical influence over men's 
niiods ; and the effects it produced in the lives of many 
t5oafirmed Zwingle in it. 

Thus Luther and Zwingle had insensibly separated 
from each other. It is probable, however, that peace 
might have subsisted longer between them, if the tur- 
bulent Carlstadt, who kept passing to and fro between 
Switzerland and Germany, had not inflamed these con- 
tidry opinions. 

A step taken with a view to maintain peace led to 
the explosion. The council of Zurich, desirous of pre- 
venting all controversy, forbade the sale of Carlstadt's 
works. Zwingle, who disapproved of his violence, and 
blamed his mystical and obscure expressions,* thought 
himself now called upon to defend his doctrine, both in 
the pulpit and before the council ; and shortly after 
wrote a letter to Albert, pastor of Reutlingen, in which 
he said, Whether or not Christ speaks of the sacra- 
ment in the sixth chapter of St. John, it is very evident 
that he there inculcates a manner of eating his flesh and 
drinking his blood in which there is nothing corporeal.^f 
He then proceeded to prove that the Lord's supper, by 
reminding the faithful, according to Christ's intention, 
of his body which was broken for them, procured for 
them that spiritual eating which alone is truly sal- 
utary. 

Yet Zwingle shrunk from a rupture with Luther ; he 
trembled at the thought that these unhappy disputes 
might tear in pieces that new society which was then 
forming in the midst of fallen Christendom. But it was 
not so with Luther. He did not hesitate to class Zwin- 

* Quod morosior est, Carlstaclius, in caeremoniis non ferendis 
non admodum probo. Zw. Epp. 369. f A manducatione cibi. 
qui ventrem implet, transiit ad verbi manducationem, quam cibum 
Tooat coelestem, qui mundum vivificet, Zw. 0pp. 3. 673. 



BEaiNNlKO OF THE OOITTROTERST. 347 



gle with those enthusiasts against whom he had already 
broken so many lances. He did not reflect that if the 
images had been taken down at Zurich, it was done 
legally and by order of the public authority. Accus- 
tomed to the forms of the German principalities, he 
knew but little of the proceedings of the Swiss repub- 
lics ; and he inveighed against the grave divines of 
Helvetia, as he had done against the Munzers and Carl- 
Btadts. 

Luther having published his Trecdise against the Celes- 
tial Prophets^ Zwingle no longer hesitated, and at nearly 
the same time he gave to the world his Letter to Albert^ 
and his Commentary on True and False Religion^ dedi- 
cated to Francis I. In this last he said, Since Christ, 
in the sixth chapter of St. John, ascribes to faith the 
power of imparting eternal life, and of uniting the be- 
liever to him in the closest union, what need have we 
of more ? Why should he afterwards have ascribed this 
virtue to his flesh, while he himself declares that his 
flesh profiteth nothing ? The flesh of Christ, so far as it 
suffered death for us, is of incalculable utility, for it 
saves us from perdition ; so far as it is eaten by us, it 
is of no use whatever." 

The struggle began. Pomeranus, Luther's friend, 
rushed into the conflict, and attacked the evangelist of 
Zurich somewhat too contemptuously. (Ecolampadius 
then began to blush at having so long combated his 
doubts, and at having preached doctrines that already 
began to waver in his mind. He took courage, and 
wrote from Basle to Zwingle, " The dogma of the real 
presence is the fortress and safeguard of their impiety. 
So long as they preserve this idol, no one can conquer 
them." He then entered into the lists, by publishing a 
book on the meaning of our Lord's words, This is my 
body."^ 

The mere fact that (Ecolampadius had joined the 
reformer of Zurich excited an immense sensation, not 
only in Basle, but in all Germany. Luther was deeply 

* He took the word is in its usual aoceptation, but by body he 
onderBtood a symbol of the bodj 



348 HISTOBY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



affected by it. Brenz, Schnepff, and twelve other pa&* 
tors of Swabia, to whom OEcolarnpadius had dedicated 
bis book, and most of whom had been his pupils, expe- 
rienced the keenest sorrow. At this very moment 
when I am separating from him in a just cause," said 
Brenz, taking up the pen to reply to him, " I honor and 
admire him as much as it is possible for a man to do. 
The bonds of love are not broken between us because 
we are not of one opinion." He then published, con- 
jointly with his friends, the famous Swabian Syngram- 
may in which he replied to (Ecolampadius with firmness, 
but with charity and respect. "If an emperor," said the 
authors, " give a wand to a judge, saying, < Take ; this 
is the power of judging,' the wand no doubt is a mere 
sign ; but the words being added, the judge has not 
only the symbol, but the power itself." The tru^ mem- 
bers of the reformed churches may admit this illustra- 
tion. The Syngramma was received with acclamations ; 
its authors were looked upon as the champions of truth : 
many theologians, and even laymen, desirous of sharing 
in their glor}^ began to defend the doctrine attacked, 
and fell upon (Ecolampadius, 

Strasburg then came forward to mediate between 
Switzerland and Germany. Capito and Bucer were the 
friends of peace, and the question in debate was, in their 
opinion, of secondary consequence ; they therefore placed 
themselves between the two parties, sent one of their 
colleagues, George Cassel, to Luther, and conjured him 
to beware of snapping the ties of fraternity which united 
him with the Swiss divines. 

Nowhere did Luther's character shine forth more 
strikingly than in this controversy on the Lord's sup- 
per. Never were more clearly displayed that firmness 
with which he clung to a conviction which he believed 
to be Christian, his faithfulness in seeking for no other 
foundation than Scripture, the sagacity of his defence, 
his animated eloquence, and often overwhelming powers 
of argumentation. But never also were more clearly 
shown the obstinacy with which he adhered to his own 
opimons, the little attention he paid to the reasons of 



SUCCESS AND AIiARM. 



349 



nifl opponents, and the uncharitable haste with which he 
ascribed their errors to the wickedness of their hearts, 
or to the wiles of the devil. One or other of us/' said 
he to the Strasburg mediator, " must be ministers of 
Satan — ^the Swiss or ourselves/' 

This was what Capito styled "the frenzies of the 
Saxon Orestes and these frenzies were followed by 
exhaustion. Luther's health was affected by them : one 
day he fainted in the arms of his wife and friends ; he 
was a whole week as if in "death and hell."* "He 
had lost Jesus Christ," he said, " and was tossed to and 
fro by the tempests of despair. The world was passing 
away, and announcing by prodigies that the last day 
was at hand." 

But the divisions among the friends of the Reforma- 
tion were destined to have still more fatal consequences. 
The Romish theologians exulted, particularly in Swit- 
zerland, at being able to oppose Luther to Zwingle. 
And yet if, after three centuries, the recollection of 
these divisions should convey to evangelical Christians 
the precious fruits of unity in diversity, and of charity 
in liberty, they will not have been in vain. Even then, 
the reformers, by opposing one another, showed that they 
were not governed by a blind hatred against Rome, and 
that truth was the primary object of their inquiries. 
Herein we must acknowledge there is something gener- 
ous ; and conduct so disinterested did not fail to bear 
fruit, and to extort, even from enemies, a feeling of inter* 
est and esteem. 

And further than this, we may here again recognize 
that sovereign hand which directs all things, and per- 
mits nothing without the wisest design. Luther, not- 
withstanding his opposition to the Papacy, was in an 
eminent degree conservative. Zwingle, on the con- 
trary, was inclined to a radical reform. These two 
opposite tendencies were necessary. If Luther and his 
friends had stood alone at the time of the Reformation, 
tho work would have been stopped too soon, and the 

* In morte et inferno jactatus. L. £pp. 3. 132. 



350 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



reforming principle would not have accomplished its pre- 
scribed task. If, on the contrary, there had been only 
Zwiiigle, the thread would have been snapped too ab- 
ruptly, and the Reformation would have been isolated 
from the ages that had gone before. 

These two tendencies, which to a superScial observer 
might seem to have existed only to combat each other, 
were ordained to complete each other ; and after a lapso 
of three centuries we can say that tiiey have fulfilled 
theii* misGioiL 



A MEETING IN THE TOCKENBURa. 351 



CHAPTER XII 

rte Tockenburg — An assembly of the people — Reformation— -The 
Orisons — Disputation at Ilantz — Results— Reformation at Zu- 
rich. 

Thus the Reformation had struggles to maintain in 
every quarter, and after having contended with the 
rationalist philosophy of Erasmus, and the fanaticism 
of some of the Anabaptists,* it still had to endure an 
intestine war. But its great conflict was always with 
Popery ; and the attack begun in the cities of the plain 
was now carried on among the most distant mountains. 

The mountains of the Tockenburg had heard the 
sound of the gospel, and three ecclesiastics were there 
persecuted by order of the bishop, as inclining to her- 
esy. " Convince us by the word of God,'' said Militus, 
Doring, and Farer, " and we will submit not only to the 
chapter, but even to the least of our brethren in Christ ; 
otherwise we will obey no one, not even the mightiest 
among men."f 

This was truly the spirit of Zwingle and of the Ref- 
ormation. A circumstance occurred shortly after that 
inflamed the minds of the inhabitants of these lofty val- 
leys. A meeting of the people took place on St. Cathe- 
rine's day ; the citizens were assembled, and two men 
of Schwytz, having come to the Tockenburg on busi- 
ness, were seated at one of the tables ; they entered 
into conversation. **Ulrich Zwingle," said one of them, 
" is a heretic and a robber." Steiger, the secretary of 
state, undertook Zwingle's defence. Their noise attract- 
ed the attention of the whole meeting. Geoi ge Brugg- 
mann, Zwingle's uncle, who was at an adjoining table, 
sprung angrily from his seat, exclaiming, Surely they 
are speaking of Master Ulrich." All the guests rose and 

• A term applied to them by their opponents, but which they 
never admitted as applicable to themselves. f Ne potentissimo 
qoiaem, sed soli Deo ejusque verbo. Zw. Epp. 370. 



362 HI8T0ET OF THE REFOEMATION. 



followed him, fearing a brawl.* As the tumult kept 
increasing, the bailiff hastily assembled the council in 
the street, and prayed Bruggmann, for the sake of peace, 
to be content with saying to these men, If you do not 
retract your words, it is you who are guilty of lying 
and thieving." Recollect what you have just said,** 
replied the men of Schwytz ; " be sure we shall remem* 
ber thom." They then mounted their horses, and gal- 
loped off on the road to Schwytz.f 

The government of Schwytz then addressed a threat- 
ening letter to the inhabitants of the Tockenburg, which 
spread dismay among them. "Be bold and fearless,"^ 
wrote Zwingle to the council of his native place. "Be 
not concerned at the lies they utter against me. Any 
brawler can call me a heretic ; but do you refrain from 
insults, disorders, debauchery, and mercenary wars ; 
relieve the poor, protect those who are oppressed, and 
whatever abuse may be heaped upon you, preserve an 
unshaken confidence in Almighty God."§ 

Zwingle's exhortations produced the desired effect. 
The council still hesitated, but the people, meeting in 
their respective parishes, unanimously decreed that the 
mass should be abolished, and that they would be faith- 
ful to the word of God.]| 

The conquests were not less important in Ehaetia, 
which Salandronius had been compelled to leave, but 
where Comander was boldly proclaiming the gospel. 
The enthusiasts, indeed, by preaching their fanatical 
doctrines in the Orisons, had at first done great mischief 
to the Reformation. The people were divided into three 
parties. Some had embraced the views of these new 
prophets ; others, amazed and confounded, regarded this 

* Totumque convivium sequi, grandem conflictum timentes. 
Zw. Epp. 371. t Auf solches ritten sie wieder heim. Ibid. 37-1 

J Mfi^iti animo este et interriti. Ibid. 351. § Verbis diris 

abstinete .... opem ferte egenis .... spem certissimam in Deo re- 
ponatis omnipotente. Ibid. There must be a mistake in the iates 
of one of the letters, 14th and 23d, anno 1524, or else one of Zwin- 
gle^s letters to his fellow-countrymen is lost. || ParocbJ® uac 

OouBeosu stataeruni in yerbo Dei manere. Ibid. 4:23. 



DISPUTATION AT ILANTZ. 



359 



Bchism with anxiety ; and lastly, the partisans of Rome 
were loud in their exultation.* 

A meeting was held at Ilantz, in the gray league, for 
a public disputation ; the supporters of the Papacy on 
the one hand, the friends of the Reformatioa on the 
other, collected their forces. The bishop's vicar at first 
sought how to evade the combat. " These disputes lead 
to great expense," said he ; "I am ready to lay down 
ten thousand florins in order to meet tiiem ; but I re- 
quire the opj osite party to do as much." " If the bishop 
has ten thousand florins at his disposal," exclaimed the 
rough voice of a peasant in the crowd, it is from us he 
has wrung them ; to give as much more to those poor 
priests would be too bad.'' We are poor people with 
empty purses," said Comander, pastor of Coire; " we 
have hardly the means of buying food : where then can 
we find ten thousand florins ? " t Every one laughed at 
this expedient, and the business proceeded. 

Among the spectators were Sebastian Hofmeister 
and James Amman of Zurich ; they held in their hands 
the Holy Bible in Greek and Hebrew. The bishop's vicar 
desired that all strangers should be excluded. Hofmeis- 
ter understood this to be directed against him. " We 
have come provided with a Greek and Hebrew Bible," 
said he, " in order that no violence may be done in any 
manner to Scripture. Yet sooner than prevent the con- 
ference, we are willing to withdraw." " Ah," exclaimed 
the priest of Dintzen, looking at the books oif the Zurich- 
ers, "if the Greek and Hebrew languages had never 
entered our country, there would have been fewer here- 
sies."! " St. Jerome," said another, " has translated the 
Bible for us ; we do not want the books of the Jews." 
•'If the Zurichers are turned out," said the banneret cf 
Ilantz, "the commune will interfere." "Well the«n,'^ 
replied others, "let them listen, but be silent." The 

• Pars tertia papistarum est in immensum gloriantium de 8chi& 
mate inter nos facto. Zw. Epp. 400. t Sie waren gute arme 

Gesellen mit leeren Secklen. Fussl. Beytr. 1. 358. X Ware die 
Griechische and Hebraische Sprache nicht in das Land gekommen. 
Ibid. 

23 



354 HISTORY" OF THE REFORMATION 



Zurichers remained accordingly, and their Bible with 
them. 

After this, Comander stood up and read the first of 
the theses he had published ; it ran thus : " The Chris- 
tian church is born of the word of God ; it must abide 
by this word, and listen to no other voice." He then 
proved what he had advanced by numerous passages 
from Scripture. "He trod with a firm step," said an 
eye-witness,* "each time setting down his foot with the 
firmness of an ox." " There is too much of this," said 
the vicar. "When he is at table with his friends lis- 
tening to the pipers," said Hofmeister, " he does not find 
it too Iong."f 

Then a man arose and advanced from the midst of 
the crowd, tossing his arms, knitting his brows, blink- 
ing his eyes,| and who appeared to have lost his senses ; 
he rushed towards the reformer, and many thought he 
was about to strike him. He was a schoolmaster of 
Coire. " I have committed several questions to writ- 
ing," said he to Comander ; " answer them instantly." 
" I am here," said the reformer of the Grisons, " to de* 
fend my doctrine : attack it, and I will defend it ; or else 
return to your place. I will answer you when I have 
done." The schoolmaster remained a moment in sus- 
pense. " Very well," said he at last, and returned to 
his seat. 

It was proposed to pass on to the doctrine of the 
sacraments. The abbot of St. Luke's declared that he 
could not approach such a subject without awe, and the 
horrified curate in alarm made the sign of the cross. 

The schoolmaster of Coire, who had already made 
one attempt to attack Comander, began with much vol- 
ubility to argue in favor of the doctrine of the sacra- 
ment according to the text, " This is my body." " My 
dear Berre," said Comander, "how do you understand 
these words, John is Elias ?" " I understand," replied 
Berre, who saw what Comander was aiming at, " that 

♦ Satzte den Fuss wie ein miider Ochs. Fiissl. Bertr. 1. 362. 
t Dea Pfeififern zuzuhoren, die ... . wie den Fiirsten hofiertenu 
Cbid. I Blintzete mit dea Augea^ romfete die Stirae. lb. 86& 



RESULTS OF THE DISPUTATION. SOfi 

he was reall} and essentially Elias." " Why then," con* 
tinned Comander, "did John the Baptist himself say to 
the Pharisees that he was not Elias ?" The schoolmas- 
ter was silent : at last he replied, " It is true." Every- 
body began to laugh, even those who had urged him tc 
speak. 

The abbot of St. Luke's made a long speech on the 
eucharist, which closed the conference. Seven priests 
embraced the evangelical doctrine ; complete religious 
liberty was proclaimed, and the Romish worship was 
abolished in several churches. " Christ," to use the lan- 
guage of Salandronius, " grew up everywhere in these 
mountains, as the tender grass of spring ; and the pas- 
tors were like living fountains, watering these lofty 
valleys."* 

The reform made still more rapid strides in Zurich. 
The Dominicans, the Augustines, the Capuchins, so long 
at enmity, were reduced to the necessity of living to- 
gether — a foretaste of hell for these poor monks. In 
the place of these corrupted institutions were founded 
schools, a hospital, a theological college : learning and 
charity everywhere supplanted indolence and selfish- 
ness. 

* Yita, moribus et doctrina herbescenti Christo apud Rhsetoz 
fboB irriganB. Zw. Epp. p. 485. 



856 HISTOEY OF THE REF0EMATI0I8 



CHAPTER XIII, 

Tht oligarche — ^Bernese mandate of 1526 in favor of the papacy— 

Discussion at Badei. — Regulations of the discussion — Riches 
and poverty — Eck and CEcolampadias — Discussion — Zwingle'B 
share in the discussion — Vaunts of the Romanists — Abusive lan- 
guage of a monk — Close of the disputation. 

These victories of the Reformation could not remain 
nnnoticed. Monks, priests, and prelates, in distraction, 
felt that the ground was everywhere slipping from be- 
neath their feet, and that the Romish church was on the 
point of sinking under unprecedented dangers. The 
oligarchs of the cantons, the advocates of foreign pen- 
sions and capitulations, saw that they could delay no 
longer, if they wished to preserve their privileges ; and 
at the very moment when the church was frightened and 
beginning to sink, they stretched out their mailed hands 
to save it. A Stein and a John Hug of Lucerne united 
with a John Faber ; and the civil authority rushed to 
the support of that hierarchical power which openeth its 
mouth to blaspheme, and maketh war upon the saints. 
Rev. 13 : 

Their first efforts were directed against Berne. The 
seven Roman-catholic cantons, in collusion with the 
Bernene oligarchs, sent a deputation to that city, who 
laid their complaints before the council on Whit-Monday, 
1526. " All order is destroyed in the church,'' said the 
Bchulthess, chief-magistrate of Lucerne, " God is blas- 
phemed, the sacraments, the mother of God, and the 
saintf} are despised, and imminent and terrible calami- 
ties threaten to dissolve our praiseworthy confedera- 
tion." At the same time the Bernese partisans of Rome, 
in harmony with the Forest cantons, had summoned to 
Benie the deputies of the country, chosen from those 
who were devoted to the papacy. Some of them had 
the coiMage to pronounce in favor of the gospel. The 



A DISCUSSION PEOPOSED. 



867 



sitting was stormy. " Berne must renonnce the e^^ an- 
gelical faith and walk with us/' said the Forest cantons. 
The Bernese councils decreed that they would maintain 
"the ancient Christian faith, the holy sacraments, the 
mother of God, the saints, and the ornaments of the 
churches."* Thus Eome triumphed, and the mandate 
of 1526 was about to annul that of 1623. In effect, all 
the married priests not born in the canton were com- 
pelled to leave it ; they drove from their borders all 
who were suspected of Lutheranism ; they exercised a 
vigilant censorship over every work sold by the book- 
sellers, and certain books were publicly burnt. Even 
John Faber, with audacious falsehood, said publicly 
that Haller had bound himself before the council to per- 
form mass again, and to preach the doctrine of Rome. 
It was resolved to take advantage of so favorable an 
opportunity to crush the new faith. 

For a long while public opinion had been demanding 
a discussion ; this was the only means left of quieting 
the people.f "Convince us by the holy Scriptures,'' 
said the council of Zurich to the diet, " and we will com- 
ply with your wishes." " The Zurichers," it was every- 
where said, " have made you a promise ; if you can con- 
vince them by the Bible, why not do so ? if you cannot, 
why do you not conform to the Bible ?" 

The conferences held at Zurich had exercised an im- 
mense influence, and it was felt necessary to oppose 
them by a conference held in a Romish city, with all 
necessary precautions to secure the victory to the 
pope's party. 

True, these discussions had been pronounced unlaws 
ful, but means were found to evade this difficulty. " It 
is only intended," said they, "to check and condemn 
the pestilent doctrines of Zwingle."| This being set^ 
tied, they looked about for a vigorous champion, and 
Dr, Eck offered himself. He feared nothing. "Zwinglc 

• Actum uff den heil. Pfingsel Montag, 1526. Tschudi. 

t Dass der gmein Man, one eine offne Disputation, nit zu stil« 
ten was. Bull. Chr. 1. 331. | Diet of Lucerne, March 19^ 

1626. 



358 HISTOEY OF THE REPORMATIOW 



no doubt has milked more cows than he has read books/ 
said he, by Hofmeister's account.* 

The great council of Zurich sent Dr, Eck a safe-con- 
duct to go direct to Zurich; but Eck replied that he 
would wait for the answer of the confederation. Zwin^ 
gle then offered to dispute at St. Gall or Schaffhausen 5 
but the council, acting on an article of the federal com- 
pact which provided " that every accused person should 
be tried in the place of his abode," ordered Zwingle to 
withdraw his offer. 

At last the diet fixed that the conference should 
take place at Baden, on the 16th of May, 1526. This 
meeting promised to be important; for it was the 
result and the seal of the alliance which had just 
been concluded between the clergy and the oligarchs 
of the confederation. " See," said Zwingle to Vadian, 
"what Faber and the oligarchs now venture to at- 
tempt."t 

Accordingly the decision of the diet produced a great 
sensation in Switzerland. It was not presumed that a 
conference held under such auspices would be favorable 
to the Reformation. Are not the five cantons the most 
devoted to the pope supreme in Baden, said the Zurich- 
ers ? Have they not already declared Zwingle's doctrine 
heretical, and pursued it with fire and sword ? Was not 
Zwingle burnt in effigy at Lucerne, with every mark of 
ignominy ? At Priburg, were not his writings commit- 
ted to the flames ? Do they not everywhere call for his 
death ? Have not the cantons that exercise sovereign 
rights in Baden declared, that in whatever part of their 
territory Zwingle made his appearance, he should be 
apprehended ?| Did not Uberlinger, one of their chiefs, 
say that the only thing in the world that he desired 
was to hang Zwingle, though he should be called a 
liangman all the rest of his days ?§ And has not Dr. 

• Er habe wohl mehr Kiihe gemolken, als Biicher gelesen. Zw. 
0pp. 2. 405. t Vide nunc quid audeant oligarchi atque Fober 
Zw. Epp. 484. X ZwingU in ihrem Gebiet, wo er betreten werde, 
gefangen zu nehmen. Zw. 0pp. 2. 422. § Da woUte er gern 

all Bein Lebtag eiu Henker genanflt werden. Ibid. 454. 



MARTYES OF LINDAU aND FRIBURO. 



359 



Eck himself, for years past, been crying out that the 
heretics must be attacked with fire and sword ? What 
then will be the end of this conference, what other result 
can it have, but the death of the reformer ? 

Such were the fears that agitated the commission 
appointed at Zurich to examine into the affair. Zwin* 
gle, an eye-witness of their agitation, rose and said, 
" You know what happened at Baden to the valiant men. 
of Stammheim, and how the blood of the Wirths dyed 
the scaffold ; . . . . and it is to the very place of their exe- 
cution that they challenge us. . . . Let Zurich, Berne, 
St. Gall, or even Basle, Constance, and Schaffhausen, be 
selected for the conference ; let it be agreed to discuss 
essential points only, employing nothing else than the 
word of God ; let no judge be set above it ; and then 1 
am ready to appear,"* 

Meanwhile, fanaticism was already bestirring itself 
and striking down its victims. A consistory, headed by 
that same Faber who had challenged Zwingle, on the 
10th of May, 1526, about a week before the discussion 
it Baden, condemned to the flames, as a heretic, an 
evangelical minister named John Hiigel, pastor of Lin- 
dau,f who walked to the place of execution singing the 
Te Deum, At the same time, another minister, Peter 
Spengler, was drowned at Friburg by order of the 
bishop of Constance. 

Sinister rumors reached Zwingle from all quarters. 
His brother-in-law, Leonard Tremp, wrote to him from 
Berne, " I entreat you, as you regard your life, not to ' 
repair to Baden. I know that they will not respect your 
Bafe-conduct."J 

It was aflfirmed that a plan had been formed to seize 
and gag him, throw him into a boat, and carry him off 
to some secret place. § With these threats and perse* 

• Wellend wir ganz geneigt zyn ze eischynen. Zw. 0pp. 2. 
423. t Hunc hominem haereticum damnamus, projicimiis et 

conculcamus. Hotting. Helv. K. Gescli. 3. 300, J Cave- 

aiis per caput vestrum. . . . Zw. Epp. p. 483. § Navigio 

eaptum, ore mox obtiirato, clam fuisse deportandum. Osw. Mjo. 
7it. Zw. 



360 HISTOEY OP THE EEPOEMATIOS. 



cutions before them, the council of Zurich decreed thai 
Zwingle should not go to Baden.* 

The discussion being fixed for the 19th of May, the 
disputants and the representatives of the cantons and 
bishops began to arrive graduallj^. On the side of the 
Eoman-catholics appeared in the foremost place the war- 
like and vain-glorious Dr. Eck ; on the side of the Prot- 
estants, the retiring and gentle (Ecolampadius. The 
latter was well aware of the perils attending this dis- 
cussion. "He had long hesitated, like a timid stag 
worried by furious dogs," says an old historian ; at 
length he decided on going to Baden, previously mak- 
ing this solemn declaration, "I acknowledge no other 
standard of judgment than the word of God." At first, 
he had earnestly desired that Zwingle should share his 
danger ;f but he soon became convinced that, if the 
intrepid doctor had appeared in that fanatical city, the 
anger of the Romanists, kindling at his sight, would 
have caused the death of both of them. 

They began by determining the regulations of the 
conference. Dr. Eck proposed that the deputies of the 
Forest cantons should be empowered to pronounce the 
final judgment ; which was, in truth, anticipating the 
condemnation of the reformed doctrines. Thomas Pla- 
ter, who had come from Zurich to attend the colloquy, 
was dispatched by (Ecolampadius to ask Zwingle's ad* 
vice. Arriving during the night, he was with difficulty 
admitted into the reformer's house. " Unlucky dis- 
turber," said Zwingle to him, as he rubbed his eyes, 
for six weeks I have not gone to bed, owing to this 
discussion. J .... What are your tidings ?" Plater 
stated Eck's demands. "And who can make those 
peasants understand such things ?" replied Zwingle ; 
**they would be much more at home in milking their 
cows."§ 

• Zwinglium Senatus Tigurinus Badenam dimittere recusavit. 
Osw. Myc. Vit. Zw. f Si periclitaberis, periclitabimur omnea 

tecum. Zw. Epp. p. 312. X Ich bin in sechs Wochen nie in 

das Beth kommen. Plater's Leben, p. 263. § Sie verBtundea 
siob bos aof Kuh malken. Ibid. 



EOK AND (ECOLAMPADItJB. 361 

On the 21st of May the conference opened. Eci 
and Paher, accompanied by prelates, magistrates, and 
doctors, robed in garments of damask and silk, and 
adorned with rings, chains, and crosses,* repaired to 
the church. Eck haughtily ascended a pulpit splendidly 
decorated, while the humble (Ecolampadius, meanly 
olothed, was forced to take his seat in front of his op- 
ponent on a rudely carved stool. "All the time the 
conference lasted," said the chronicler Bullinger, " Eck 
and his friends were lodged at the Baden parsonage, 
faring sumptuously, living gaily and scandalously, and 
drinking much wine, with which the abbot of Wettin- 
gen provided them.f Eck took the baths at Baden, it 
was said, but .... in wine. The evangelicals, on the 
contrary, made a sorry appearance, and the people 
laughed at them as at a troop of mendicants. Their 
way of living was in strong contrast to that of the* 
papal champions. The landlord of the Pike^ the inn at 
which (Ecolampadius lodged, being curious to know 
what the latter did in his room, reported that every 
time he peeped in, he found him reading or praying. 
It must be confessed, said he, that he is a very pious 
heretic." 

The disputation lasted eighteen days, and during 
the whole time the clergy walked daily in solemn pro- 
cession, chanting litanies in order to insure victory. 
Eck alone spoke in defence of the Romish doctrines. 
He was still the champion of the Leipsic disputation, 
with the same German accent, broad shoulders, and 
strong lungs, an excellent town-crier, and in outward 
appearance having more resemblance to a butcher 
than a theologian. According to his usual custom 
he disputed with great violence, seeking to gall his 
adveisaries by sarcasm, and from time to time slip- 
ping out an oath.J But the president never called him 
to order. 

* Mit t^^yden, Damast and Sammet bekleydet. Bull. Chr. 1. 351. 
t Veibruchten vil wyn. Ibid. % So entwuscht imm ettwan 
(0lQ Schwur. Ibid. 



W2 HISTOUY OF THE REFORMATIO!!? 



Eck stamps with his feet, and thumps with his hands, 

He blusters, he swears, and he scolds ; 
Whatever the pope and the cardinals teach, 
Is the faith, he declares, that he holds-* 

(Ecolampadius, on the contrary, with his calm fea 
tures and noble and patriarchal air, spoke with so much 
mildness, and at the same time with such courage and 
ability, that even his adversaries, affected and impressed, 
said one to another, Oh, that the tall sallow man were 
on our side."f ... At times, however, he was moved 
when he saw the hatred and violence of his auditors : 
" How impatiently they listen to me," said he ; but God 
will not forsake his glory, and that is all we seek."J 

(Ecolampadius having combated Dr. Eck's first thesis 
on the real presence, Haller, who had come to Baden 
after the opening of the conference, entered the lists 
against the second. But little used to such conferences, 
of a timid character, tied down by the orders of his 
government, and embarrassed by the looks of his avoyer 
Gaspard of Mullinen, a great enemy to the Reformation, 
Haller possessed not the haughty confidence of his op- 
ponent ; but he had more real strength. When Haller 
had finished, (Ecolampadius returned to the combat, and 
pressed Eck so closely, that the latter was compelled to 
fall back on the customs of the church. " Custom," re- 
plied (Ecolampadius, " has no force in our Switzerland, 
unless it be according to the constitution ; now, in mat- 
ters of faith, the Bible is our constitution." 

The third thesis on the invocation of saints, the 
fourth on images, the fifth on purgatory, were succes- 
sively discussed. No one rose to contest the truth of 
the two last, which turned on original sin and baptism. 

Zwingle took an active part in the whole of the dis- 
cussion. The Romish party, which had appointed four 
secretaries, had forbidden all other persons to take notes 
* Egg zahlet mit fussen und henden 
Fing an schelken und schenden, etc. 
Contemporary Poems by Nicholas Manuel of Berne. 

f O were der lange gal man uff unser syten. Bull. Chr. 1. 353» 
X Domino suam gloriam, quam salvam cupimus ne utiquam de» 
gerturo. Zw. Epp. p. 611. 



ROMISH BOASTS. 



36d 



under pain of death.* But Jerome Walsch, a student 
from the Valais, who possessed an excellent memory, 
impressed on his mind all that he heard, and on return- 
ing home, hastened to commit it to writing. Thomas 
Plater and Zimmerman of Winterthur carried these notes 
to Zwingle every day, with letters from (Ecolampadius, 
and brought back the reformer's answers. Soldiers 
armed with halberds were posted at all the gates of 
Baden, and it was only by inventing different excuses 
that these two messengers evaded the inquiries of the 
sentinels, who could not understand why they were so 
frequently passing to and fro.f Thus Zwingle, though 
absent from Baden in body, was present in spirit. 

He advised and strengthened his friends, and refuted 
his adversaries. "Zwingle," said Oswald Myconius, 
"has labored more by his meditations, his sleepless 
nights, and the advice which he transmitted to Baden, 
than he would have done by discussing in pei^ison in the 
midst of his enemies." J 

During the whole conference, the Roman-catholics 
were in commotion, sending letters in every direction, 
and loudly boasting of their victory. " CEcolampadius," 
exclaimed they, " vanquished by Dr. Eck and laid pros- 
trate in the lists, has sung his recantation ;§ the domin- 
ion of the pope will be everywhere restored." || These 
statements were circulated through the cantons, and the 
people, prompt to believe every thing they hear, gave 
credit to all the vaunts of the Romish partisans. 

* Man soUte einem ohne aller weiter Urtheilen den Kopf <b- 
hauen. Thorn. Plateri Lebens Beschreibung, p. 262. 

t When they asked me, " What are you going to do?" I replied, 
" I am carrying chickens to sell to the gentlemen at the baths for 
they gave me some chickens at Zurich, and the sentries could not 
make out how I procured them always, and in so short a time. Pla- 
ter^s Autobiography, p. 262. Leben's Beschrieb. J Quam la* 

borasset disputando vel inter medios hostes. Osw. Myc. Vita Zw. 
See also Zwingle's several writings having reference to the Baden 
disputation. 0pp. 2. 398-520. § CEcolampadius v ictus jacet 

in arena prostratus ab Eccio, herbam porrexit. Zw. Epp. p. 514. 

II Spem concipiunt laetam fore ut regnum ipsorum restituatux 
Ibid. 613 



364 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATIOK. 



When the dispute was finished, the monk Murner of 
Lucerne, nicknamed "the tom-cat," stepped forward, and 
read forty charges against Zwingle. " I thought," said 
he, " that the coward would come and reply to them ; 
but he has not appeared. Well, then, by every law, 
both human and divine, I declare forty times that the 
tyrant of Zurich and all his partisans are traitors, liars, 
perjurers, adulterers, infide'ls, robbers, sacrilegers, gal- 
lows-birds, and such that every honest man must blush 
at having any intercourse whatever with them." Such 
was the abuse which at this time was honored with the 
name of " Christian controversy," by doctors whom the 
Romish church should herself disavow. 

Great agitation prevailed in Baden ; the general im- 
pression was, that the Roman champions had talked the 
loudest, but argued the weakest.* Only (Ecolampadius 
and ten of his friends voted against Eck^s theses ; while 
eighty persons, including the presidents of the debate 
and all the monks of Wittingen, adopted them. Haller 
had quitted Baden before the end of the conference. 

The majority of the diet then decreed that, as Zwin- 
gle, the chief of this pestilent doctrine, had refused to 
appear, and as the ministers who had come to Baden had 
resisted all conviction, they were all together cast out 
from the bosom of the Catholic church.f 

* Die Evangelische weren wol uberschryeUy nicht aber xtberdis' 
putiert worden. Hotting. Helv. K. Gesch. 3. 320. f Von ge* 

meiner Kyrchen ussgestossen. Bullinger Cbroa. p. 355. 



£FFKCT8 OF TH£ GONFERENCE. 365 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Oonsequcnces at Basle, Berne, St. Gall, and other places — Diet at 
Zurich — The small cantons — Threats against Berne— Foreign 
support. 

But this famous conference, owing to the zeal of the 
oligarchs and clergy, was destined to be fatal to both. 
Those who had combated for the gospel were, on their 
return home, to fill their countrymen with enthusiasm 
for the cause they had defended, and two of the most 
important cantons in the Helvetic alliance, Berne and 
Basle, were thenceforth to begin their separation from 
the Papacy. 

The first blows were to fall on (Ecolampadius, a 
stranger in Switzerland ; and he did not return to Basle 
without apprehension. But his anxiety was soon dis- 
sipated. The mildness of his language had struck all 
impartial witnesses, much more than the clamors of Ur. 
Eck, and all pious men received him with acclamation. 
The adversaries made, in truth, every exertion to drive 
him from the pulpit, but in vain ; he taught and preached 
with greater energy than before, and the people had 
never shown such thirst for the word.* 

Similar results followed at Berne. The conference 
at Baden, intended to crush the Reformation, gave it a 
new impulse in this canton, the most powerful of all the 
Swiss league. Haller had no sooner arrived in the cap- 
ital, than the smaller council had summoned him before 
them, and ordered him to celebrate the mass. Haller 
demanded permission to reply before the great council ; 
and the people, thinking it their duty to defend their 
pastor, hastened to the spot. Haller in alarm declared 
that he would rather leave the city than be the occasion 
of any disturbance. Upon this, tranquillity being re- 
stored, "If I am required to perform this ceremony,'' 
said the reformer, " I must resign my office ; the honor 

* Plebe Yerbi Domini admodum sitiente. Zw. Epp. p. 61^^ 



866 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



of God and the truth of his holy word are dearer to me 
than any care about what I shall eat or wherewithal I 
shall be clothed." Haller uttered these words with emo- 
tion ; the members of the council were affected ; even 
some of his opponents burst into tears.* Once more it 
was found that moderation was stronger than power. 
To satisfy Rome in some degree, Haller was deprived 
of his canonry, but nominated preacher. His most vio- 
lent enemies, Lewis and Anthony Diesbach, and Anthony 
d^Erlach, incensed at this resolution, immediately with- 
drew from the council and the city, and renounced their 
citizenship. " Berne stumbled," said Haller, " but has 
risen up again with greater strength than ever." This 
firmness in the Bernese made a deep impression in 
Switzerland.f 

But the results of the conference at Baden were not 
limited to Basle and Berne. While these events were 
taking place in these powerful cities, a movement more 
or less similar was going on in several other states of 
the confederation. The preachers of St. Gall, on their 
return from Baden, proclaimed the gospel ;I the images 
were removed from the parochial church of St. Lawrence 
after a conference, and the inhabitants sold their costly 
garments, their jewels, rings, and gold chains, to found 
almshouses. The Reformation despoiled, but it was to 
clothe the poor ; and the spoils were those of the re- 
formed themselves.§ 

At Mulhausen the gospel was preached with fresh 
courage ; Thurgovia and the Rheinthal daily approxi- 
mated more and more to Zurich. Immediately after the 
disputation, Zurzach removed the images from its church- 
es, and almost the whole district of Baden received the 
gospel. 

Nothing was better calculated to show which party 
had really triumphed ; and hence Zwingle, as he looked 

* Tillier, Gesch. von Bern., 3. 242. f Profuit hie nobis Ber* 
nates tam dextre in servando Berchtoldo suo egisse. Ecol. ad Zw. 
Epp. p. 618. t San Gallenses officils suis restitutos. Zw. Epp. 
p. 618. § Kostbare Kleider^ Kleinodien, Ring, Ketten, eto^ 

Gceywillig verkauft. Hott. S. 338. 



DIET AT ZURICH. 



367 



around him, gave glory to God. " We have been attack- 
ed in many ways," said he, "but the Lord is not only 
above their threats, but above the wars themselves. In 
the city and canton of Zurich there is an admirable agree- 
ment in favor of the gospel. We shall overcome all 
things by prayers offered up with faith."* And shortly 
after, addressing Haller, Zwingle said, Every thing 
here below has its course. The rude north wind is fol- 
lowed by the gentle breeze. After the scorching heat 
of summer, autumn pours forth its treasures. And now, 
after severe contests, the Creator of all things, whom we 
serve, has opened a way for us into the camp of our ad- 
versaries. At last we may welcome among us the Chris- 
tian doctrine, that dove so long repulsed, and which 
ceased not to watch for the hour of her return. Be thou 
the Noah to receive and save her." 

This same year, Zurich had made an important acqui- 
sition. Conrad Pellican, superior of the Franciscans at 
Basle, professor of divinity at the age of twenty-four, had 
been invited, through Zwingle's exertions, to be Hebrew 
professor at Zurich. " I have long since renounced the 
pope," said he on arriving, "and desired to live to Jesus 
Christ."f Pellican, by his critical talents, became one 
of the most useful laborers in the work of the Eefor- 
mation. 

Zurich, still excluded from the diet by the Romish 
cantons, wishing to take advantage of the more favor- 
able disposition manifested by some of the confederates, 
convened, in the beginning of 1527, a diet to be held in 
Zurich itself. The deputies of Berne, Basle, Schaffhaii- 
sen, Appenzel, and St. Gall attended it. We desire," 
said the deputies of Zurich, "that the word of God, 
which leads us solely to Christ crucified, should be the 
only thing preached, taught, and exalted. We abandon 
all human doctrines, whatever may have been the cus- 
tom of our forefathers ; being assured that had they pos- 
Bcssed this light of the divine word which we enjoy, they 

• Fideli enim oratione omnia superabimus. Zw. Epp, p. 519. 
t Jamdudum papas renuntiavi et Christo vivere concupivL Ibid. 



368 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOH 



would have embraced it with more reverence than we 
their feeble descendants have done.* The deputies pre»* 
ent promised to take the representations of Zurich into 
consideration. 

Thus the breach in the walls of Rome was widened 
daily. The discussion at Baden had been intended to 
repair it ; and from that time, on the contrary, the 
wavering cantons seemed willing to walk with Zurich. 
Already the inhabitants of the plain inclined towards 
the Reformation ; already it was hemming in the moun- 
tains ; already it was invading them ; and the primitive 
cantons, which were as the cradle, and are still the cita- 
del of Switzerland, shut up in their higher Alps, seemed 
alone to adhere firmly to the doctrine of their sires. 
These mountaineers, continually exposed to violent 
storms, to avalanches, to overflowing torrents and riv- 
ers, are compelled all their lives to struggle against 
these formidable enemies, and to sacrifice every thing 
to preserve the meadow in which their herds graze, and 
the cottage where they shelter themselves from the 
storms, and which the first inundation sweeps away. 
Accordingly the conservative principle is strongly de- 
veloped in them, and transmitted from age to age, from 
generation to generation. To preserve what they have 
received from their fathers constitutes the whole wisdom 
of these mountains. These rude Helvetians were then 
struggling against the Reformation, which aimed at 
changing their faith and their worship, as they struggle 
to this day against the torrents that fall in thunder from 
their snowy peaks, or against the new political ideas 
that have been established at their very doors in the 
Burrounding cantons. They will be the last to lay down 
their arms before that twofold power which already 
raises its banners on all the hills around, and threatens 
daily and more nearly these conservative districts. 

Accordingly these cantons, at the period which I am 
recording, still more irritated against Berne than against 
Zurich, and trembling lest this powerful state should 

* Mit hoherem Werth und mehr Dankbarkeit dai n wir angc* 
Dommen. Zurich. Arohiv. Absch. Sonntag nach LichtmeBse. 



THE CRITICAL MOMENT. 



369 



desert them, assembled their deputies in Berne itself a 
week after the conference at Zurich, They called on the 
council to depose the new teachers, to prosecute their 
doctrines, and to maintain the ancient and true Chris- 
tian faith, as confirmed by past ages and confessed by 
the martyrs. " Convoke all the bailiwicks of the can- 
ton," added they; "if you refuse, we will take it upon 
ourselves/' The Bernese replied with irritation, " We 
have power enough ourselves to speak to those under 
our jurisdiction." 

This reply only increased the anger of the Forest 
cantons ; and these cantons, which had been the cradle 
of the political freedom of Switzerland, alarmed at the 
progress of religious liberty, began to seek, even from 
without, for allies to destroy it. To combat the enemies 
of foreign service, that foreign service might reasonably 
be resorted to ; and if the oligarchy of Switzerland could 
not suffice alone, was it not natural to have recourse to 
the princes their allies ? In fact, Austria, who had 
found it impossible to maintain her own authority in 
the confederation, was ready to interfere to strengthen 
the power of Rome. Berne learned with dismay that 
Ferdinand, brother of Charles V., was making prepara- 
tions against Zurich and all those who adhered to the 
Eeformation.* 

Circumstances were becoming more critical. A suc- 
cession of events more or less unfortunate, the excesses 
of the fanatics, the disputes with Luther on the eucha- 
rist, and others besides, appear to have seriously com- 
promised the Reformation in Switzerland. The discus- 
sion at Baden had disappointed the hopes of the papaj 
party, and the sword they had brandished against their 
adversaries had broken in their hands ; but this had only 
increased their vexation and anger, and they were pre- 
paring for a fresh effort. Already the imperial power 
itself was beginning to move ; and the Austrian bands 
which had been routed in the defiles of Morgarten and 
on the heights of Sempach, were ready to enter Swit* 

• Berne to Zurich. Monday after Misericorde. Kirchhoff. B. 
Sailer, p. 85. 



3TO HISTOKY OF THE REFOEM ATIOK. 

serland with r^-lors flying, to reestablish the tottering 
power of Rome. The moment was critical ; it was no 
longer possible to halt between two opinions, and be 
neither " muddy nor clear." Berne and other cantons, 
which had long hesitated, were now to come to a decis- 
ion They must either promptly return to the Papacy, 
or take their stand with fresh courage under the ban- 
ners of Christ. 

A Fr3nchman from the mountains of Dauphiny, Will- 
iam Farel by name, at this time gave a powerful impulse 
to Switzerland, decided the reformation of Roman Helve- 
tia, still immersed in deep slumber, and thus turned the 
balance throughout the whole confederation in favor of 
the new doctrines. Farel arrived on the field of battle 
like those fresh troops which, when the issue of the con- 
test hangs in the balance, rush into the thickest of the 
fight and decide the victory. He prepared the way in 
Switzerland for another Frenchman, whose austere faith 
and commanding genius were to put a finishing hand 
to the reformation, and make the work complete. By 
means of these illustrious men, France took her part in 
that vast commotion which agitated Christian society. 
It is now time that we should turn our eyes towards 
that country. 



UNIVERSALITY OF CHKISTIAlflTT. 171 



BOOK XIL 

THE FRENCH. 

1500-1526 

CHAPTER I 

Universality of Christianity — Enemies of the reform in France — 
Heresy and persecution in Dauphiny — A country mansion — The 
Farei family — Pilgrimage to the holy cross — Immorality and 
superstition — William desires to become a student. 

Universality is one of the essential characteristics of 
Christianity. It is not so with human religions. They 
are adapted to a certain people, and to the degree of cul- 
tivation they have attained ; they keep these nations sta- 
tionary, or if by any extraordinary circumstance the peo- 
ple attain a fuller growth, their religion is left behind, 
end by that means becomes useless to them. 

There has been an Egyptian, a Grecian, a Latin, and 
even a Jewish religion : Christianity is the only religion 
of mankind. 

Its starting point in man is sin ; and this is a charac- 
teristic not peculiar to any one race, but is the heritage 
of every human being. Hence the gospel, as satisfying 
the universal and most elevated wants of our nature, 
is received as coming from God by the most barbarous 
and by the most civilized nations. It does not, like the 
religions of antiquity, deify national peculiarities ; but 
it does not destroy them, as modern cosmopolitism would 
do. It does better ; it sanctifies, ennobles, aud raises 
them to a holy unity by the new and living principle it 
communicates to them. 

The introduction of Christianity into the world has 
wrought a great revolution in history. Until then, there 
bad only been a history of nations ; now there is a his- 



372 HISTORY OP THE EEFCRMATIOH. 

tory of mankind ; and the idea of a universal education 
of the human race, accomplished by Jesus Christ, has 
become the historian's compass, the clue to history, and 
the hope of the nations. 

But Christianity exerts its influence not only on all 
nations, but also on every period of their history. 

At the moment of its appearance, the world was like 
a torch about to become extinct, and Christianity rekin- 
dled it with fire from heaven. 

Subsequently, the barbarian tribes, having rushed 
upon the Roman empire, had shattered and confounded 
every thing ; and Christianity, stemming that desolat- 
ing torrent with the cross, subdued by it the savage 
children of the north, and gave society a new form. 

Yet an element of corruption already lay hid in the 
religion carried by courageous missionaries to those bar- 
barous tribes. Their faith came from Rome almost as 
much as from the Bible. This element soon gathered 
strength ; man everywhere substituted himself for God — 
the essential characteristic of the Romish church ; and a 
renovation of religion became necessary. This Christian- 
ity accomplished at the epoch of which we are treating. 

The history of the Reformation in the countries that 
we have hitherto surveyed, has shown us the new doc- 
trine rejecting the extravagances of enthusiasts and of 
the new prophets ; but in the country towards which 
we now turn our attention, infidelity is the shoal which 
it has to encounter. Nowhere had bolder protests been 
made against the superstitions and abuses of the church ; 
nowhere had there been a more striking development of 
a certain love of learning, independent of Christianity, 
which often ends in irreligion. France carried in her 
bosom two reformations at the same time — the one of 
man, the other of God. " Two nations were in her womb, 
and two manner of people were to be separated fiirm her 
bowels." Gen. 25 : 23. 

In France, the Reformation had to combat not onlj 
with infidelity as well as superstition^ but there was a 
third antagonist which it had not yet encountered, at 
least in such force, among the people of German origin ; 



ENEMIES OF THE HEFOEM. 



378 



this was immorality. The scandals in the church were 
very great ; debauchery sat on the throne of Francis 1. 
and Catherine de Medicis ; and the austere virtues of 
the reformers irritated these Sardanapaluses/'* Every- 
where, no doubt, but especially in France, the Reforma- 
tion was of necessity not only doctrinal and ecclesiastt 
cal, but moral also. 

Those violent enemies which the Reformation encoun- 
tered simultaneously in France, gave it a character alto- 
gether peculiar. Nowhere did it so often dwell in dun- 
geons, or so much resemble primitive Christianity in 
faith, in charity, and in the number of its martyrs. If, 
in the countries of which we have hitherto spoken, the 
Reformation was more glorious by its triumphs, in that 
which is now to engage our attention, it was still more 
so by its defeats. If elsewhere it could point to thrones 
and sovereign councils, here it might point to scaffolds 
and "hill-side" meetings. Whoever knows what con- 
stitutes the true glory of Christianity upon earth, and 
the features that assimilate it to its Head, will study 
with a livelier feeling of respect and love the often 
blood-stained history that we now proceed to relate. 

The majority of the men who have afterwards glit- 
tered on the stage of the world, were born in the prov- 
inces where their minds first began to expand. Paris is 
a tree that presents many flowers and fruits to the eye, 
but whose roots spread far and wide into the bosom of 
the earth, to draw from thence the nutritious juices 
which they transform. The Reformation also followed 
this law. 

The Alps, which beheld bold and Christian men 
spring up in every canton and almost in every valley 
of Switzerland, were destined in France also to cover 
with their lengthened shadows the infancy of some of 
the first reformers. For ages they had guarded the 
treasure more or less pure in their high valleys, among 
the inhabitants of the Piedmontese districts of Lucerne, 
Angrogne, and La Peyrouse. The truth, which Rome 
could not reach there, had spread from these valleys to 

' Sardanapalus (Henry n.) later scorta. Oalvin's Epp. MS. 



374 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOIT . 



the othei »side of these mountains, and along their bbsc 
to Proveace and Dauphiny. 

The year after the accession of Charles VIII., son oi 
LorJs XL, a sickly and timid child, Innocent VIII. had 
assumed the pontifical tiara, 1484. He had seven or 
eight sons by different mothers ; and hence, according 
to an epigram of the times, Rome unanimously saluted 
him with the name of father.* 

There was at that time on all the slopes of the Dau- 
phinese Alps, and along the banks of the Durance, a new 
growth of the old Waldensian opinions. "The roots," 
says an old chronicler, " were continually putting forth 
new shoots in every direction."f Bold men called the 
Roman church the church of devils, and maintained that 
it was as edifying to pray in a stable as in a church. 

The priests, the bishops, and the Roman legates 
uttered a cry of alarm, and on the 5th kalends of May — 
the 21th of April— 1487, Innocent VIII., the father of the 
Romans, issued a bull against these humble Christians. 
"To arms," said the pontiff, "and trample these heretics 
under foot as venomous serpents."| 

At the approach of the legate, followed by an army 
of eighteen thousand men, and a number of volunteers 
who wished to share the spoils of the Waldenses, the 
latter abandoned their houses and took refuge in the 
mountains, caverns, and clefts of the rocks, as the birds 
flee for shelter when the storm begins to lower. Not a 
valley, nor a wood, nor a rock escaped their persecutors ; 
everywhere in this part of the Alps, and particularly on 
the Italian side, these poor disciples of Christ were hunt- 
ed down like beasts of prey. At last the pope's satel* 
lites were worn out ; their strength was exhausted, their 
feet could no longer scale the steep retreats of the "her* 
etics," and their arms refused to strike. 

• Octo nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas. 
Hunc merito poterit dicere Roma Patrem. 
' In Ebredunensi archiepiscopatu ve teres Waldensium htereticO' 
rum fibrae repullularunt. Rayuald, Annales Eccles. ad ann. 1487. 

X Armis insurgant, eosque veluti aspides venenosos .... concul- 
oeQt. Bull of Ixmoccnt VIU. preserved at Cambridge. Leger, 2. & 



FAREL'S BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY. 375 



In these Alpine districts, then disturbed by Romish 
fanaticism, three leagues from the ancient town of Gap,* 
in the diiection of Grenoble, not far from the flowery 
turf that clothes the table-land of Bayard's mountain, at 
the foot of the Aiguille and near the pass of Glaize, tow- 
ards the place where the Buzon takes its rise, stood and 
etill stands a group of houses, half hidden bj the sur- 
rounding trees, and which bears the name of Farel, ci 
m the dialect of the country, Pareau.f On an extensive 
terrace raised above the neighboring cottages might b^ 
seen a house of that class which is denominated GentH^ 
hommiere, a manor-house. It was surrounded bj an 
orchard which led to the village. Here, in these days 
of trouble, dwelt a noble family of established piety, 
known by the name of Farel.| In 1489, the very year 
in wliich the Papacy was employing its severest meas- 
ures in Dauphiny, was born in this modest mansion a 
son who received the name of William. Three brothers, 
Daniel, Walter, and Claude, and one sister, grew up 
with William, and shared his sports on the banks of the 
Buzon and at the foot of the Bayard. 

There William's childhood and early youth were 
passed. His parents were among the most devoted ser- 
vants of the Papacy. ** My father and mother believed 
every thing," he tells us himself ;§ and accordingly 
they brought up their children in all the observances of 
Romish devotion." 

* Chief town of the Hautes Alpes. f Revue du Dauphine, 
July, 1837, p. 35. As you go from Grenoble to Gap, a quarter ol 
an hour^s journey beyond the last post-house, and about a stone's 
throw to the right of the high-road, may be seen the village of the 
Farels. The site of the house inhabited by Farel's father is still 
shown. It is now occupied only by a cottage, but from its dimen- 
jnons it may be seen that it could not have belonged to an ordinary 
house. The present inhabitant bears the name of Farel. I am 
Indebted for this information to M. Blanc, pastor of Mens. 

t Gulielmum Farellum, Delphinatem, nobili familia ortum. Be- 
Bse Icones. Calvin, writing to Cardinal Sadolet, sets off Farel s dis- 
interestedness : sorti de si noble maison — -sprung from so noble a 
family. Opuscula, p. 148. § Du vray usage de la croix, pai 

Guillaume Farel, p. 287. 



376 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



God had bestowed rare qualities on William Parel, 
such as were fitted to give him a great ascendency over 
his fellows. Possessing a penetrating mind and lively 
imagination, sincere and upright, having a greatness of 
goul that never allowed him, at whatever risk, to betray 
the convictions of his heart, he was remarkable also for 
ardor, fire, indomitable courage, and daring which never 
shrunk from any obstacle. But at the same time he had 
all the defects allied to these qualities ; and his parents 
were often compelled to check his impetuosity. 

William threw himself with his whole soul into the 
superstitious habits of his credulous family. **I am hor- 
ror-struck," said he, " when I consider the hours, the 
prayers, and the divine honors, which I myself have 
offered and caused others to offer to the cross and other 
such things."* 

Four leagues to the south of Gap, near Tallard, in a 
hill that rises above the impetuous stream of the Du- 
rance, was a place in great repute, named Sainte Croix— 
the holy cross. William was only seven or eight years 
old when his father and mother resolved to take him 
thither on a pilgrimage.f "The cross in that place," 
they told him, "is made of the very wood on which 
Christ was crucified." 

The family began their journey, and at last reached 
the highly venerated cross, before which they all fell 
prostrate. After gazing for a time on the sacred wood 
and the copper of the cross, the latter being made, as the 
priest told them, of the basin in which Christ washed his 
apostles' feet, the pilgrims turned their eyes to a small 
crucifix attached to the cross : " When the devils send us 
hail and thunder," continued the priest, "this crucifix 
moves about so violently, that it seems to get loose from 
the cross, as if desirous of running at the devil, and it con- 
tinues throwing out sparks of fire against the storm ; if 
it were not for this, nothing would be left upon earth." J 

* Du Tray usage de la croix, par Guillaume Farel, p. 232. 

t J'estoye fort petit et a peine je savoye lire. Ibid. 237. la 
premier pelerinage auquel j'ay este a est^ a la saincte croix. Ibid 
233. t Ibid 235-239 



IMMORALITY AND SUPERSTITIOK. 377 



The pious pilgrims were deeply moved by the account 
of these wonderful prodigies. "No one," continued the 
priest, " sees or knows aught of these things except my- 
self and this man.'' The pilgrims turned their heads, 
and saw a strange-looking person standing near them. 
" It was frightful to look at him," said FareL* White 
scales covered the pupils of his eyes, whether they 
were there in reality, or Satan only made them appear 
so." This extraordinary man, whom the incredulous 
denominated "the priest's wizard," on being appealed 
to by the latter, immediately replied that the prodigy 
was true.f 

A new episode completed the picture by mingling a 
suspicion of criminal disorders with these superstitions. 
" There came up a young woman, intent on other devo- 
tion than that of the cross, carrying her infant wrapped 
in a cloth. Then the priest went up, took hold of the 
woman and child, and led them into the chapel. I may 
safely assert, that never did dancer take a woman and 
lead her out more lovingly than these two did. But such 
was our blindness, that neither their looks nor their ges- 
tures, even when they had behaved in an unseemly man- 
ner before us, appeared otherwise than good and holy. 
It was clear that the woman and my gallant of a priest 
understood the miracle thoroughly, and made it a cover 
to their intercourse."^ 

Such is a faithful picture of religion and morals in 
France at the commencement of the Reformation. Mo- 
rality and belief were alike poisoned, and both required 
a powerful renovation. The greater the value attached 
to external works, the further men were removed from 
sanctification of heart ; dead ordinances had been every- 
where substituted for a Christian life, and a strange but 
not unnatural union had taken place between the most 
scandalous debauchery and the most superstitious devo- 
tion. Theft had been committed before the altar, seduc- 
tion practised in the confessional, poison mingled with 
the consecrated elements, adultery perpetrated at itie 

* Du vray usage de la croix, par Guillaume Farel, p. 237. 
t Ibid. 238. t Ibid. 235. 



378 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOH 



foot of the cross. Superstition, by destroying belief^ 
had destroyed morality. 

There were, however, numerous exceptions in the 
Christianity of the middle ages. Even a superstitious 
faith might be sincere, and of this William Farel is an 
example. The same zeal that afterwards urged him to 
travel to so many different places to spread the know- 
.edge of Jesus Christ, was at this time attracting him 
wherever the church exhibited a miracle or claimed any 
adoration. Dauphiny had its seven wonders, which 
long possessed the power of striking the imagination of 
the people.* But the beauties of nature that surround- 
ed him had also their influence in raising his soul to the 
Creator. 

The magnificent chain of the Alps, those summits 
covered with eternal snow — those vast rocks, here rear- 
ing their sharp peaks to heaven, there stretching their 
immense and jagged ridges high above the clouds, as 
if an island was suspended in the air ; all these won- 
ders of creation, which were at this time elevating the 
soul of Ulrich Zwingle in the Tockenburg, were appeal- 
ing also in mute but powerful language to the heart of 
William Farel among the mountains of Dauphiny. He 
thirsted for life, for knowledge, and for light ; he as- 
pired to be something great ; he asked permission to 
Btudy. 

This was a great blow to his father, who thought 
that a young noble ought to know nothing beyond his 
rosary and his sword. At this time fame was trumpet- 
ing the prowess of a young countryman of William 
FarePs, a Dauphinese like himself, named Du Terrail, 
but better known as Bayard, who at the battle of the 
Tar, on the other side of the Alps, had just given a sig* 
nal display of courage. " Such sons," it was observed, 
** are like arrows in the hand of a strong man. Blessed 
is the man that hath his quiver full of them." Accord- 
ingly, FarePs father opposed the taste which William 
manifested for learning. But the young man was not 

* The burning spring, the cisterns of Sassenage, the manna of 
Brian^on, eto. 



FAREL aOES TO PARIS. 



379 



to be sliaken. God destined him for nobler conquests 
than those of Bayard. He persevered in his entreaties, 
and the old gentleman gave way at last.* 

Farel immediately applied to study with surprising 
ardor. The masters whom he found in Dnnphiny were 
of little help to him, and he had to contend with bad 
methods and the incapability of his teachers.f These 
difliculties excited, instead of discouraging him, and he 
Boon surmounted these obstacles. His brothers followed 
his example. Daniel afterwards entered on the career 
of politics, and was employed in important negotiations 
concerning religion. J Walter gained the entire confi- 
dence of the count of Furstemberg. 

Farel, eager in the pursuit of knowledge, having 
learned all that could be acquired in his province, turned 
his eyes elsewhere. The renown of the university of 
Paris had long filled the Christian world. He desired to 
see "this mother of all learning, this true lamp of the 
church which never knew eclipse, that clear and polished 
mirror of the faith, dimmed by no cloud, and spotted by 
no touch."§ He obtained the permission of his parents, / 
and set out for the capital of France. 

* Cum a parentibus vix impetrassem ad literas concessum. Fa- 
rel. Natali Galeoto. 1527. MS. letters belonging to the consistory 
of Neufchatel. f A praeceptoribus praecipue in Latina lingua 

ineptissimis institutus. Farelli Epist. J Vie de Farel. MS. 

at Geneva. § Universitatem Parisiensem matrem omnium 

ecientiarum .... speculum Mei torsum et polltum. .... Prima 
Apellat. Universit. an. 1396, Buloeus, 4. p. 803 



380 HISTORY OF THE RE?ORMATIOK. 



CHAPTER II. 

Loaifi Xn. and assembly of Tours — Francis and Margaret— LeameS 
men — Lefevre — His courses at the university — Meeting between 
Lefevre and Farel — Farel's hesitation and researches — First 
awakening — Lefevre's prophecy — Teaches justification by faith 
—Objections — Disorder of the colleges — Effects on Farel — ^Elec- 
tion — Sanctification of life. 

One day in the year 1510, or shortly after, the young 
Dauphinese arrived in Paris. The province had made 
him an ardent follower of the Papacy ; the capital was 
to make him something very different. In France the 
Reformation was not destined to go forth, as in Ger- 
many, from a small city. All the movements that agi- 
tate the people proceed from the metropolis. A concur- 
rence of providential circumstances made Paris, at the 
beginning of the sixteenth century, a focus whence a 
spark of life might easily escape. The young man from 
the neighborhood of Gap, who arrived there humble and 
ignorant, was to receive that spark in his heart, and 
many others with him. 

Louis XII., the father of his people, had just con- 
voked the representatives of the French clergy to meet 
at Tours. This prince seems to have anticipated the 
times of the Reformation ; so that had this great revolu- 
tion taken place during his reign, the whole of France 
might have become Protestant. The assembly of Tours 
had declared that the king possessed the right of wag- 
ing war on the pope, and of enforcing the decrees of the 
council of Basle. These measures were the object Oa 
general conversation in the colleges, the city, and the 
court, and must have made a deep impression on the 
mind of young Farel. 

Two children were then growing up in the court of 
Louis XII. One was a prince of tall stature, striking 
features, who showed little moderation in his character, 
and followed blindly wherever his passions led him ; so 



EEVIVAL OF LETTERS. 



381 



that the king was in the habit of saying, " That great 
boy will spoil all."* This was Francis of Angouleme, 
duke of Valois, and cousin to the king. Boisy, his tutor, 
had taught him, however, to honor literature. 

By the side of Francis was his sister Margaret, his 
senioi by two years, " a princess,'' says Brantome, " of 
great mind and ability, both natural and acquired.'^f 
Accordingly, Louis had spared no pains in her educa- 
tion, and the most learned men in the kingdom hastened 
to acknowledge her as their patroness. 

Already, indeed, a group of illustrious men sur- 
rounded these two Valois. William Budoeus, a man 
giving the run to his passions, fond of the chase, living 
only for his hawks, his horses, and his hounds, who on a 
sudden, at the age of twenty-three, had stopped short, 
sold his hunting train, and applied himself to study with 
the zeal he had formerly displayed in scouring the fields 
and forests with his dogs, J the physician Cop, Francis 
Vatable whose knowledge of Hebrew was admired by the 
Jews themselves, James Tusan a celebrated Hellenist, 
and many others, encouraged by Stephen Poncher bishop 
of Paris, by Louis Euzd the civil lieutenant, and by 
Francis de Luynes, and already protected by the two 
young Valois, resisted the violent attacks of the Sor- 
bonne, who looked upon the study of Greek and Hebrew 
as the most deadly heresy. At Paris, as in Germany 
and Switzerland, the restoration of sound doctrine was 
to be preceded by the revival of letters. But in France, 
the hands that thus prepared the materials were not des- 
tined to construct the edifice. 

Among all the doctors who then adorned the capital, 
was observed a man of very diminutive stature, of mean 
appearance, and humble origin, § whose intellect, learn- 
ing, and powerful eloquence had an indefinable attrac- 
tion for all who heard him. His name was Lefevre; 
<ind he was born about 1455 at Etaples, a village in 
Picardy. He had received a rude, or as Theodore Beza 

• Mezeray, toI. 4. 127. f Brant., Dames illustres, p. 331 

X His wife and sons came to Geneva in 1540, after his death. 
§ Homuncoli unlus neq^ue genere insiguis. Bezsd Icoae^. 



889 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH. 



calls it, a barbarous education ; but his genius had sup- 
plied the want of masters, and his piety, learning, and 
nobility of soul, shone out with so much the brighter 
lustre. He had travelled much, and it would appear 
that his desire of acquiring knowledge had led him into 
Asia and Africa * As early as 1493, Lefevre, then doc 
tor of divinity, was professor in the university of Paris. 
He immediately occupied a distinguished rank, and in 
the estimation of Erasmus, was the first.f 

Lefevre saw that he had a task to perform. Although 
attached to the practices of the Romish church, he re- 
solved to attack the barbarism then prevailing in the 
university ;J he began to teach the various branches of 
philosophy with a clearness hitherto unknown. He en- 
deavored to revive the study of languages and learned 
antiquity. He went further than this ; he perceived 
that, as regards a work of regeneration, philosophy and 
learning are insufficient. Abandoning, therefore, scho- 
lasticism, which for so many ages had reigned supreme 
in the schools, he returned to the Bible, and revived in 
Christendom the study of the holy Scriptures and evan- 
gelical learning. He did not devote his time to dry 
researches ; he went to the heart of the Bible. His elo- 
quence, his candor, his amiability, captivated all hearts. 
Serious and fervent in the pulpit, he indulged in a sweet 
familiarity with his pupils. He loves me exceeding- 
ly," wrote Glarean, one of their number, to his friend 
Zwingle. " Full of candor and kindness, he often sings, 
prays, disputes, and laughs at the follies of the world 
with me.'-§ Accordingly a great number of disciples 
from every country sat at his feet. 

This man, with all his learning, submitted with the 
gimplicity of a child to every observance of the church 

* In his Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2, will be found i :u- 
riDus account of Mecca and its temple, furnished to him by sume 
traveller. f Fabro, viro quo vix in multis millibus reperiaa 

vel iniegriorem vel huraauiorem, says Erasmus. Epp. p. 174. 

X Barbariem nobilissimae academiae .... incumbentera dotrudi. 
Bezse Icones. § Supra modum me amat totus integer et Candi- 
das, meoum cantillat, ludit, disputat, ridet mecum. Zw. Epp. p. 26, 



FAEEL»S DEVOTION TO THE POPE. 883 



He passed as much time in the churches as in his study, 
so that a close union seemed destined to unite the aged 
doctor of Picardy and the young scholar of Dauphiny. 
When two natures so similar as these meet together, 
tliough it be within the wide circuit of a capital, they 
tend t) draw near each other. In his pious pilgrimages, 
young Fare! soon noticed an aged man, and was struck 
by his devotion. He prostrated himself before the im- 
ages, and remained long on his knees, praying with fer- 
vor and devoutly repeating his hours. Never," said 
Farel, " never had I seen a chanter of the mass sing it 
with greater reverence."* This man was Lefevre. Will- 
iam Farel immediately desired to become acquainted 
with him ; and could not restrain his joy when he found 
himself kindly received by this celebrated man. Will- 
iam had gained his object in coming to the capital. 
From that time his greatest pleasure was to converse 
with the doctor of Etaples, to listen to him, to hear his 
admirable lessons, and to kneel with him devoutly be- 
fore the same shrines. Often might the aged Lefevre 
and his young disciple be seen adorning an image of the 
Virgin with flowers ; and alone, far from, all Paris, far 
from its scholars and its doctors, they murmured in con- 
cert the fervent prayers they offered up to Mary.f 

FarePs attachment to Lefevre was noticed by many. 
The respect felt towards the old doctor was reflected on 
his young disciple. This illustrious friendship drew the 
Dauphinese from his obscurity. He soon acquired a rep- 
utation for zeal ; and many devout rich persons in Paris 
intrusted him with various sums of money intended for 
the support of the poorer students. J 

Some time elapsed ere Lefevre and his disciple ar- 
rived at a clear perception of the truth. It was not the 
hope of a rich benefice, or a propensity to a dissolute life, 
which bound Farel to the pope ; those vulgar ties were 
not made for souls like his. To him the pope was the 

* Ep. de Farel a tous seigneurs, peuples et pasteurs. 

t Floribus jubebat Marianum idolum, dum una soli murmurare- 
mas preces Marianas ad idolum, ornari. Far*^i to Pellicaa; amio 
1666 t GeaevaMS. 



384 HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATIOlf. 



Tisible head of the church, a sort of deity, by whose 
commandments souls might be saved. Whenever he 
heard any one speaking against this highly venerated 
pontiff, he would gnash his teeth like a furious wolf, 
and would have called down lightning from heaven **to 
overwhelm the guilty wretch with utter ruin and confu- 
sion." " I believe," said he, " in the cross, in pilgrim- 
ages, images, vows, and relics. What the priest holds 
in his hands, puts into the box, and there shuts it up, 
eats, and gives others to eat, is my only true God, and 
to me there is no other, either in heaven or upon earth."* 
"Satan," says he in another place, had so lodged the 
pope, the Papacy, and all that is his in my heart, that 
even the pope had not so much of it in himself." 

Thus, the more Farel appeared to seek God, the more 
his piety decayed and superstition increased in his soul ; 
every thing was going from bad to worse. He has him- 
self described this condition in energetic language :f 
" Alas, how I shudder at myself and at my faults," said 
he, " when I think upon it ; and how great and wonder- 
ful a work of God it is, that man should ever have been 
dragged from such an abyss." 

From this abyss he emerged only by degrees. He 
had at first studied the profane authors ; his piety find- 
ing no food there, he began to meditate on the lives of 
the saints ; infatuated as he was before, these legends 
only made him still more so.J He then attached him- 
self to several doctors of the age ; but as he had gone 
to them in wretchedness, he left them more wretched 
still. At last he began to study the ancient philoso- 
phers, and expected to learn from Aristotle how to be a 
Christian ; again his hopes were disappointed. Books, 
images, relics, Aristotle, Mary, and the saints, al" 
proved unavailing. His ardent soul wandered from one 
human wisdom to another, without finding the means of 
allaying its burning thirst. 

* Ep. de Farel. A tous seigneurs, etc. f Quo plus per- 

geie et promovere adnitebar, eo amplius retrocedebam. Farellua 
Galeoto, MS. letters at Neufchatel. J Quae de Sanctis con- 

sorlpia ofifeudebam, verum ez stulto iusauum f«icicbant. Ibid. 



PAREL'S FIRST AWAKENINO-. 



385 



Meantime the pope, allowing the writings of the Old 
and New Testaments to be called The Holy Bible, Farel 
began to read them, as Luther had done in the cloister 
at Erfurth ; he was amazed at seeing that every thing 
upon earth was different from what is taught in the 
Scriptures.* Perhaps he was on the point of reaching 
the truth, but on a sudden a thicker darkness plunged 
him into another abyss. Satan came suddenly upon 
me," said he, "that he might not lose his prize, and 
dealt with me according to his custom."f A terrible 
struggle between the word of God and the word of the 
church then took place in his heart. If he met with any 
passages of Scripture opposed to the Romish practices, 
he cast down his eyes, blushed, and dared not believe 
what he read.J "Alas," said he, fearing to keep his 
looks fixed on the Bible, "I do not well understand these 
things ; I must give a very different meaning to the 
Scriptures from that which they seem to have. I must 
keep to the interpretation of the church, and indeed of 
the pope." 

One day, as he was reading the Bible, a doctor who 
happened to come in rebuked him sharply. " No man," 
said he, "ought to read the holy Scriptures before he 
has learned philosophy and taken his degree in arts." 
This was a preparation the apostles had not required ; 
but Farel believed him. " I was," says he, " the most 
wretched of men, shutting my eyes lest I should see."§ 

From that time the young Dauphinese had a return 
to his Romish fervor. The legends of the saints inflamed 
his imagination. The greater the severity of the monas- 
tic rules, the greater was the attraction he felt towards 
them. In the midst of the woods near Paris, some Car- 
thusians inhabited a group of gloomy cells ; he visited 
them with reverence, and shared in their austerities, 
^* I was wholly employed, day and night, in serving the 
devil," said he, " after the fashion of that man of sin, 
the pope. I had my Pantheon in my heart, and such 

♦ Farel. A tous seigneurs, elc. f I^^id. X OoiiJa»! 

demittens, visis non credebam. Farellus Natali Galeoto, 
§ Oculos a luce avertebam. Ibid. 
Wu^ of B«c nx. 2 K 



386 HISTORY OF THE 11E1?0IIM ATIOK, 



troop of mediators, saviors, and gods, that I might well 
have passed for a papal register." 

The darkness could not grow deeper ; the morning 
star was soon to arise, and it was destined to appear at 
Lefevre^s voice. There were already some gleams of 
light in the doctor of Etaples ; an inward conviction told 
him that the church could not long remain in its actual 
position ; and often, at the very moment of his return 
from saying mass, or of rising from before some image, 
the old man would turn towards his youthful disciple, 
and grasping him by the hand, would say in a serious 
tone of voice, " My dear William, God will renew the 
world, and you will see it/'* Parol did not thoroughly 
understand these words. Yet Lefevre did not confine 
himself to this mysterious language ; a great change 
which was then wrought in him, was destined to pro- 
duce a similar effect on his disciple. 

The old doctor was engaged in a laborious task ; he 
was carefully collecting the legends of the saints and 
martyrs, and arranging them according to the order in 
which their names are found in the calendar. Two 
months had already been printed, when one of those 
beams of light which come from heaven, suddenly illu- 
minated his soul. He could not resist the disgust which 
such puerile superstitions must ever cause in the heart 
of a Christian. The sublimity of the word of God made 
him perceive the paltry nature of these fables. They 
now appeared to him no better than brimstone fit to 
kindle the fire of idolatry .-'f He abandoned his work, 
and throwing these legends aside, turned ardently tow- 
ards the holy Scriptures. At the moment when Lefevre, 
quitting the wondrous tales of the saints, laid his hand 
on the word of God, a new era began in France, and is 
tlie commencement of the Reformation. 

In efiect, Lefevre, weaned from the fables of the bre 
viary, began to study the epistles of St. Paul ; the light 

* A tous seigneurs. See also his letter to Pellican. Aii*>e an* 
nos plus miuus quadragiuta. me manu appreheasum ita alloqueba 
tur : "Gulielme, oportet orbem immutari et ta videbial" 

t A. tous seigneurs, peuples et pasteurs. 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 



387 



increased rapidly in his heart, and he immediately im- 
parted to his disciples that knowledge of the truth which 
we find in his commentaries.* Strange doctrines were 
those, for the school and for the age, which were then 
first heard in Paris, and disseminated by the press 
throughout the Christian world. We may easily under- 
stand that the young disciples who listened to them 
were aroused, impressed, and changed by them ; and 
that thus, prior to the year 1512, the dawn of a brighter 
day was preparing for France. 

The doctrine of justification by faith, which over- 
threw by a single blow the subtleties of the schoolmen 
and the observances of Popery, was boldly proclaimed 
in the bosom of the Sorbonne. " It is God alone," said 
the doctor, and the vaulted roofs of the university must 
have been astonished as they reechoed such strange 
sounds — "it is God alone, who by his grace, through 
faith, justifies unto everlasting life.f There is a right- 
eousness of works, there is a righteousness of grace ; 
the one come th from man, the other from God : one is 
earthly and passeth away, the other is heavenly and 
eternal ; one is the shadow and the sign, the other the 
light and the truth ; one makes sin known to us that 
we may escape death, the other reveals grace that we 
may obtain life.^ij; 

" What, then," asked his hearers, as they listened to 
this teaching, which contradicted that of four centuries, 
" has any one man been ever justified without works ?" 
" One ?" answered Lefevre ; "they are innumerable. How 
many people of disorderly lives, who have ardently 

* The first edition of his Commentary on the Epistles of St. 
Paul is, if I mistake not, that of 1512. A copy is extant in the 
Bibliotheque Royale of Paris. The second edition is that from 
which 1 quote. The learned Simon says — Observations on the Ne\v 
f estament-— that "James Lefevre deserves to be ranked among 
4he most skilful commentators of the age." "We should give him 
greater praise than this. f Solus enim Deus est qui hanc jus- 

titiam per fidem tradit, qui sola gratia ad vitam justificat seternaiiL 
Fabri Comm. in Epp. Pauli, p. 70. | Ula umbratile vestigium 
atque fiignum, h»c lux et Veritas est. Ibid. 



388 HISTOKY OF THE REFOEMATIOIT. 



prayed for the grace of baptism, possessing faith alone 
in Christ, and who, if they died the moment after, have 
entered into the life of the blessed without works." 
" If, therefore, we are not justified by works, it is in 
vain that we perform them,'' replied some. The Paris 
doctor answered, and the other reformers would not per- 
ha-ps have altogether approved of this reply, "Certainly 
not ; they are not in vain. If I hold a mirror to the 
sun, its image i« reflected ; the more I polish and cleai 
it, the brighter is the reflection ; but if we allow it to 
become tarnished, the splendor of the sun is dimmed. 
It is the same with justffication in those who lead an 
impure life." In this passage, Lefevre, like Augustine 
in many, does not perhaps make a sufficient distinction 
between sanctification and justification. The doctor of 
Etaples reminds us stnmgly of the bishop of Hippona. 
Those who lead an unholy life have never received jus- 
tification, and therefore cannot lose it. But Lefevre may 
have intended to say that the Christian, when he has 
fallen into any sin, loses the assurance of salvation, ana 
not salvation itself. If so, there is no objection to be 
made against his doctrine. 

Thus a new life and a new teaching had penetrated 
into the university of Paris. The doctrine of faith, for- 
merly preached in Gaul by Pothinus and Irenaeus, was 
heard there again. From this time there were two par- 
ties, two people, in this great school of Christendom. 
Lefevre's lessons and the zeal of his disciples formed the 
most striking contrast to the scholastic teaching of the 
majority of the doctors, and the irregular and frivolous 
lives of most of the students. In the colleges they were 
far more busily engaged in learning their parts in com- 
edies, in masquerading, and in mountebank farces, than 
in studying the oracles of God. In these plays the honor 
of the great, of the princes, of the king himself, was fre- 
quently attacked. The parliament interfered about this 
period ; and summoning the principals of several col- 
leges before them, forbade those indulgent masters to 
permit such dramas to be represented in their houses.* 
• Cr^vier, Hist, de I'Uaiversitd, 6. 85. 



EFFECTS ON FAREL. 



389 



But a more powerful diversion than the decrees of 
parliament suddenly came to correct these disorders. 
Jesus Christ was preached. Great was the uproar on 
the benches of the university, and the students began 
to occupy themselves almost as much with the evangel- 
ical doctrines as with the quibbles of the school or with 
comedies. Many of those whose lives were the least 
irreproachable, adhered however to the doctrine of 
works ; and feeling that the doctrine of faith condemned 
their way of living, they pretended that St. James was 
opposed to St. Paul. Lefevre, resolving to defend the 
treasure he had discovered, showed the agreement of 
these two apostles: "Does not St. James in his first 
chapter declare that every good and perfect gift cometh 
down from above ? Now, who will deny that justifica- 
tion is the good and perfect gift ? . . . If we see a man 
moving, the respiration that we perceive is to us a sign 
of life. Thus works are necessary, but only as signs of 
a living faith, which is accompanied by justification.* 
Do eye-salves or lotions give light to the eye ? . . . No ; 
it is the influence of the sun. Well, then, these lotions 
and these eye-salves are our works. The ray that the 
sun darts from above is justification itself."f 

Farel listened earnestly to this teaching. These 
words of salvation by grace had immediately an inde- 
scribable charm for him. Every objection fell; every 
struggle ceased. No sooner had Lefevre put forward 
this doctrine, than Farel embraced it with all the ardor 
of his soul. He had undergone labor and conflicts enough 
to be aware that he could not save himself. Accord- 
ingly, as soon as he saw in the word that God saves 
freely, he believed. "Lefevre," said he, "extricated me 
from the false opinion of human merits, and taught me 
that every thing came from grace ; which I believed as 
soon as it was spoken."J Thus by a conversion aa 
prompt and decisive as that of St. Paul, was Farel led 
to the faith — that Farel who, as Theodore Beza says, 

* Opera signa vivae fidei, quam justificatio sequitur. Fabri Comm. 
in Epp. Pauli, p. 73. f Sed radius desuper a sole vibr^tua 

jiXBUIlcatio est Ibid. X Farel. A tous seigneurs. 



390 HISTOUr OF THE REFORMATION 



uudismayed by difficulties, threats, abuse, or blows, won 
over to Jesus Christ Montbelliard, Neufchatel, Lausanne, 
Aigle, and finally Geneva.* 

Meanwhile Lefevre, continuing his lessons, and de 
lighting, as Luther did, in employing contrasts and par- 
adoxes containing weighty truths, extolled the greatness 
of the mysteries of redemption : " Ineffable exchange 1'^ 
exclaimed he ; "the innocent One is condemned, and the 
criminal acquitted ; the Blessing is cursed, and he who 
was cursed is blessed ; the Life dies, and the dead live ; 
the Glory is covered with shame, and he who was sunk 
in shame is covered with glory."f The pious doctor, 
going still deeper, acknowledged that all salvation pro- 
ceeds from the sovereignty of God's love. " Those who 
are saved,'' said he, " are saved by election, by grace, 
by the will of God, not by their own. Our own elec- 
tion, will, and works, are of no avail : the election of 
God alone is profitable. When we are converted, it is 
not our conversion that makes us the elect of God, but 
the grace, will, and election of God which convert 
us."I 

But Lefevre did not confine himself to doctrines 
alone : if he gave to God the glory, he required obedi- 
ence from man, and urged the obligations which proceed 
from the great privileges of the Christian. " If thou art 
a member of Christ's church, thou art also a member of 
his body," said he ; " and if thou art a member of Christ's 
body, thou art full of the Divinity ; for in him dwelleth 
the fulness of the Godhead bddily. Oh, if men could 
but understand this privilege, how chastely, purely, and 
holily would they live, and they would look upon all 
the glory of this world as disgrace, in comparison with 
that inner glory which is hidden from the eyes of the 
flesh."§ 

• NaUis diflScultatibus fractus, nuUis minis, convitiis, verberibus 
denique iaflictis territus. Bezae Iconea f 0 ineffabile com- 

mercium ! . . . . Fabri Comm. 145, verso. t Inefficax est ad 

hoc ipsum nostra voluntas, nostra electio : Dei autem electio eflSca 
cissima et potentissima est, etc. Ibid. p. 89, verso. ^ Si d 

corpore Cbristi, divinitate repletus es. Ibid. 17 ^*8a 



TEACHERS OF THE WORD 



391 



Lefevre perceived that the office of a teacher of the 
word is a lofty station ; and he exercised it with un- 
shaken fidelity. The corruption of the times, and par- 
ticularly that of the clergy, excited his indignation, and 
became the subject of severe rebuke. "How scandalous 
it is," said he, " to see a bishop asking persons to drink 
with him, gambling, rattling the dice, spending his time 
with hawks and dogs, and in hunting, hallooing after 
rooks and deer, and frequenting houses of ill-fame.* . . . 
0 men deserving a severer punishment than Sardana* 
pairs himself!" 

• Et virgunculas gremio tenentem, cum saaviis sermones mlfioon* 
tem. F&bri ComtEu p. 208. 



392 HISTOiLT OP THE REFOJLMATIOH, 



CHAPTER III. 

Farei and the saints — The university— Farel's conversion —Farel 
and Luther — Other disciples — Date of the reform in France — 
Spontaneous rise of the different reforms— Which was the first? 
— Lefevre's place. 

Thus taught Lefevre. Farel listened, trembling with 
emotion ; he received all, and rushed suddenly into the 
new path that was opening before him. There was, how- 
ever, one point of his ancient faith which he could not as 
yet entirely renounce ; this was the invocation of saints. 
The best spirits often have these relics of darkness, 
which they cling to after their illumination. Farel was 
astonished as he heard the illustrious doctor declare that 
Christ alone should be invoked. " Religion has but one 
foundation,'' said Lefevre, " one object, one Head, Jesus 
Christ, blessed for evermore : alone hath he trodden the 
wine-press. Let us not then call ourselves after St. 
Paul, or ApoUos, or St. Peter. The cross of Christ alone 
openeth the gates of heaven, and shutteth the gates of 
hell." When he heard these words, a fierce conflict took 
place in ParePs soul. On the one hand, he beheld the 
multitude of saints with the church ; on the other, Jesus 
Christ alone with his master. Now he inclined to one 
side, now to another ; it was his last error and his last 
battle. He hesitated, he still clung to those venerable 
men and women at whose feet Rome falls in adoration. 
At length the decisive blow was struck from above. 
The scales fell from his eyes. Jesus alone appeared de» 
serving of his worship. " Then," said he, Popery wag 
utterly overthrown ; I began to detest it as devilish, and 
the holy word of God had the chief place in my heart."* 

Public events accelerated the course of Farel and his 
friends. Thomas de Vio, who afterwards contended with 
Luther at Augsburg and at Leipsic, having advanced in 
one of his works that the pope was the absolute mon« 
* FareL A toos seigneurs. 



FAIIEL»S PEACE AND JOY. 



393 



arch of the church, Louis XII. laid the book before the 
university in the month of February, 1512. James All- 
main, one of the youngest doctors, a man of profound 
genius and indefatigable application, read before the 
faculty of theology a refutation of the cardinaFs asser- 
tions, which was received with the greatest applause.* 
What impression must not such discourses have pro- 
duced on the minds of Lefevre^s young disciples. Could 
they hesitate when the university seemed impatient un- 
der the papal yoke ? If the main body itself was in mo- 
tion, ought not they to rush forward as skirmishers and 
clear the way ? "It was necessary," said Farel, " that 
Popery should have fallen little by little from my heart ; 
for it did not tumble down at the first shock.^f He con- 
templated the abyss of superstitions in which he had 
been plunged. Standing on the brink, he once more sur- 
veyed its depth with an anxious eye, and shrunk back 
with a feeling of terror. " 0 what horror do I feel at 
myself and my sins, when I think of these things,'' ex- 
claimed he. J 0 Lord," he continued, " would that my 
soul had served thee with a living faith, as thy obedient .< 
servants have done ; would that it had prayed to and 
honored thee as much as I have given my heart to the 
mass and to serve that enchanted wafer, giving it all 
honor." In such terms did the youthful Dauphinese de- 
plore his past life, and repeat in tears, as St. Augustine 
had done before, " I have known thee too late ; too late 
have I loved thee." 

Farel had found Jesus Christ ; and having reached 
the port, he was delighted to find repose after such ter- 
rible storms.§ "Now," said he, "every thing appears 
to me under a fresh aspect. || Scripture is cleared up ; 
/ prophecy is opened ; the apostles shed a strong light 
upon my soul.^ A voice till now unknown, the voice 
of Christ, my Shepherd, my Master, my Teacher, speaks 

* Cr^vier, Hist, de I'Universite de Paris, 5. 81. f FareL 

A tous seigneurs. J Ibid. § Animus per varia jactatus^ 

verum nactus portum, soli haesit. Farel Galeoto. (| Jam re* 

rum nova facies. Ibid. IF Notior scriptura, apertiores pro^ 

phetsQ, lucidiores apostoli. Ibid. 



894 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



to me with power."* He was so changed that, "instead 
of the murderous heart of a ravening wolf, he came 
back.-' he tells us, quietly, like a meek and harmless 
lamb, having his heart entirely withdrawn from the pope, 
and given to Jesus Christ."f 

Having escaped from so great an evil, he turned tow- 
ards the Bible,); and began to study Greek and Hebrew 
cvith much earnestness. § He read the Scriptures con- 
stantly, with ever-increasing affection, and God enlight- 
ened him from day to day. He still continued to attend 
the churches of the established worship ; but what found 
he there ? loud voices, interminable chan tings, and words 
Bpoken without understanding. || Accordingly, when 
standing in the midst of a crowd that was pass-ing near 
ftn image or an altar, he would exclaim, " Thou alone art 
God ; thou alone art wise ; thou alone art good.T[ Noth- 
ing must be taken away from thy holy law, and nothing 
added. For thou alone art the Lord, and thou alone wilt 
and must command." 

Thus fell in his eyes all men and all teachers from 
the height to which his imagination had raised them, and 
ne now saw nothing in the world but God and his word. 
The other doctors of Paris, by their persecutions of Le- 
fevre, had already fallen in his esteem ; but erelong Le- 
fevre himself, his beloved guide, was no more than a 
man like himself. He loved and venerated him still, 
but God alone became his master. 

Of all the reformers, Farel and Luther are perhaps 
those whose early spiritual developments are best known 
to us, and who had to pass through the greatest strug- 
gles. Quick and ardent, men of conflict and strife, they 
underwent the severest trials before attaining peace. 
Farel is the pioneer of the Reformation in France and 
Switzerland ; he rushes into the wood, and hews down 
the aged giants of the forest with his axe. Calvin came 

* Agnita pastoris, magistri, et praeceptoris Christi vox. Farel 
Galeoto. f Farel. A tons seigneurs. J Lego sacra ut 

causam inveniam. Farel Galeoto. § Life of Farel, Geneva 

and Choupard MSS. || Clamores multi, cantiones innuraeraBu 

Farel Galeoto, Neufchatel MS. f Yer^ tu solus Deua. Ibid. 



FAEEli AFD IjTJTHEE. 



393 



after, like Melancthon, from whom he differs indeed in 
character, but whom he resembles in his part as theol> 
gian and organizer. These two men, who have some- 
thing in common with the legislators of antiquity — the 
one in its graceful, the other in its severe style — ^built 
up, settled, and gave laws to the territory conquered by 
the first two reformers. If, however, Luther and Farel 
approximate in some of their features, we must acknow- 
ledge that the latter resembles the Saxon reformer in 
one aspect only. Besides his superior genius, Luther 
had, in all that concerned the church, a moderation and 
wisdom, an acquaintance with the past, a comprehensive 
judgment, and even an organizing faculty, that did not 
exist to the same degree in the Dauphinese reformer. 

Farel was not the only young Frenchman into whose 
mind the new light then beamed. The doctrines that 
fell from the lips of the illustrious doctor of Etaples fer- 
mented among the crowd who listened to his lectures, 
and in his school were trained the daring soldiers who, 
in the hour of battle, were to contend even to the foot 
of the scaffold. They listened, compared, discussed, and 
keenly argued on both sides. It is probable that among 
the small number of scholars who defended the truth 
was young Peter Robert Olivetan, born at Noyon about 
the close of the fifteenth century, who afterwards trans- 
lated the Bible into French from Lefevre^s version, and 
who seems to have been the first to draw the attention 
of a youth of his family, also, a native of Noyon, to the 
gospel, and who became the most illustrious chief of the 
Reformation.* 

Thus in 1512, at a time when Luther had made no 
impression on the world, and was going to Rome on 
some trifling monkish business, at an epoch when Zwin- 
gle had not yet begun to apply himself earnestly to sa- 
cred learning, and was crossing the Alps with the con- 
federates to fight for the pope, Paris and France were 
listening to the teaching of those vital truths from which 
the Reformation was ordained to issue ; and souls pre- 

* Biogr. Univ., art. Olivetan. Hist, du Calvinisme by Maim- ' 
boorg, p. 63. 



896 HISTORY OP THE REPORMATIOIT. 



pared to disseminate them were drinking them in with 
holy thirst. Hence Theodore Beza, speaking of Lefevre, 
hails him as the man " who boldly began the revival of 
the pure religion of Jesus Christ and remarks that 
" as in ancient times the school of Isocrates sent forth 
the best orators, so from the lecture-room of the doctoi 
of Etaples issued many of the best men of the age and 
of the church."f 

The Reformation was not, therefore, in France a for- 
eign importation. It was born on French soil ; it ger- 
minated in Paris ; it put forth its first shoots in the 
university itself, that second authority in Romish Chris- 
tendom. God planted the seeds of this work in the sim- 
ple hearts of a Picard and a Dauphinese, before they had 
begun to bud forth in any other country upon earth. The 
Swiss reformation, as we have seen, J was independent 
of the German reformation ; and in its turn the refor- 
mation in France was independent of that of Switzer- 
land and of Germany. The work commenced at the 
same time in difierent countries, without any communi- 
cation one with the other ; as, in a battle, all the divis- 
ions begin to move at the same moment, although one 
has not told the other to march, but because one and the 
same command, issuing from a higher power, has been 
heard by all. The time had come, the nations were pre- 
pared, and God was everywhere beginning the revival 
of his church at the same time. Such facts demonstrate 
that the great revolution of the sixteenth century was a 
work of God. 

If we look only to dates, we must acknowledge that 
neither to Switzerland nor to Germany belongs the honor 
of having begun this work, although hitherto these two 
countries alone have contended for it. This honor belongt^ 
to France. This is a truth, a fact that we are anxious 
to establish, because until now it may possibly have 
been overlooked. Without dwelling on the influence 
that Lefevre exercised directly or indirectly on many 

* Et purioris religionis instaurationem fortitur aggressus. Beza 
Icones. t Sic ex Stapulensis auditorio prsestantissimi viri pla 
rimi prodierint. Ibid. t Seo vol. II., p. 300. 



POSITION OF LEFEVRE. 



397 



individuals, and in particular on Calvin himself, as we 
conjecture, let us reflect on that which he had on one 
only of his disciples — on Farel, and on the energetic 
activity which this servant of God manifested ever after- 
wards. Can we, after that, resist the conviction, that 
if Zwingle and Luther had never appeared, there would 
still have been a reforming movement in France ? It is 
impossible, no doubt, to calculate what might have been 
its extent ; we must even acknowledge that the report of 
what was taking place on the other side of the Rhine 
and the Jura, afterwards animated and accelerated the 
progress of the French reformers. But they were the 
first awakened by the trumpet that sounded from heaven 
in the sixteenth century, and they were the first on foot 
and under arms upon the field of battle. 

Nevertheless, Luther is the great workman of the 
sixteenth century, and in the fullest sense the first re- 
former. Lefevre is not so complete as Calvin, Farel, and 
Luther. He is of Wittemberg and Geneva, but there is 
still a tinge of the Sorbonne ; he is the first Catholic in 
the reform movement, and the last of the reformers in 
the catholic movement. He is to the end a sort of go- 
between, a mediator not altogether free from mystery, 
destined to remind us of the connection between the old 
things and the new, which seemed for ever separated 
by an impassable gulf. Though rejected and persecuted 
by Rome, he still clings to Rome by a slender thread 
which he has no desire to break. Lefevre of Etaples 
has a station apart in the theology of the sixteenth cen- 
tury: he is the link connecting the ancient times with 
the modern, and the man in whom the transition is made 
from the theology of the middle ages to the theology of 
the Reformation. 



398 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER IV 

Oliaxacter of Francis 1. — Commencement of modern times — lAhert^ 
and obedience — Margaret of Valois — The court — Bri^onnet, 
count of Montbrun — Lefevre commends him to the Bible— Frau 
cis I. and "his children" — The gospel brought to Margaret- 
Conversion — Adoration — Margaret's character. 

Thus the whole university was in a state of restless- 
ness. But the Reformation in France was not to be a 
work of the learned only. It was to take its place among 
the great ones of the world, and even in the court of 
the sovereign. 

The youthful Francis I. of Angouleme had succeeded 
his father-in-law and cousin Louis XII. His beauty and 
address, his courage and love of pleasure, made him the 
first knight of his time. He aspired, however, at being 
something more ; he desired to be a great and even a 
good king, provided every thing would bend to his sov- 
ereign pleasure. Valor, a taste for letters, and a love 
of gallantry, are three terms that will express the char- 
acter of Francis and the spirit of his age. Two othei 
illustrious kings, Henry IV. and especially Louis XIV., 
presented the same features in after-years. But these 
princes wanted what the gospel communicates ; and 
although there had always existed in the nation ele- 
ments of holiness and Christian elevation, we may say 
that these three great monarchs of modern France have 
in some measure stamped upon their subjects the im- 
press of their own peculiarities, or rather, that they them- 
selves were the faithful images of the characler of their 
people. If the gospel had entered France with the most 
illustrious of th^ Valois family, it would have brought 
the nation what it does not possess, a spiritual tenden* 
cy, a Christian holiness, a knowledge of divine things, 
and would thus have perfected it in what constitutes 
the real strength and greatness of a people. 

It was in the roign of Francis I. that Franoe and 



COMMENCEMENT OF MODERN TIMES 399 

Europe passed from the middle ages to modern times. 
TLe new world, which was then in the bud, grew up 
and entered into possession. Two classes of men im- 
posed their influence on the new state of society. On 
the one hand were the men of faith, men also of wisdom 
and holiness ; and by their side were the courtly writ- 
ers, friends of the world and of vice, who by the freedom 
of their principles contributed as much to the deprava- 
tion of morals as the former to their reformation. 

If Europe in the days of Francis I. had not witnessed 
the rise of the reformers, and had been handed over by 
the severe judgment of Providence to the unbelieving 
innovators, her fate and that of Christianity would have 
been decided. The danger was great. For some time 
these two classes of combatants, the antagonists of the 
pope and the opponents of the gospel, were mixed up 
together ; and as they both claimed liberty, they ap- 
peared to employ the same arms against the same ene- 
mies. An unpractised eye could not distinguish between 
them amid the dust and clouds of the battle-field. If the 
former had allowed themselves to be carried away by 
the latter, all would have been lost. The enemies of the 
hierarchy were passing rapidly to the extremes of im- 
piety, and pushing Christian society into a frightful 
abyss ; the Papacy itself was helping towards this ter- 
rible catastrophe, and accelerating by its ambition and 
its disorders the destruction of the remnants of truth 
and life still surviving in the church. But God raised 
up the Reformation, and Christianity was saved. The 
reformers who had shouted liberty, soon called for obe- 
dience. The very men who had cast down the throne 
whence the Roman pontiff issued his oracles, fell pros- 
trate before the word of God. Then a clear and definite 
separation took place ; nay, more, tue two bodies en- 
gaged in war against each other. The one party had 
desired liberty only for themselves, the others had 
claimed it for the word of God. The Reformation be- 
came the most formidable enemy of that incredulity 
towards which Rome is often so lenient. After restor 
ing liberty to the church, the reformers restored religion 



400 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



to the world. Of these two gifts, the latter was the 
most needed. 

The friends of infidelity hoped, for a while, to reckon 
among their number Margaret of Valois, duchess of 
Alon9on, whom Francis tenderly loved, and always 
called "sa mignonne,^^ his darling, as we learn from 
Brantome.* The same tastes, the same acquirements 
distinguished both brother and sister. Possessing, like 
Francis, a handsome person, Margaret combined with 
those eminent qualities that make great characters those 
gentler virtues that win the affections. In the world, in 
the gay entertainments at the court of the king and of 
the emperor, she shone like a queen, charming, surpris- 
ing, and captivating all hearts. Passionately fond of 
letters, and endowed with a rare genius, she would re- 
tire to her closet, and there indulge in the sweet pleas- 
ures of thought, study, and learning. But her ruling 
passion was to do good and prevent evil. When am- 
bassadors had been received by the king, they went and 
paid their respects to Margaret. *'They were mightily 
enchanted with her," says Brantome, " and made a glow- 
ing report of her to their own countrymen." And the 
king would often refer matters of importance to her, 
" leaving them solely to her decision.""}* 

This celebrated princess was distinguished for the 
strictness of her morals ; but while many confine this 
strictness to their lips, and are lax in their behavior, 
Margaret did the contrary. Irreproachable in conduct, 
she was not altogether free from censure in her writ- 
ings. Instead of being surprised at this, we might 
rather wonder that a woman so dissolute as Louisa of 
Savoy should have a daughter so pure as Margaret. 
While visiting different parts of the country with the 
court, she amused herself with describing tht manners 
of the time, and particularly the disorders of the priests 
and monks. " 1 have heard her," says Brantome, thus 
narrating tales to my grandmother, who always acccm- 

• Vie des Dames illustres, p. 333. La Haye, 1740 
t Ibid. 337. 



BRIOOTTITET. 



401 



panied her in her litter as lady-in-waiting, and who had 
charge of her inkhorn."* 

This Margaret, so beautiful, so full of wit, and living 
in the atmosphere of a corrupted court, was one of the 
first to be carried away by tlie religious movement then 
beginning in France. But how could the duchess cf 
Alen9on be reached by the Reformation in the midst of 
80 profane a court, and of the licentious tales by which 
it was amused ? Her elevated soul felt wants that the 
gospel alone could satisfy ; grace works everywhere ; 
and Christianity, which even before an apostle had ap- 
peared in Rome already counted followers in the houBe 
of Narcissus and in the court of Nero — Rom. 16 : 11, 
Phil. 4 : 22 — penetrated rapidly, at the period of its ren- 
ovation, into the court of Francis I. High-bred dames 
and noble lords addressed the princess in the language 
of faith ; and that sun, then rising upon France, shed its 
earliest beams upon an illustrious head, by which they 
were immediately reflected on the duchess of Alen9on, 

Among the most distinguished noblemen at the court 
was William of Montbrun, son of cardinal Bri9onnet of 
St. Ma«lo, who had entered the church after the decease 
of his wife. Count William, who was fond of study, 
took holy orders, and became successively bishop of 
Lod^ve and of Meaux. Being twice sent ambassador 
to Rome, he returned to Paris unseduced by the flattery 
and pomps of Leo X. 

At the period of his return to France, the sap was 
everywhere beginning to move. Farel, then master of 
arts, was lecturing in the celebrated college of the cardi- 
nal Lemoine, one of the four principal colleges of the the- 
ological faculty in Paris, equal in rank to the Sorbonne. 
Two fellow-countrymen of Lefevre, Arnaud and Gerard 
. Roussel, with several others, increased the circle of lib- 
eral and generous minds. Bri9onnet, fresh from the gay 
entertainments and festivities of Rome, was astonished 
at what had taken place in Paris during his absence 
Thirsting for the truth, he renewed his ancient relations 
with Lefevre, and passed many precious hours with the 
• Via des Dames illustres, p. 346. 
26 



402 HISTORT OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



doctor of the Sorbonne, with Farel, the two Ronssela 
and their friends.* This illustrious but humble-minded 
prelate was willing to be instructed by the lowliest 
Christians, but particularly by the Lord himself " I 
am in darkness," said he, " awaiting the grace of the 
divine benevolence, from which I am exiled by my de- 
merits." His mind was dazzled, as it were, by the brill- 
iancy of the gospel. His eyelids drooped before its 
unequalled brightness. " The eyes of all men," added 
he, " are insufficient to receive the whole light of this 
great luminary ."f 

Lefevre had recommended the bishop to the Bible ; 
he had pointed to it as the clue which ever leads men 
back to the primitive truth of Christianity, to what it 
was when schools, sects, ordinances, and traditions were 
unknown, and as the powerful medium by which the re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ is renovated. Bri9onnet read the 
Bible. " Such is the sweetness of this divine food," said 
he, that it makes the mind insatiable ; the more we 
taste of it, the more we long for it."J The simple and 
mighty truth of salvation charmed him : he found Christ, 
he found God himself. " What vessel," said he, "is able 
to receive the exceeding fulness of this inexhaustible 
sweetness ? But the dwelling extends according to our 
desire to entertain the good guest. Faith is the quar- 
termaster who alone can find room for him, or more 
truly, who makes us dwell in him." But at the same 
time, the good bishop, afflicted at seeing this doctrine 
of life, which the Keformation restored to the world, 
held in so little estimation at court, in the city, and 
among the people, exclaimed, " 0 singular and most 
worthy innovation, and yet to my fellow-men most unao- 
ceptable." 

It is in this way that evangelical opinions made their 

* Ilistoire de la R^vocat. de I'^dit. de Nantes, 1. 7. Maimbourg, 
Hist, du Calv. p. 12. f This passage is taken from a manu- 

script in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris, entitled Lettres de Mar* 
gueritCy reine de JVavarre^ and marked S. F. 337 I shall have fre- 
quent occasion to quote the manuscript, which I had great difficulty 
Ia. deciphering. % ^^i^* 



FRAKCIS I. AND «*HIS CHILDREN." 403 



way into the midst of the frivolous, dissolute, and liter- 
ary court of Francis I. Many of the men who composed 
it, and who enjoyed the entire confidence of the king, as 
John du Bellay, Budoeus, Cop the court physician, and 
even Petit the king's confessor, appeared favorably dis- 
posed towards the sentiments of Bri9onnet and Lefevre, 
Francis, who loved learning, who invited into his states 
learned men inclined to Lutheranism, and who thought, 
as Erasmus says, "in this manner to adorn and illus- 
trate his age in a more magnificent manner than he could 
have done by trophies, pyramids, or by the most pom- 
pous structures," was himself carried away by his sister, 
by Bri9onnet, and by the literary men of his court and 
universities. He would often be present at the discus- 
sions of the learned, listening with delight to their con- 
versation at table, and calling them " his children." He 
prepared the way for the word of God by founding He- 
brew and Greek professorships. And hence Theodore 
Beza, when placing his portrait at the head of the re- 
formers, says, " Pious spectator, do not shudder at the 
sight of this adversary. Ought he not to have a part in 
this honor, who expelled barbarism from the world, and 
with firm hand substituted in its stead three languages 
and sound learning, to be as it were the portals to the 
new building that was shortly to be erected ?"* 

But there was at the court of Francis I. one soul in 
particular, which seemed prepared to receive the evan- 
gelical influence of the doctor of Etaples and the bishop 
of Meaux. Margaret, yet hesitating and wavering, in 
the midst of the depraved society that surrounded her, 
looked for support and found it in the gospel. She 
turned towards this fresh breath that was reanimating 
the world, and inhaled it with delight as an emanation 
from heaven. From some of the ladies of her court she 
learned what the new doctors were teaching ; they lent 
her their writings, their little books, called in the lan- 
guage of the time, "tracts;" and spoke to her of the 

* Neque rex potentissime pudeat .... quasi atrienses hujus acdifl 
futuras. Bezse Icones. Disputationibus eorum ipse iuterfuit. Flor. 
EaBtnundi, Hist de ortu haeresum, 7. 2. 



404 HISTOET OP THE EEFORMATIOlf . 



"primitive church, of the pure word of God, of worship- 
ping in spirit and in truth, of Christian liberty which 
shakes off the yoke of superstition and traditions of men 
to bind them closer to God alone."* Erelong this prin- 
cess conversed with Lefevre, Farel, and Roussel ; their 
zeal, their piety, their purity of morals — all in them 
struck her imagination ; but it was the bishop of Meaux 
in particular, who had long enjoyed her friendship, that 
became her guide in the path of faith. 

Thus, in the midst of the brilliant court of Francis I, 
and of the profligate household of Louisa of Savoy, was 
accomplished one of those conversions of the heart which, 
although not thoroughly evangelical, are not the fruit of 
a mere sesthetical religion, Margaret subsequently re- 
corded in her poems the different movements of her soul 
at this important period of her life ; and in them we may 
trace the path she then trod. We find that the sense of 
sin had taken strong hold of her, and that she wept over 
the levity with which she had treated the scandals of 
the world. She exclaimed. 

Is there a gulf of ill so deep and wide 
That can suffice but e'en a tenth to hide 
Of my vile sins ? 

This corruption, of which she had so long been igno- 
rant, she discovered everywhere, now that her eyes were 
opened. 

Well do I feel within me is the root, 

Without are branch and foliage, flower and fruitf 

Yet amid the alarm caused by the state of her soul, she 
felt that a God of peace had appeared to her : 

My God, thou hast come down on earth to me — 

To me, although a naked worm I be.J 
And erelong a sense of the love of God in Christ was 
shed abroad in her heart. 

* Maimbourg, Hist, du Calvanisme, p 17. f Marguerites 

de la Marguerite des princesses. Lyon. 1547, tome 1. Miroir de 
I'ame pecheresse, p. 15. The copy I have used appears to have be 
longed to the queen of Navarre herself, and some notes that it con- 
tains are said to be in her own handwriting. It is now in the po» 
9efl8ion of a friend of the author's. | Ibid. pp. 18, X9. 



MARaARET'S ADORATION. 



405 



Margaret had found faith, and her enraptured soul 
indulged in holy transports.* 

Word divine, Jesus the Salvator, 

Only Son of the eternal Pater, 

The first, the last ; of all things renovator, 

Bishop and King, and mighty triumphator, 

From death by death our liberator 

By faith we ^re made the sons of the Creator. 

From this time a great change took place in iho 
duchess of AlenQon : 

Though poor and weak and ignorant I be, 
How rich, how strong, how wise I am in Thee If 

But the power of sin was not yet subdued in her. She 
found a struggle, a discord in her soul that alarmed her : J 

In spirit noble, but in nature slave ; 
Immortal am I, tending to the grave : 
Essence of heaven, and yet of earthly birth ; 
God's dwelling-place, and yet how little worth. 

Margaret, seeking in nature the symbols that migbl 
express the wants and affections of her soul, chose for 
her emblem, says Brantome, the marigold, which by 
its rays and leaves has more affinity with the sun, and 
turuB wherever he goes."§ She added this device : 

JSTon inferior a secutus, 
I seek not things below, 

" as a sign," adds the courtly writer, " that she directed 
all her actions, thoughts, desires, and affections, to that 
great sun which is God ; and hence she was suspected 
of being attached to the Lutheran religion."|| 

In fact, the princess experienced, not long after, the 
truth of the saying, that " all who will live godly in 
Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution." At the court, 
they talked of Margaret's new opinions, and the surprise 

♦ Marguerites, etc. Discord de I'esprit et de la chair, p. 73. 
The translator has endeavored to preserve the quaintness of the 
original, both in rhyme and rhythm. | Ibid. Miroir dtf 

l^ame, p. 22. X Ibid. Discord de 1 'esprit, p. 71. 

^ Vie des Femmes IllustreB, p. 33. || Ibid. 



406 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK 



was great. What 1 even the sister of the king takes 
part with these people. For a moment it might have 
been thought that Margaret's ruin was certain. She 
was denounced to Francis I. But the king, who was 
tenderly attached to his sister, pretended to think that it 
was untrue Margaret^s character gradually lessened the 
opposition Every one loved her, says Brantome : "she 
WSL8 very kind, mild, gracious, charitable, affable, a great 
almsgiver, despising nobody, and winning all hearts by 
her excellent qualities."* 

In the midst of the corruption and frivolity of that 
age, the mind reposes with delight on this chosen soul, 
which the grace of God had seized beneath such a load 
of vanities and grandeur. But her feminine character 
held her back. If Francis I. had felt his sister's con- 
victions, he would no doubt have followed them out. 
The timid heart of the princess trembled before the 
anger of the king. She was constantly wavering be- 
tween her brother and her Saviour, and could not re- 
solve to sacrifice either. We cannot recognize her as 
a Christian who has reached the perfect liberty of the 
children of God : she is a correct type of those elevated 
souls, so numerous in every age, particularly among 
women, who, powerfully attracted towards heaven, have 
not sufficient strength to detach themselves entirely 
from the earth. 

However, such as she is, she is a pleasing character 
on the stage of history. Neither Germany nor England 
presents her parallel. She is a star, slightly clouded no 
doubt, but shedding an indescribable and gentle radi- 
ance, and at the time of which I am treating her rays 
shone out still more brightly. It is not until later years, 
when the angry looks of Francis I. denounce a mortal 
hatred against the Reformation, that his frightened sis^ 
ter will screen her holy faith from the light of day. 3?it 
now she raises her head in the midst of this corrupted 
court, and appears a bride of Christ. The respect paid 
to her, the high opinion entertained of her understand- 
bg and of her heart, plead the cause of the gospel at 
* Vie des Femmes Ulostres, p. 



THE BATTLE HALF WOK. 407 

the court of France much better than any preacher could 
have done. The gentle influence of woman gained ad- 
mission for the new doctrine. It is perhaps to this 
period we should trace the inclination of the French 
nobility to embrace Protestantism. If Francis had fol- 
lowed his sister, if all the nation had opened its gates 
to Christianity, Margaret's conversion might have been 
the saving of France. But while the nobles welcomed 
the gospel, the king and the people remained faithful to 
Rome ; and there came a time when it was a cause of 
Berious misfortune to the Reformation to count a Na- 
Tarre and a Cond^ amorg its ranks. 



408 HISTOET OF THE REFOEMATIOil. 



CHAPTER V. 

Enemies of the Reformation — ^Louisa — Duprat — Concordat of Bo- 
logna — Opposition of the parliament and the university — The 
Borbonne— Beda — His character — His tyranny — Berquin, the 
most learned of the nobility — The intriguers of the Sorbonne — 
Heresy of the three Magdalens — Luther condemned at Paris — 
Address of the Sorbonne to the king — Lefevre quits Paris for 
Meaux. 

Thus already had the gospel made illustrious con 
quests in France. Lefevre, Bri9onnet, Farel, and Mar- 
garet joyfully yielded in Paris to the movement that 
was already beginning to shake the world. Francis 1. 
himself seemed at that time more attracted by the splen- 
dor of literature, than repelled by the severity of the 
gospel. The friends of the word of God were enter- 
taining the most pleasing expectations ; they thought 
that the heavenly doctrine would be disseminated with- 
out obstacle over their country, at the very moment 
when a formidable opposition was organizing at court 
and in the Sorbonne. France, which was to signalize 
itself among Roman-catholic states for nearly three cen- 
turies by its persecutions, rose with pitiless severity 
against the Reformation. If the seventeenth century 
was the age of a bloody victory, the sixteenth was that 
of a cruel struggle. Probably in no place did the re- 
formed Christians meet with more merciless adversaries 
than on the very spot where they raised the standard of 
the gospel. In Germany, it was in the Romish states 
that their enemies were found ; in Switzerland, in the 
Romish cantons ; but in France, it was face to face. A 
dissolute woman and a rapacious minister then headed 
the long list of the enemies of the Reformation. 

Louisa*of Savoy, mother of the king and of Marga- 
ret, notorious for her gallantries, absolute in her will, 
and surrounded by a train of ladies of honor whose licen- 
tiousness began at the court of France a long series of 
immorality and scandal, naturally took part against the 



CONCORDAT OP BOLOGHJA. 



409 



word of God ; she was the more to be feared as sne had 
always preserved an dflmost unbounded influence over 
her son. But the gospel met with a still more formida- 
ble adversary in Louisa's favorite, Anthony Duprat, who 
was nominated chancellor of the kingdom by her influ- 
ence. This man, whom a contemporary historian calls 
the most vicious of all bipeds,* was more rapacious than 
Louisa was dissolute. Having first enriched himself at 
the expense of justice, he desired subsequently to in- 
crease his wealth at the expense of religion, and entered 
holy orders to gain possession of the richest livings. 

Lust and avarice thus characterized these two per- 
sons, who, being both devoted to the pope, endeavored 
to conceal the disorders of their lives by the blood of 
the heretics.f 

One of their first acts was to deliver up the kingdom 
to the ecclesiastical dominion of the pope. The king, 
after the battle of Marignan, met Leo X. at Bologna, 
and there was sealed the famous concordat^ in virtue of 
which these two princes divided the spoils of the church 
between them. They annulled the supremacy of coun- 
cils to give it to the pope ; and depriving the churches 
of their right to fill up the vacant bishoprics and liv- 
ings, conferred it on the king. After this, Francis L, 
supporting the pontiff's train, proceeded to the minster- 
church of Bologna to ratify this negotiation. He was 
sensible of the injustice of the concordat, and turning to 
Duprat, whispered in his ear, "It is enough to damn us 
both."| But what was salvation to him ? Money and 
the pope's alliance were what he wanted. 

The parliament vigorously resisted the concordat. 
The king made its deputies wait several weeks at Am- 
boise, and then calling them before him one day, as he 
rose from table, he said, There is a king in France, 
and I will not have a Venetian senate formed in my 
dominions." He then commanded them to depart before 
sunset. Evangelical liberty had nothing to hope from 
9uch a prince. Three days after, the high-chamberlain 

• Bipedum omnium nequissimus. Belcarius, 15. 435. 

t Sismondi, Hist des Fi-an^aia 16. 387. % Mathieu^ 1. 16. 



410 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



La Tremouille appeared in parliament, and ordered the 
concordat to be registered. * 

Upon this the university put itself in motion. On 
the 18th of March, 1618, a solemn procession, at whicb 
all the students and the bachelors with their hoods were 
present, repaired to the church of St Catherine of the 
Scholars, to implore God to preserve the liberties of the 
church and of the kingdom.* "The colleges were 
closed, strong bodies of the students went armed through 
the city, threatening and sometimes maltreating the ex- 
alted personages who were publishing and carrying out 
the said concordat by the king's orders."f The univer- 
sity eventually tolerated the execution of this edict, but 
without revoking the resolutions on which it had de- 
clared its opposition ; and from that time, says the Ve- 
netian ambassador Correro, " the king began to give 
away the bishoprics with a liberal hand at the solicita- 
tion of the court ladies, and to bestow abbeys on his 
soldiers ; so that at the court of France a trade was car- 
ried on in bishoprics and abbeys, as at Venice in pepper 
and cinnamon."! 

While Louisa and Duprat were preparing to destroy 
the gospel by the destruction of the liberties of the Gal- 
ilean church, a fanatical and powerful party was form- 
ing against the Bible. Christian truth has always had 
to encounter two powerful adversaries, the depravity of 
the world and the fanaticism of the priests. The scho- 
lastic Sorbonne and a profligate court were now to march 
forward hand in hand against the confessors of Jesus 
Christ. In the early days of the church, the unbelieving 
Sadducees and the hypocritical Pharisees were the fierc- 
est enemies of Christianity ; and so they have remained 
through every age. Erelong from the darkness of the 
schools emerged the most pitiless adversaries of the gos- 
pel. At their head was Noel Bddier, commonly called 
Beda, a native of Picardy and syndic of the Sorbonne, 
reputed to be the greatest brawler and most factious 
spirit of his day. Educated in the dry maxims of scho- 

• Cr^vier, 6. 110. f Fontaine, Hist CathoL, Parifl, 166% 

p Id. I Eaumer, Gesch. Europ. 1. 270. 



BEDA AND BERQUIN, 



411 



lasticism, matured in the theses and antitheses of the 
Sorbonne, having a greater veneration for the distinc- 
tions of the school than for the word of God, he was 
transported with anger against those whose daring 
months ventured to put forth other doctrines. Of a 
restless disposition, unable to enjoy any repose, always 
requiring new pursuits, he was a torment to ail around 
bim : confusion was his native element ; he seemed born 
for contention ; and when he had no adversaries he fell 
foul of his friends. This impetuous quack filled the uni- 
versity with stupid and violent declamations against lit- 
erature, against the innovations of the age, and against 
all those who were not, in his opinion, sufficiently ear- 
nest in repressing them. Many smiled as they listened 
to him, but others gave credit to the invectives of the 
blustering orator, and the violence of his character se- 
cured him a tyrannical sway in the Sorbonne. He must 
always have some new enemy to fight, some victim to 
drag to the scaffold ; and accordingly he had created 
heretics before any existed, and had called for the burn- 
ing of Merlin, vicar-general of Paris, for having endeav- 
ored to justify Origen. But when he saw the new doc- 
tors appear, he bounded like a wild beast that suddenly 
perceives an easy prey within its reach. " There are 
three thousand monks in one Beda," said the cautious 
Erasmus.* 

These excesses, however, were prejudicial to his 
cause. "What," said the wisest men of the age, "does 
the Roman church rest on the shoulders of such an Atlas 
as this ?f Whence comes all this disturbance, except 
from the absurdities of Beda himself 

In effect, the very invectives that frightened weak 
minds, disgusted more generous spirits. At the court 
of Francis I. was a gentleman of Artois named Louis 
de Berquin, then about thirty years of age, and who was 
never married. The purity of his life,| his profound 

* In uno Beda sunt tria millia monachorum. Erasm. Epp. p. 
373. t Talibus Atlantibus nititur Ecclesia Romana. Ibid. 

1113. { Ut ne rumuscuios quidem impudicitise sit ua(j[uaxn 

hi ilium exortufl. Ibid. 127a. 



412 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATICN 



knowledge, which procured him the title of " the most 
learned of the nobles,"* the openness of his disposition, 
his tender care for the poor, and his unbounded attach- 
ment to his friends, distinguished him above his equals. f 
There was not a more devout observer of the ceremonies 
of the church, fasts, festivals, and masses ;J and he held 
fn the greatest horror all that was denominated hereti* 
cal. It was a matter of astonishment to witness so 
much devotion at the court. 

It seemed as if nothing could make such a man in- 
cline to the side of the Reformation ; there were, how- 
ever, one or two features in his character that might 
lead him to the gospel. He abhorred every kind of dis- 
simulation, and, as he never desired to injure any one 
himself, he could not bear to see others injured. The 
tyranny of Beda and other fanatics, their bickerings and 
persecution^, filled his generous soul with indignation ; 
and as he never did things by halves, he was accustomed 
wherever he went, in the city or at the court, " even 
among the highest personages in the kingdom,"§ to in- 
veigh with the utmost vehemence against the tyranny 
of these doctors, and attack, " in their very nests," says 
Theodore Beza, "those odious hornets who were then 
the terror of the world." || 

He did not stop here : opposition to injustice led Ber- 
quin to inquire after truth. He desired to know that 
holy Scripture, so dear to the men against whom Beda 
and his creatures were raging ; and he had scarcely 
begun to read the book, before it won his heart. Ber- 
quin immediately joined Margaret, Lefevre, Bri9onnet, 
and all those who loved the word, and in their society 
tasted of the purest joys. He felt that he had some- 
thing more to do besides opposing the Sorbonne, and 
would have loved to communicate the convictions of his 
soul to all France. He immediately began to write and 

• Gaillard, Hist, de Francois I. f Mirere benignus in eg^ 
DOS et amicos. Er. Epp. p. li'SH. i Constitution urn ac rituum 
ecclesiasticorum observantissimus. Ibid. § Actes des Mar- 

tyrs de Crespln, p. 103. || Ut maxlme omnium tunc metiiea' 

los crabrones ia ipsis eorum cavis. .... Bqzsb Icones. 



RIHaLEADEES OF THE SORBONITE. 413 

translate several Christian books into French. It seem- 
ed to him that every man ought to acknowledge and 
embrace the truth as promptly as he had done himself. 
That impetuosity which Beda had exerted in the service 
of human traditions, Berquin employed in the service of 
the word of God. Although younger than the syndic of 
the Sarbonne, less prudent, and less skilful, he had in 
his favor the noble enthusiasm of truth. They were two 
strong wrestlers about to try which should throw the 
other. But Berquin had another object in view than a 
triumph over Beda : he would have desired to pour forth 
floods of truth over all his countrymen. And hence The- 
odore Beza says, that France might have found a second 
Luther in Berquin, if he had, found a second elector in 
Francis I.* 

Numerous obstacles were destined to impede his 
efforts. Fanaticism finds disciples everywhere ; it is a 
fire that spreads far and near. The monks and ignorant 
priests took part with the syndic of the Sorbonne. A 
party spirit pervaded the whole troop, which was gov- 
erned by a few intriguing and fanatical leaders, who 
cleverly took advantage of the insignificance or vanity 
of their colleagues to infect them with their own preju- 
dices. At all their meetings these chiefs were the only 
speakers : they domineered over their party by their 
violence, and reduced the moderate and weak-minded to 
silence. Hardly had they made any proposition, before 
these ringleaders exclaimed, "We shall soon see now 
who are of the Lutheran faction."f Did any one give 
utterance to a reasonable sentiment, a shuddering fell 
upon Beda, Lecouturier, Duchesne, and the whole band ; 
and all cried out at once, He is worse than Luther.'^ 
This manoeuvre was successful ; the timid minds that 
prefer peace to disputation, those who are ready to give 
up their own opinions for their own advantage, those 
who do not understand the simplest questions, and last- 
ly those who are always carried away by the clamor of 

* Gallia fortassis alterum esset Luterum nacta. Bezae Icones. 
t Hie, iuquiunt, apparebit qui siut Lutheranse factioms. £r 
Bpp. p. 



414 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOK. 



others, all became the willing recruits of Beda and his 
satellites. Some were silent, others shontod, all sub- 
mitted to that influence which a proud and tyrannical 
mind exercises over vulgar souls. Such was the state 
of this association, which was regarded as so venerable, 
ftnd which was at that time the most violent enemy of 
evangelical Christianity. It would often be salBcient to 
cast a single glance upon the most celebrated bodies to 
estimate at its just value the war they wage upon truth. 

Thus the university which, under Louis XII., had 
applauded Allmain's aspirations after independence, ab- 
ruptly plunged once more, under Duprat and Louisa of 
Savoy, into fanaticism and servility. If we except the 
Jansenists and a few other doctors, a noble and real in- 
dependence has never existed among the Gallican clergy. 
They have never done more than oscillate between ser- 
vility to the court and servility to the pope. If under 
Louis XII. or Louis XIV. they bad some appearance of 
liberty, it was because their master in Paris was at strife 
with their master at Rome. And thus we have an expla- 
nation of the change we have pointed out. The univer- 
sity and the bishops forgot their rights and duties as 
soon as the king ceased to enjoin their observance. 

For a long period Beda had been incensed against 
Lefevre ; the renown of the Picard doctor's lectures irri- 
tated his compatriot and ruffled his pride ; he would 
gladly have silenced him. Once already Beda had at- 
tacked the doctor of Etaples, and as yet little able to 
distinguish the evangelical doctrines, he had assailed his 
colleague on a point which, however strange it may 
appear, was near sending Lefevre to the scaffold.* This 
doctor had asserted that Mary the sister of Lazarus, 
Mary Magdalen, and the "woman which was a sinner," 
of whom St. Luke speaks in the seventh chapter of his 
gospel, were three distinct persons. The Greek fathers 
had distinguished them : the Latin fathers had confound- 
ed them together. This terrible heresy of the three Mag- 
dalens set Beda and all his host in motion ; Christendom 
was roused ; Fisher, bishop of Rochester, one of the most 
* Gaillard, Hist, de Francois L, 4. 228. 



LUTHER BEFORE THE SORBONNB. 415 



distinguished prelates of the age, wrote against Lefevre, 
and the whole church then declared against an opinion 
now admitted by every Roman-catholic. Already Le- 
fevre, condemned by the Sorbonne, was prosecuted by 
the parliament as a heretic, when Francis I., pleased at 
the opportunity of striking a blow at the Sorbonne and 
of humbling the monks, rescued him from the hands of 
his persecutors. 

Beda, enraged at seeing his victim snatched from his 
grasp, resolved to take better aim another time. The 
name of Luther was beginning to be heard in France. 
The reformer, after the dispute with Dr. Eck at Leipsic, 
had agreed to acknowledge the universities of Erfurth 
and Paris as his judges. The zeal displayed by the lat- 
ter university against the concordat, no doubt led him 
to hope that he should find impartial judges in its mem- 
bers. But the times were changed, and the more decided 
the theological faculty had been against the encroach- 
ments of Rome, the more it was bent on showing its 
orthodoxy. Beda accordingly found it quite disposed 
to enter into his views. 

On the 20th of January, 1520, the treasurer of the 
French nation* bought twenty copies of the conference 
between Luther and Eck for distribution among the 
members of the commission who were to make a report 
on the matter. More than a year was employed in this 
investigation. The German Reformation was beginning 
to create a strong sensation in France. The universi- 
ties, which were then truly catholic institutions, to which 
students resorted from every country in Christendom, 
brought Germany, France, Switzerland, and England, 
into closer and speedier relation with each other, as re- 
gards theology and philosophy, than those of the present 
day. The reports prevailing in Paris of Luther's suc- 
cess strengthened the hands of such men as Lefevre, 
Bri9onnet, and Farel. Each of his victories increased 
their courage. Many of the Sorbonne doctors were 

• It was formerly the custom in the university of Paris to cla*» 
sify its members into four nations : namely, France, Picardy, No^ 
mandy, and Germany. Tr. 



416 HISTORY OF THE EE FORMATION. 



struck uy the admirable truths they found in the writ> 
ings of the Wittemberg monk. There had already been 
Fiany a bv^ld confession ; but there had also been a ter- 
rible resistance. " All Europe," says Crdvier, " was 
waiting for the decision of the university of Paris." 
The contest appeared doubtful. At length Beda pre- 
vailed ; and in April, 1621, the university decreed that 
Luther's works should be publicly burned, and the au. 
thor compelled to retract. 

This was not enough. In fact Luther's disciples had 
crossed the Rhine more speedily even than his writings. 
" In a short time," says the Jesuit Maimbourg, *Hhe uni- 
versity was filled with foreigners, who, because they 
knew a little Hebrew and more Greek, acquired a repu- 
tation, insinuated themselves into the houses of persons 
of quality, and claimed an insolent liberty of interpret- 
ing the Bible."* The faculty therefore appointed a dep- 
utation to bear their remonstrances to the king. 

Francis I., caring little for the quarrels of theolo- 
gians, was continuing his career of pleasure ; and pass- 
ing from castle to castle, with his gentlemen and the 
ladies composing his mother's and his sister's court, he 
indulged in every species of disorder, far from the trou- 
blesome observation of the citizens of the capital. He 
thus made his progresses through Brittany, Anjou, Gui- 
enne, Angoumois, and Poitou, leading the same sump- 
tuous life in villages and forests, as if he had been at 
Paris in his palace of Tournelles. It was one round of 
tournaments, sham -fights, masquerades, costly enter- 
tainments, and banquets, which even those of LucuUus, 
as Brantome says, could not equal.f 

For a moment, however, he interrupted the courise 
of his pleasures to receive the grave deputies of the 
Sorbonne ; but he saw only men of learning in those 
whom the faculty pointed out as heretics. Could a 
prince who boasted of having put the kings of France 
hors de page — out of leading-strings — bend his head be- 
fore a few fanatical doctors ? He replied, " I will not 

• Hist, du Calvinisme, p. 10. 1 He Aes Homines fllustres 
1. 326. 



THE FIEST EOMISH VICTORT. 417 



have these people molested. To persecute those who 
teach us, would prevent able scholars from coming into 
our country.''* 

The deputation left the king's presence in great 
wi'ath. What will be the consequence ? The disease 
grows stronger every day ; already the heretical opin- 
ions are denominated "the sentiments of men of genius f 
the devouring flame is stealing into the most secret re- 
cesses ; erelong the conflagration will burst forth, and 
throughout France the edifice of faith will fall with a 
terrible crash. 

Beda and his party, failing to obtain the king's per- 
mission to erect their scaffolds, resort to persecutions of 
a more invidious nature. There was no kind of annty- 
ance to which the evangelical teachers were not sub- 
jected. Fresh reports and fresh denunciations followed 
each other daily. The aged Lefevre, tormented by these 
ignorant zealots, longed for repose. The pious Bri9on- 
net, who was unremitting in his veneration for the doc- 
tor of Etaples,f ofiered him an asylum. Lefevre quitted 
Paris and retired to Meaux. This was the first victory 
gained over the gospel, and it was then seen that if the 
Romish party cannot succeed in engaging the civil 
power on its side, there is a secret and fanatical police, 
by means of which it is enabled to obtain its end. 

* Maimbourg, p. 11. f Pro innumeris beneficiis, pro tantfc 
stadia commodis. Epist. dedicatoria Epp. PauU. 



27 



418 



HISTORr OF THE REFOKMATION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Bri^onnet visits his diocese — Reform — The doctors persecateo in 
Paris — Phlliberta of Savoy — Correspondence between Margaret 
and Bri^onnet. 

Tuus Paris was beginning to rise against the Refor- 
mation, and to trace the outlines of that circumvallation 
which was destined for more than three centuries to bar 
the entrance of the reformed worship. It had been God's 
will that the first beams of light should shine upon the 
capital ; but men immediately arose to extinguish them ; 
the spirit of the Sixteen'^ was already fermenting in the 
metropolis, and other cities were about to receive the 
light which Paris rejected. 

Bri9onnet, on returning to his diocese, had manifested 
the zeal of a Christian and of a bishop. He had visited 
every parish, and assembling the deans, the incumbents, 
and their curates, with the church-wardens and principal 
parishioners, had inquired into the doctrine and lives of 
the preachers. At collection-time, they answered, the 
Franciscans of Meaux begin their rounds ; a single 
preacher will visit four or five parishes in a day, always 
delivering the same sermon, not to feed the souls of his 
hearers, but to fill his belly, his purse, and his convent.| 
Their wallets once replenished, their end is gained, the 
sermons are over, and the monks do not appear again 
in the churches until the time for another collection has 
arrived. The only business of these shepherds is to 
shear their sheep.| 

* About this time, 1579, a popular society, more violent in ite 
principles, was formed among the Leaguers, and which was called 
the Sixteen, (Seize,) from the number of its directing committee, 
each of whom became a religious agitator in as many quarters of 
Paris White's Universal History, p. 459. f Ea solum docori 

quae ad coenobium illorum ac ventrem explendum pert nerent. Acta 
Mart. p. 334. J MS of Meaux. I am indebted to the kindness 

of M. Ladeveze, pastor at Meaux, for a copy of this manuscript, 
vhich is preserved in that city. 



BRICONNET'S REFOEMS. 



419 



Th? majority of the parish priests spent their sti- 
pends at Paris. "Alas," exclaimed the pious bishop, 
finding a presbytery deserted that he had gone to visit, 
"are they not traitors who thus desert the service of 
Jesus Christ?"* Bri9onnet resolved to apply a remedy 
to these evils, and convoked a synod of all his clergy 
for the 13th of October, 1519. But these worldly priests, 
wlio troubled themselves but little about the remon- 
strances of their bishop, and for whom Paris had so many 
charms, took advantage of a custom in virtue of which 
they might substitute one or more curates to tend their 
flocks in their absence. Out of one hundred and twenty- 
seven of these curates, there were only fourteen of whom 
Bri9onnet could approve upon examination. 

Worldly-minded priests, imbecile curates, monks who 
thought only of their belly — such was then the condition 
of the church. Bri9onnet interdicted the Franciscans 
from entering the pulpit ;f published a mandate on the 
2tth of October, 1520, in which he declared traitors 
and deserters all those pastors who, by abandoning their 
flocks, show plainly that what they love is their fleece 
and their wool ; selected others who were found to be 
capable, and gave them to the poor sheep ransomed by 
the most holy blood of Jesus Christ ;"J and feeling con- 
vinced that the only means of providing able ministers 
for his diocese was to train them himself, he determined 
to establish a theological school at Meaux, under the 
direction of pious and learned doctors. It was neces- 
sary to find them, and Beda soon provided them. 

This fanatic and his band did not relax their exer- 
tions ; and bitterly complaining of the toleration of their 
government, declared that they would make war on the 
new doctrines with it, without it, and against it. In vain 
had Lefevre quitted the capital ; did not Farel and his 
friends remain behind ? Farel, it is true, did not preach, 
for he was not in holy orders ; but at the university and 

* MS. of Meaux. f Eis in universa diocesi sua praedicatio- 
nem interdixlt. Act. Mart. p. 334. { Histoire Geuealogiqua 

de la maisoQ des Bri^ounets, by Eug. Britonneau, published ia 1621, 
^d quoted in tbe Semeur of Maj 4, 1842. 



420 HISTOEr OP THE REFORMATION, 



in the city, with professors and priests, students and cit 
izens, he boldly maintained the cause of the Reformation. 
Others, in/spirited by his example, were inculcating the 
gospel more openly. A celebrated preacher. Martial 
Mazurier, president of St. MichaePs college, threw aside 
all reserve, depicted the disorders of the age in the dark- 
est and yet truest colors, and it seemed impossible to 
resist the torrent of his eloquence.* The anger of Beda 
and his theological friends was at its height. " If we 
tolerate these innovators," said he, " they will invade the 
whole body, and all will be over with our teaching, our 
traditions, our places, and the respect felt towards us 
by Prance and the whole of Christendom." 

The divines of the Sorbonne were the stronger party 
Farel, Mazurier, Gerard Roussel, and his brother Arnold, 
soon found their active exertions everywhere thwarted. 
The bishop of Meaux entreated his friends to come and 
join Lefevre ; and these excellent men, hunted down by 
the Sorbonne, and hoping to form, under Bri9onnet's pro- 
tection, a sacred phalanx for the triumph of the truth, 
accepted the bishop's invitation, and repaired to Meaux.f 
Thus the light of the gospel was gradually withdrawn 
from the capital, where Providence had kindled its ear- 
liest sparks. And this is the condemnation, that light 
is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather 
than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3 : 19. 
It is impossible not to discover that Paris then drew 
down upon its walls the judgment of God pointed out 
in these words of Jesus Christ. 

Margaret of Valois, successively deprived of Bri9on- 
net, Lefevre, and their friends, felt anxious at her lonely 
position in the midst of Paris and the licentious court of 
Francis I. A young princess, Philiberta of Savoy, her 
mother's sister, lived in close intimacy with her. Phili- 
berta, whom the king of France had given in marriage 
to Julian the Magnificent, brother to Leo X., in confir- 

* Frequentissimas de reformandis hominum moribus concionea 
habuit. Lannoi, Navarrae gymnasii Hist. p. 26L f Ce fut la 

persecution qui se Buscita centre eux a Paris en 1521, qui les obli- 
gea a quitter cette yille. Vie de Farel, par Gboupard. 



MAROARET TO BRIOONNET. 



421 



mation of the concordat, bad repaired to Rome after her 
nuptials, when the pope, delighted at so illustrious an 
alliance, had expended 150,000 ducats in sumptuous fes- 
tivities on the occasion.* Julian, who then commanded 
the papal army, died, leaving his widow only eighteen 
years of age. She became attached to Margaret, who 
by her talents and virtues exercised a great influence 
over all around her. Philiberta's grief opened her heart 
to the voice of religion. Margaret imparted to her all 
she read ; and the widow of the lieutenant-general of 
the church began to taste the sweets of the doctrine of 
salvation. But Philiberta was too inexperienced to sup- 
port her friend. Margaret often trembled as she thought 
of her exceeding weakness. If the love she bore the 
king and the fear she had of displeasing him led her to 
any action contrary to her conscience, trouble immedi- 
ately entered into her soul, and turning sorrowfully tow- 
ards the Lord, she found in him a brother and a master 
more compassionate and dearer to her heart than Fran* 
cis himself. It was then she said to Jesus Christ,f 

Sweet Brother, who, when thou might^st justly chide 

Thy foolish sister, tak'st her to thy side ; 

And grace and love givest her in recompense 

Of murmurings, injury, and great offence. 

Too much, too much, dear Brother, thou hast done, 

Too much, alas, for such a worthless one. 

Margaret seeing all her friends retiring to Meaux, 
looked sadly after them from the midst of the festivities 
of the court. Every thing appeared to be deserting her 
again. Her husband the duke of Alen9on was setting 
out for the army ; her youthful aunt Philiberta was go- 
ing to Savoy. The duchess turned to Bri9onnet. 

Monsieur de Meaux," wrote she, "knowing that 
One alone is necessary, I apply to you, entreating you 
to be, by prayer, the means that He will be pleased to 
guide according to his holy will M. d'Alen9on, who by 
command of the king is setting out as lieutenant-gene* 
ral in his army, which I fear will not be disbanded with- 

• Guichemon, Hist. g6n. de Savoie, 2. 180. f Miroir 

Tame p^heresse. Marguerites de la Marguerite, 1. 36. 



4IH2 HISTORY OF tttE REFORMATION. 



out a war. And thinking that, besides the public weal 
of the kingdom, you have a good title in whatsoever con- 
cerns his salvation and mine, I pray for your spiritual 
aid. To-morrow, my aunt of Nemours departs for Savoy. 
I am obliged to meddle with many things that cause me 
muct fear. Wherefore, if you should know that master 
Michael could undertake a journey hither, it would be a 
consolation to me, which I beseech only for the honor of 
, God."* 

Michael of Aranda, whose aid Margaret sought, was 
a member of the evangelical society of Meaux, and who 
subsequently exposed himself to many dangers in preach- 
ing the gospel. 

This pious princess beheld with alarm the opposition 
against truth becoming more formidable every day. 
Duprat and the creatures of the government, Beda and 
those of the Sorbonne, filled her with terror. Bri9onnet, 
to encourage' her, replied, It is the war which the gen- 
tle Jesus told us in the gospel he came to send on earth, 
.... and also the fire .... the great fire that trans- 
formeth earthliness into heavenliness. I desire with all 
my heart to aid you, madam, but from my own nothing- 
ness expect nothing but the will. Whoso hath faith, 
hope, and love, hath all he requires, and needeth not aid 

or support God alone is all in all, and out of him 

can nothing be found. To fight, take with you that 

great giant .... love unspeakable The war is 

led on by love. Jesus demandeth the presence of the 
heart : wretched is the man who withdraws from him. 
Whoso fighteth in person is sure of victory. He often 
faileth who fighteth by others.^f 

The bishop of Meaux was beginning to know by per- 
sonal experience what it is to fight for the word of God. 
The theologians and monks, irritated by the asylum he 
gave to the friends of the Reformation, accused him with 
Buch violence, that his brother the bishop of St. Malo 
came to Paris to inquire into the matter.J Hence Mar- 

* Letters of Margaret, queen of Navarre, in the Royal Library 
at Paris, S. F. 337, 1621. f Lettres de Marguerite, MS & F 

June 12, 1621. t MS. de Meaux. 



DEATH OF PHILIBERTA. 



423 



garet was the more touched by the consolations that 
Bri9onnet addressed to her, and she replied with offers 
of assistance. 

'* If in any thing/' she wrote, " you think that I can 
pleasure you or yours, I pray you believe that every 
tiouble will turn to my comfort. May everlasting peace 
be yours after these long wars you are waging for the 

faith, in which battle you desire to die 

" Wholly your daughter, 

♦* MARGARET."* 

It is to be lamented that Bri9onnet did not die in the 
contest. Yet he was then full of zeal. Philiberta of 
Nemours, respected by all for her sincere devotion, her 
liberality towards the poor, and the great purity of her 
life, read with increasing interest the evangelical writ- 
ings transmitted to her by the bishop of Meaux. "I 
have all the tracts that you have sent me," wrote Mar- 
garet to Bri9onnet, "of which my aunt of Nemours has 
her part, and I will forward her the last ; for she is in 
Savoy at her brother's wedding, which is no slight loss 
to me ; wherefore I beseech you have pity on my loneli- 
ness." Unhappily Philiberta did not live long enough to 
declare herself openly in favor of the Reformation. She 
died in 1524, at the castle of Virieu le Grand, in Bugey, 
at the age of twenty-six.f This was a severe blow to 
Margaret. Her friend, her sister, she who could fully 
comprehend her, was taken from her. There was per- 
haps only one individual, her brother, whose death would 
have occasioned her more sorrow than this : 

Such floods of tears fall from my eyes, 
They hide from view both earth and skies.f 

Margaret, feeling her inability to resist her grief and 
the seductions of the court, entreated Bri9onnet to exhort 
her to the love of God, and the humble bishop replied : 

"May the mild and gentle Jesus, who wills, and who 
alone is able to effect what he mightily wills, in his infi- 

• MS. S. F. 227, de la Bibl. Royale. f Guichemon, Hist, 

de la maisoQ de Savoie, 2. 181. t Chanson spiritiielle apr^ 

la mort du Roi. Marguerites, 1. 473. 



424 HISTORY OF THE EEPORMATIOIT. 



aite mercy visit your heart, exhorting you to love Mm 

with your whole being. Other than he, madam, none 
has the power to do this ; you must not seek light from 
darkness, or warmth from cold. By attracting he kin- 
dles ; and by warmth he attracts to follow him, enlarg- 
ing the heart. Madam, you write to me to have pity on 
you, because you are alone. I do not understand that 
word. Whoso lives in the world and has his heart 
there, is alone ; for many and evil go together. But 
she whose heart sleeps to the world, and is awake to the 
meek and gentle Jesus, her true and loyal husband, is 
truly alone, for she lives on the one thing needful ; and 
yet she is not alone, not being forsaken by him who fills 
and preserves all things. Pity I cannot, and must not, 
such loneliness, which is more to be esteemed than the 
whole world, from which I am persuaded that the love 
of God has saved you, and that you are no longer its 

child Abide, madam, alone in your only One . . . . 

who has been pleased to sufier a painful and ignomini- 
ous death and passion. 

" Madam, in commending myself to your good graces, 
I entreat you not to use any more such words as in your 
last letters. Of God alone you are the daughter and 

bride : other father you should not seek I exhort 

and admonish you, that you will be such and as good a 
daughter to him, as he is a good Father to you ; . . . , and 
forasmuch as you cannot attain to this, because the finite 
cannot correspond to infinity, I pray that he will vouch- 
safe to increase your strength, that you may love and 
serve him with your whole heart."* 

Notwithstanding these exhortations, Margaret was 
not consoled. She bitterly regretted the spiritual guides 
whom she had lost ; the new pastors forced upon her to 
bring her back did not possess her confidence, and what- 
ever the bishop might say, she felt herself alone in the 
midst of the court, and all around her appeared dark and 
desolate. As a sheep in a strange country," wrote she 
to Bri9onnet, wandering about, not knowing where to 
find its pasture, through lack of knowing its new shep' 
♦ MS Bibl. Roy. S. F. 337, dated July 10. 



BRICONNET TO MAUaARET. 425 



herds, uaturally lifts its head to catch the breeze from 
that quarter where the chief shepherd was once accus- 
tomed to give her sweet nourishment, in such sort am I 

constrained to pray for your charity Come down 

from the high mountain, and in pity regard, among thia 
benighted people, the blindest of all thy fold. 

MARGARET.^* 

The bishop of Meaux, in his reply, taking up the 
image of the stray sheep under which Margaret had 
depicted herself, uses it to describe the mysteries of sal- 
vation under the figure of a wood : "The sheep entering 
the forest, led by the Holy Ghost," said he, " is imme- 
diately enchanted by the goodness, beauty, straightness, 
length, breadth, depth, and height, and the fragrant and 
invigorating sweetness of this forest, .... and when it 
has looked all around, has seen only Him in all, and all 
in Him ;f and moving rapidly through its depths, finds 
it so pleasant, that the way is life, and joy, and conso- 
lation."J The bishop then shows her the sheep search- 
ing in vain for the limits of the forest — an image of the 
soul that would fathom the mysteries of God~meeting 
with lofty mountains, which it endeavors to scale, find 
ing everywhere "inaccessible and incomprehensible in- 
finity." He then teaches her the road by which the soul, 
inquiring after God, surmounts all these difficulties ; he 
shows how the sheep in the midst of the hirelings finds 
" the cabin of the great Shepherd," and " enters on the 
wing of meditation by faith ;" all is made smooth, all is 
explained ; and she begins to sing, " I have found Him 
whom my soul loveth." 

Thus wrote the bishop of Meaux. At that period he 
was burning with zeal, and would gladly have seen all 
France regenerated by the gospel. § Often would "is 
mind dwell especially on those three great individuals 
who seemed to preside over the destinies of its people — 
the king, his mother, and his sister. He thought that i^ 

* MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. 337, dated July 10. f All in Christ, 
t MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. 337. § Studio veritatis aliis decla 

randtt infiammatus. Act. Martyrum, p. 334- 



426 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 

the royal family were enlightened, all the people would 
be 80, and the priests, stirred to rivalry, would at last 
awaken from their lethargy. "Madam," wrote he to 
Margaret, "I humbly entreat Almighty God, that he will 
be pleased of his goodness to kindle a fire in the hearts 
of the king, of his mother, and in your own, .... so that 
fr(>m you there may go forth a light burning and shin- 
ing on the rest of the nation, and particularly that class 
by whose coldness all others are frozen." 

Margaret did not share these hopes. She speaks 
neither of her brother nor of her mother ; they were 
subjects she dared not touch upon ; but, replying to the 
bishop in January, 1522, with a heart wrung by the in- 
difiPerence and worldliness of those around her, she said, 
" The times are so cold, my heart so icy f and signs her 
letter, " your frozen, thirsty, and hungry daughter, Mar- 
garet." 

This letter did not discourage Bri5onnet, but it made 
him ponder ; and feeling how much he, who desired to 
reanimate others, required to be animated himself, he 
commended himself to the prayers of Margaret and of 
Madame de Nemours. "Madam," wrote he with great 
simplicity, "I beseech you to awaken the poor slum- 
berer with your prayers."* 

Such, in 1621, were the sentiments interchanged at 
tne court of France. A strange correspondence, no 
doubt, and which, after more than three centuries, a 
manuscript in the Royal Library has revealed to us. 
Was this influence of the Reformation in such high 
places a benefit to it, or a misfortune ? The sting of 
truth penetrated the cour"^. ; but perhaps it only served 
to arouse the drowsy beast, and exciting his rage, 
caused it to spring with deadlier fury on the humblest 
of the flock 

• MS. B/bl. Royale. 



THE CHURCH AT MEAXTX. 



427 



CHAPTER VII. 

Beginning of the church at Meaux — The Scriptures in Fiencn— The 
artisans and the bishop — Evangelical harvest — The epistles of 
St. Paul sent to the king — Lefevre and Roma — The monks be- 
fore the bishop — The monks before the parliament — ^Briconnet 
gives way. 

The time was indeed approaching when the storm 
should burst upon the Reformation ; but it was first to 
scatter a few more seeds, and to gather in a few more 
sheaves. This city of Meaux, renowned a century and 
a half later by the sublime defender*^ of the Galilean 
system against the autocratic pretensions of Rome, was 
called to be the first town of France where regenerated 
Christianity should establish its dominion. It was then 
the field on which the laborers were prodigal of their 
exertions and their seed, and where already the ears 
were falling before the reapers. Bri9onnet, less sunk 
in slumber than he had said, was animating, inspecting, 
and directing all. His fortune equalled his zeal ; never 
did man devote his wealth to nobler uses, and never did 
such noble devotedness promise at first to bear such 
glorious fruits. The most pious teachers, transferred 
from Paris to Meaux, from that time acted with more 
liberty. There was freedom of speech, and great was 
the stride then taken by the Reformation in Prance. 
Lefevre energetically expounded that gospel with which 
he would have rejoiced to fill the world. He exclaimed, 
" Kings, princes, nobles, people, all nations should think 
and aspire after Christ alone.f Every priest should 
resemble that archangel whom John saw in the Apoca- 
lypse, flying through the air, holding the everlasting 
gospel in his hand and carrying it to every people, na« 
tion, tongue, and kmg. Come near, ye pontifis, come, ye 

* Bossuet. t Reges, principes, magnates omnes et subindd 
omnium nationum populi, ut nihil aliud cogitent . . . ac Christum, 
Fabri Comm. in Evang. Prsef. 



428 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



kings, come, ye generous hearts Nations, awake 

to the light of the gospel, and inhale the heavenly life.* 
The word of God is all-sufficient."f 

Such in truth was the motto of that school : The 
WORD OF God is all-sufficient. In this device the whole 
Keformation is embodied. "To know Christ and his 
word," said Lefevre, Roussel, and Farel, " is the only 

living and universal theology He who knows 

that, knows every thing.^J 

The truth was making a deep impression at Meaux. 
Private meetings took place at first ; then conferences ? 
and at last the gospel was preached in the churches 
But a new effort inflicted a still more formidable blow 
against Rome. 

Lefevre desired to enable the Christians of France to 
read the holy Scriptures. On the 30th of October, 1522, 
he published a French translation of the four gospels ; 
on the 6th of November, the remaining books of the 
New Testament ; on the 12th of October, 1524, all 
these books together, at the house of Collin, in Meaux ; 
and in 1525, a French version of the Psalms.§ Thus 
was begun in France, almost at the same time as in 
Germany, that printing and dissemination of the Scrip- 
tures in the vulgar tongue which, three centuries later, 
was to be so wonderfully developed throughout the 
world. In France, as on the other side of the Rhine, 
the Bible had a decisive influence. Experience had 
taught many Frenchmen, that when they sought to 
know divine things, doubt and obscurity encompassed 
them on every side. In how many moments and per- 
haps years in their lives had they been tempted to re- 
gard the most certain truths as mere delusions. We 
need a ray from heaven to enlighten our darknecs. 
Such was the ejaculation of many a soul at the epoch 
of the Reformation. With longings such as these, num- 

• Ubivis gentium expergiscimini ad Evangelii lucem. FabrL 
Comm. in Evang. Praef. f Verbum Dei sufficit. Ibid. 

t Hajc est universa et sola vivifica Theologia Christum 

ot verbum ejus esse omnia. Ibid, in Ev. Johan. p. 271. 

§ Le Long. Biblioth. sacr^e, 2d edit p. 42. 



THE ARTISANS AND THE BISHOP. 



429 



Ders received the sacred writings from the hands of Le- 
fevre ; they were read in their families and in private ; 
conversations on the Bible became frequent ; Christ ap- 
peared to those souls so long misled as the centre and 
the sun of all revelation. No longer did they require 
demonstrations to prove that Scripture was from God ; 
they knew it, for by it they had been transported from 
darkness to light. 

Such was the course by which so many distinguished 
persons in France attained a knowledge of God. But 
there were yet simpler and more common paths, if such 
can be, by which many of the lower classes were 
brought to the truth. The city of Meaux was almost 
wholly inhabited by artisans and dealers in wool. 
" There was engendered in many," says a chronicler of 
the sixteenth century, " so ardent a desire of knowing 
the way of salvation, that artisans, fullers, and wool- 
combers took no other recreation, as they worked with 
their hands, than to talk with each other of the word of 
God, and to comfort themselves with the same. Sun- 
days and holidays especially were devoted to the read- 
ing of Scripture, and inquiring into the good pleasure 
of the Lord."* 

Bri9onnet rejoiced to see piety take the place of 
superstition in his diocese. "Lefevre, aided by the 
renown of his great learning," says a contemporary his- 
torian, " contrived so to cajole and circumvent Messiro 
Guillaume Bri9onnet with his plausible talk, that he 
caused him to turn aside grievously, so that it has been 
impossible up to this day to free the city and diocese of 
Meaux from that pestilent doctrine, where it has so mar- 
vellously increased. The misleading that good bishop 
was a great injury, as until then he had been so devoted 
to God and to the virgin Mary."f 

Yet all were not so grievously turned aside, as the 
Franciscan says, whom we have just quoted. The city 
was divided into two parties. On the one side were 
the monks of St. Francis and the friends of the Romish 

• Act. des Mart p. 182. f Histoire Catholique de liotre 

tempsi par Fontaine, de Tordr^ de St. Francois. Paris, 1662. 



430 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



doctrine ; on the other, Bri9onnet, Lefevre, Parel, and 
all those who loved the new preaching. A man of the 
poorer classes, by name Leclerc, was one of the most 
servile adherents of the monks ; but his wife and two 
sons, Peter and John, had received the gospel with 
eagerness and John, who was a wool-carder, soon di» 
tinguished himself among the new Christians, Jamee 
Pavanne, a learned and youthful Picard, "a man of 
great sincerity and uprightness," whom Bri9onnet had 
invited to Meaux, showed an ardent zeal for the Refor- 
mation. Meaux had become a focus of light. Persons 
called thither by business heard the gospel, and carried 
it back to their homes. It was not in the city alone 
that men were examining the Scriptures ; " many of the 
villages did the same,'' says a chronicle ; "so that in this 
diocese an image of the renovated church was seen to 
shine forth.'' 

The environs of Meaux were covered with rich crops, 
and at harvest season a crowd of laborers flocked thither 
from the surrounding countries. Eesting from their toils 
in the middle of the day, they conversed with the people 
of the place, who spoke to them of other seed-times and 
other harvests. Many peasants from Thierache, and par- 
ticularly from Landouzy, persevered, on their return 
home, in the doctrines they had heard, and erelong an 
evangelical church was formed in this district, which is 
one of the oldest churches in the kingdom.* " The re- 
nown of this great blessing spread through France/' 
says the chronicler.f Bri^onnet himself proclaimed the 
gospel from the pulpit, and endeavored to scatter around 
him **that infinite, sweet, mild, true, and only light," to 
use his own words, which dazzles and enlightens every 
creature capable of receiving it, and which, while it en- 
lightens him, raises him by adoption to the dignity of a 
son of God."J He besought his flock to lend no ear 
to those who would turn them aside from the word 

* These particulars are derived from some old and much discol 
ored papers found in the church of Landouzy-la-Ville, in ibe de* 
partment of Aisne, by M. Colany, while pastor of that plat 

t Act. Mart. p. 182. t MS- Bibl Roy. S, F Mo. 337 



PRESENT TO THE KINO. 



43) 



" Though an angel from heaven/' said he, " should preach 
any other gospel, do not listen to him." Sometimes 
gloomy thoughts would prey upon his soul. He was not 
sure of himself: he shrunk back in alarm, as he dwelt 
upon the fatal consequences of his unfaithfulness ; and 
forewarning his hearers, he said to them, "Even should 
I your bishop change my language and my doctrine, 
beware of changing like me."* At that moment nothing 
geemed to indicate the possibility of such a misfortune. 
"Not only was the word of God preached," says the 
chronicle, " but it w^as followed ; all works of charity 
and love were practised there ; the morals were reform- 
ed and superstitions laid low.""}* 

Still clinging to the idea of gaining over the king 
and his mother, the bishop sent to Margaret "the epis- 
tles of St. Paul, translated and splendidly illuminated, 
most humbly entreating her to present them to the king ; 
which cannot but be most pleasing from your hands," 
added the good bishop. " They are a royal dish," con- 
tinued he, "fattening without corruption, and healing 
all manner of sickness. The more we taste them, the 
more we hunger after them with desire unsatiable, and 
that never cloys."| 

What more welcome message could Margaret re- 
ceive ? The moment seemed favorable. Michael Aranda 
was at Paris, detained by order of the king's mother, for 
whom he was translating portions of the holy Scripture.§ 
But Margaret would have preferred that Bri9onnet should 
present this book himself to her brother. " You would 
do well to come here," wrote she, "for you know the 
confidence that Madam and the king place in you."|| 

Thus, probably, was the word of God placed at that 
time, in 1522 and 1523, under the eyes of Francis I. and 
Louisa of Savoy. They came into contact with that gos- 
pel which they were afterwards to persecute. We do 
not find that this word produced any salutary effect 

* Hist. Catholique de Fontaine. f Act. Mart. p. 182, 

t MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. JSo. 337. § Par le commandement 

de Madame a quy il a lyvre quelque chose de la saincte Escripture 

^o'elle desire parfaire. Ibid. Ij Ibid. 



432 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOH 



upon them. An impulse of curiosity led them to open 
that Bible which was then making so much noise ; but 
they closed it as soon as they had opened it. 

Margaret herself found it hard to contend against the 
worldliness by which she was everywhere surrounded. 
Her tender affection towards her brother, the obedience 
3he owed to her mother, and the flatteries lavished on 
her by the court, all seemed to conspire against the love 
she had vowed to Christ. Christ was alone against 
many. Sometimes Margaret's soul, assailed by so many 
adversaries, and stunned by the noise of the world, turn- 
ed aside from its Master. Then, becoming sensible of 
her faults, the princess would shut herself up in her 
apartments, and giving way to her sorrow, utter cries 
very different from the joyous sounds with which Fran- 
cis and the young lords, the companions of his debauch- 
ery, filled the royal palaces in the midst of their enter- 
tainments and festivities : 

Left you I have, to follow pleasure's voice ; 

Left you I have, and for an evil choice ; 

Left you I have, and whither am I come ?* . . , 

Then turning towards Meaux, Margaret would ex- 
claim in her anguish, " I return to you, to M. Fabry, 
(Lefevre,) and all your gentlemen, beseeching you, by 
your prayers, to obtain of the unspeakable Mercy an 
alarum for the poor weak and sleepy one, to arouse her 
from her heavy and deadly slumber.^f 

Thus had Meaux become a focus whence the light of 
the gospel emanated. The friends of the Reformation 
indulged in flattering illusions. Who could resist the 
gospel, if the power of Francis cleared the way ? The 
corrupting influence of the court would then be changed 
into a holy influence, and France would acquire a moral 
strength that would render her the benefactress of the 
world. 

But on their side the friends of Eome had taken the 
^larm. Among those at Meaux was a Jacobin monk 
named Roma. One day, as Lefevre, Farel, and their 
friends, were talking with him and some other of the 

* Le8 Marguerites, 1. 40. t MS. BibL Roy. S. F. Na 



THE MONKS AND THE BISHOP. 433 



papal partisans, Lefevre could not suppress his antici- 
pations. " The gospel is already gaining the hearts of 
the great and of the people," said he, and in a short 
time, spreading all over France, it will everywhere 
throw down the inventions of men." The aged doctor 
was animated ; his eyes sparkled ; his worn-out voice 
grew sonorous ; one might have compared him to the 
aged Simeon returning thanks to the Lord, because his 
eyes had seen his salvation. Lefevre's friends shared in 
his emotion : their amazed opponents were dumb. On 
a sudden Roma started up impetuously, and exclaimed 
in the tone of a popular tribune, " Then I and all the 
other religioners will preach a crusade ; we will raise 
the people ; and if the king permits the preaching of 
your gospel, we will expel him from his kingdom by his 
own subjects."* 

Thus did a monk venture to rise up against the 
knightly monarch. The Franciscans applauded this lan- 
guage. They must not allow the doctor^s prophecy to 
be fulfilled. Already the friars were returning daily 
with diminished offerings. The Franciscans in alarm 
went about among private families. "These new teach- 
ers are heretics," said they ; "they attack the holiest ob- 
servances, and deny the most sacred mysteries." Then 
growing bolder, the most incensed among them issued 
from their cloister, and proceeded to the bishop's resi- 
dence. On being admitted, they said to the prelate, 
"Crush this heresy, or else the pestilence, which is al- 
ready desolating the city of Meaux, will spread over the 
whole kingdom." 

Bri9onnet was moved, and for an instant disturbed 
by this attack, but he did not give way ; he felt too 
much contempt for these ignorant monks and their in- 
terested clamors. He went into the pulpit, justified 
Lefevre, and called the monks pharisees and hypocrites. 
Still this opposition had already excited trouble and con- 
flict in his soul ; he sought to encourage himself by the 
persuasion that such spiritual combats were necessary 
"By this warfare," said he, in his somewhat myst^caJ 
• Farel Epitre au Due de Lorraine, Gen. 1634 



434 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 



langnage, " we arrive at a vivifying death, and by coD' 
tinually mortifying life, we die living, and live dying."* 
The way would have been surer if, casting himself upon 
the Saviour, as the apostles when tossed by the winds 
and waves, he had exclaimed, " Lord, help me ; or I 
perish/' 

The monks of Meaux, enraged at their unfavorable 
reception by the bishop, resolved to carry their com* 
plaints before a higher tribunal. An appeal lay open to 
them. If the bishop will not give way, he may be re- 
duced to compliance. Their leaders set out for Paris, 
and concerted measures with Beda and Duchesne. They 
hastened before the parliament, and denounced the bish- 
op and the heretical teachers. "The city and all the 
neighborhood," said they, are infected with heresy, and 
its polluted waters flow from the episcopal palace." 

Thus did France begin to hear the cry of persecution 
raised against the gospel. The sacerdotal and the civil 
power, the Sorbonne and the parliament, grasped their 
arms — arms that were to be stained with blood. Chris- 
tianity had taught mankind that there are duties and 
rights anterior to all civil associations ; it had emanci- 
pated the religious mind, promoted liberty of conscience, 
and worked a great change in society ; for antiquity 
which contemplated the citizen everywhere and the man 
nowhere, had made religion a mere matter of state. But 
these ideas of liberty had scarcely been given to the 
world, ere the Papacy corrupted them : for the despot- 
ism of the prince, it had substituted the despotism of the 
priest ; and not unfrequently it had raised both prince 
and priest against the Christian people. A new eman- 
cipation was needed ; it took place in the sixteenth cei> 
tury. Wherever the Reformation established itself, it 
broke the yoke of Rome, and the religious mind waa 
again enfranchised. But so rooted in the nature of man 
is the disposition to tyrannize over truth, that among 
many Protestant nations, the church, liberated from the 
arbitrary power of the priest, has again in our days 
fallen under the yoke of the civil power i destined, lik« 
• MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. No. 337. 



BRICONNET'S FALL. 



435 



its founder, to be bandied from one despotism to anoth- 
er, to pass from Caiaphas to Pilate, and from Pilate to 
Caiaphas. 

Bri9onnet had not the courage necessary for resist- 
ance. He would not yield every thing, but what he did 
concede satisfied Rome. "We may well do without 
Luther's writings,'' he thought, **if we keep the gospel; 
we may easily accede to a certain invocation of the Vir- 
gin, if we add that it is only by the mediation of Jesus 
Christ that she possesses any influence." If beside the 
truth we place the power of error, the Papacy is satis- 
fied. But the sacrifice which Bri9onnet felt the deepest, 
and which yet was required of him, was the loss of his 
friends. If the bishop would escape, he must sacrifice 
his brethren. Of timid character, but little prepared to 
give up his riches and his station for Christ's sake, al- 
ready alarmed, shaken, and cast down, he was still fur- 
ther led astray by treacherous advisers : if the evangel- 
ical doctors should quit Meaux, said some, they will 
carry the reformation elsewhere. His heart was torn 
by a painful struggle. At last the wisdom of this world 
prevailed ; he gave way, and on the 15th of October, 
1523, published three mandates, the first of which en- 
joined prayers for the dead, and the invocation of the 
Virgin and of the saints ; the second forbade any one to 
buy, borrow, read, possess, or carry about with him Lu- 
ther's works, and ordered them to be torn in pieces, to 
be scattered to the winds, or to be burned ; and the last 
established in express terms the doctrine of purgatory. 
Then, on the 13th of November in the same year, Bri- 
jonnet forbade the parish priests and their curates to 
permit the "Lutherans" to preach.* This was not all, 
Tlie first president of the parliament of Paris, and An- 
drew Verjus, councillor in the same court, and before 
whom Bri§onnet had shortly afterwards to appear, ar» 
rived at Meaux during Lent, 1524, no doubt to satisfy 
themselv(is of the bishop's proceedings. The poor prel- 
ate did all he could to please them. Already, on the 
29th of January, he had taken the images of the saints 
* Hist. Gftnealogique de Bri^onnet, ad annimi. 



436 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



under his especial protection ; he now began to visit hia 
churches, to preach, and to struggle hard in the presence 
of the first president and of councillor Verjus to " weed 
out the heresies that were there shooting up."* The 
deputies of the parliament returned to Paris fully satis- 
fied. This was Bri9onnet's first fall. 

Lefevre was the special object of hostility. His com* 
laentary on the four gospels, and particularly the "Epis- 
tle to Christian Readers," prefixed to it, had inflamed the 
anger of Beda and his allies. They denounced this writ- 
ing to the faculty. *'Does he not dare to recommend all 
the faithful to read the Scriptures ?" said the fiery syn- 
dic. Does he not tell therein that whoever loves not 
Christ's word is not a Christian ;f and that the word of 
God is sufficient to lead to eternal life ?" 

But Francis I. looked on this accusation as a mere 
theological squabble. He appointed a commission ; and 
Lefevre, having justified himself before it, came off from 
this attack with all the honors of war. 

Farel, who had not so many protectors at court, was 
compelled to leave Meaux. It would appear that he first 
repaired to Paris ;J and that, having unsparingly at- 
tacked the errors of Rome, he could remain there no 
longer, and was forced to retire to Dauphiny, whither he 
was eager to carry the gospel. 

At the time of the dispersion of the Christians at 
Meaux, another Frenchman, quitting his native country, 
crossed the threshold of the Augustine convent at Wit- 
temberg, where Luther resided. This was in January, 
1623. 

Farel was not the only man in the south of France 
whom God had prepared for his work. A little further 
to the south than Gap, on the banks of the Rhone, in 
that city of Avignon called by Petrarch the third Bab- 
ylon," may still be seen the walls of the "apostolic pal- 
ace," v^hich the popes and cardinals had long filled with 

* MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. No. 337, f Qui verbum ejus hoc modo 
non diliguiit, quo pacto hi Christiani esseut. Praef. Comm. in Ev. 

t Fai'el, apres avoir subsiste tant qu'ii put a Paris. Beza, Hist 
Kool I. 6. 



FRANCIS LAMBERT. 



437 



their luxury and debauchery, and which a Roman legate 
now inhabited, lonely and dejected in the midst of this 
deserted city, whose narrow filthy streets were seldom 
trod but by the feet of monks and priests. 

The little court of the legate was, however, some- 
times enlivened by a beautiful, amiable, and laughmg 
boy, who gambolled about its halls."*^ This was Francis 
Lambert, son of the secretary of the apostolic palace, 
born in 1487, two years before Farel. The child was 
at first astonished at the irreligion and crimes of these 
prelates, crimes so numerous and so enormous," says 
he, " that I cannot describe them."f He became habitu- 
ated to them, however, by degrees, and it would appear 
that he was himself seduced by bad example.^ Yet God 
had implanted in his heart a desire for holiness. His 
father being dead, his mother had the charge of his edu- 
cation, and according to the custom of the times, intrust- 
ed him to the care of the Franciscans. The sanctified 
air of these monks imposed on Francis, and his timid 
looks followed them respectfully, as he saw them clad 
in coarse garments, barefoot, or with rude sandals only, 
moving to and fro, begging in the city and calling on 
his mother ; and if at any time they chanced to smile 
upon him, he fancied himself, he tells us, almost in heav- 
en.§ The monks worked upon this disposition, and Fran- 
cis, attracted by them, assumed the cowl at the age of 
fil'teen. "It was God's pleasure," said he in after-years, 
that I might make known to the world the impurity of 
these whited sepulchres." 

During the year of his noviciate every thing went on 
smoothly ; he. was studiously kept in the dark ; but no 
sooner had he pronounced his vows, than the monks 
showed themselves in all their deformity, and the halo 
of sanctity that he had discovered around their heads 
faded away, and he remained incensed, alarmed, and 

* In palatio ssepe versatus, quod genitor meus legationis ejue 
Becretarius esset. Lamb. Epistola ad Galliae Regem. f Impie- 
tates et horrenda scelera tarn multa et enormia. lb. J Olim 

Beductus et peccator. lb. § Rationes propter quas minorita* 
mm ooaversationem habitumque rejecerit. Wittenberg, 152^ 



438 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 



dejected. Francis soon began to feel a secret strength 
within him, that drove him forcibly towards the holy 
Scriptures,* and bound him to believe and to teach the 
word of God. In 1517, he was nominated apostolical 
preacher of the convent, and instead of running about 
like his colleagues after "fat presents and well-stored 
tables," he employed himself in travelling afoot through 
the deserted country, and calling those ignorant people 
to conversion whom the fire and sincerity of his language 
drew around him in crowds. But when, after spending 
several months in passing through the Comtat Venais- 
sin and the surrounding districts, he returned exhausted 
to his convent on a mule that had been given him to 
carry his weakened frame, and went to seek a brief 
repose in his poor cell, some of the monks received him 
with coldness, others with raillery, and a third party 
with anger ; and they hastened to sell the animal, which 
they all agreed in saying was the only profit of these 
evangelical journeys. 

One day, as brother Francis was preaching in a cer- 
tain town, with a gravity quite apostolic and the vivac- 
ity of a native of the south, "Kindle a fire," exclaimed 
he, "before this sacred porch, and there consume the 
spoils of your luxury, your worldly-mindedness, and your 
debauchery." Immediately the whole assembly was in 
commotion : some lighted up a fire ; others ran into their 
houses and returned with dice, playing-cards, and o\> 
scene pictures ; and then, like the Christians of Ephesus 
at the preaching of St. Paul, cast all into the flames. A 
great crowd was gathered round the fire, and among 
them some Franciscans, who perceiving an indecent 
drawing of a young female, cunningly drew it away, 
and hid it under one of their frocks, "to add fuel to 
their own flames," says Lambert. This did not escape 
the eye of brother Francis ; a holy indignation kindled 
within him, and boldly addressing the monks, he in- 
veighed against their lubricity and theft. Abashed at 

• Urgebat me vehementer latens quaedam vis, confido non allena 
A Domini Splritu, ad sacrarum studia literarum. Exegesis in S. 
fotiaimis Apocalypsia, praef. 



LAMBERT QUITS AViaKON. 439 



being discovered, they sunk their heads, gave up the 
picture, but swore to be revenged.* 

Lambert, surrounded with debauchery, and become 
an object of hatred to the monks, felt from time to time 
an ardent desire to return into the world, whicii appeared 
to him infinitely more holy than the cloister ; but he 
found something still better. Luther^s works, carried tc 
the fairs of Lyons, descended the Rhone and reached his 
cell. They were soon taken from him and burned ; but 
it was too late. The spirit that animated the Augustine 
of Wittemberg had passed into the Franciscan of Avig- 
non : he was saved. Vainly until then had he resorted 
to frequent fasting ; vainly had he slept sitting on a 
stool ;t vainly had he shunned the looks of woman, worn 
haircloth next his skin, scourged himself, and so weak- 
ened his body that he could scarcely hold himself up- 
right, and sometimes even fainted in the churches and 
fields as he was preaching to the people. All this, he 
tells us, could not extinguish the desires and banish the 
thoughts that preyed upon him, and it was only in faith 
on the free grace of God and in the sanctity of a married 
life that he found purity and peace.| This is one of 
those numerous examples which prove that marriage, 
being of divine appointment, is a means of grace and 
holiness, and that the celibacy of priests and monks, the 
invention of man, is one of the most effectual agents to 
foster impurity, sully the imagination, disturb the peace 
of families, and fill society with innumerable disorders. 

At last the friar had made up his mind : he will quit 
the convent, he will abandon Popery, he will leave 
France. He will go where the streams of the gospel 
flow abundant and pure, and he will there plunge into 
them, and quench the fires that are consuming him.§ 
Since ail his efforts are unavailing, he will go to Wit- 
temberg, to that great servant of God, whose name 

* Lambert von Avignon, by Professor Baum. f Non aliter 

dormulsse multo tempore quam in scamno nudo sedentem. Lamb 
de sacro coiijugio. J Donee secundum altissimi jussionem 

conjux tactus est. Ibid. § Urebar tamen etiamsi nescirent 

alu. Ibid. 



440 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



alone conjures and affrights the devil, in order that he 
may find peace.* He took advantage of some letters 
that were to be carried to one of the superiors of the 
order, and having donned his frock, quitted the Fran- 
ciscan convent of Avignon in the spring of 1522, after 
twenty years of struggle. He ascended the Rhone, trav- 
ersed Lyons, and crossed the forests that cover the lower 
ridges of the Jura. This tall, thin, ungraceful monk 
still wore the habit of his order, and rode on an ass, his 
bare feet almost touching the ground. We have already 
seen him pass through Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, and 
Zurich.f In the beginning of 1623, he was at Wittem 
berg, and embraced Luther. But let us return to France, 
and to the church of Meaux. 

* Tametsi non habeam scorta et multis modis niterer ad coDtl* 
nentiam, nunquam pacem habui. Lamb, de sacro conjagio. 
t Vol. IL, p. 407. 



JOHN LECLEItC OF MEAUX. 441 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Lefevre and Farel persecuted — Difference between the Lutheran 
and Reformed churches — Leclerc posts up his placards — Leclero 
branded — Berquin's zeal — Berquin before the parliament — Res- 
cued by Francis I. — Mazurier's apostasy — Fall and remorse of 
Pavanne — Metz — Chatelaine — Peter Toussaint becomes atten- 
tive — Leclerc breaks the images — Leclerc's condemnation and 
torture — Martyrdom of Chatelain — Flight. 

Lefevre intimidated, Bri9onnet drawing back, Farel 
compelled to fly — here was a beginning of victory. 
They already imagined at the Sorbonne that they had 
mastered the movement ; the doctors and monks con- 
gratulated each other on their triumphs. But this was 
not enough ; blood had not flowed. They set to work 
again ; and blood, since it must be so, was erelong to 
gratify the fanaticism of Rome. 

The evangelical Christians of Meaux, seeing their 
leaders dispersed, sought to edify one another. The 
wool-carder John Leclerc, whom the lessons of the doc- 
tors, the reading of the Bible, and some tracts, had in- 
structed in the Christian doctrine,* signalized himself 
by his zeal and facility in expounding Scripture. He 
was one of those men whom the Spirit of God fills with 
courage,f and soon places at the head of a religious 
movement. It was not long before the church of Meaux 
regarded him as its minister. 

The idea of a universal priesthood, such a living 
principle among the first Christians, had been reestab- 
lished by Luther in the sixteenth century. J But this 
idea seems then to have existed only in theory in the 
Lutheran church, and to have been really acted upon 
solely among the reformed Christians. The Lutheran 
churches — and here they agree with the Anglican 
church — perhaps took a middle course between the Ro- 
mish and the Reformed churches. Among the Luther- 

• Aliis pauculis libellis diligenter lectis. Bezae Icones. 

t Animoeea Mel plenus. Ibid. % See vol. U., p. 103. 



443 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 



ans, every thing proceeded from the pastor or the 
priest ; and nothing was counted valid in the chnrcb 
that did not flow regularly through its chiefs. But the 
Keformed churches, while they maintained the divine 
appointment of the ministry, which some sects deu>, 
ipproached nearer to the primitive condition of the 
apostolical communities. From the times of which we 
are speaking, they recognized and proclaimed that the 
Christian flocks ought not simply to receive what the 
pastor gives ; that the members of the church, as well 
as its leaders, possess the key of that treasure wherce 
the latter derive their instruction, for the Bible is in the 
hands of all ; that the graces of God, the spirit of faith, 
of wisdom, of consolation, of light, are not bestowed on 
the pastor only ; that every man is called upon to em- 
ploy the gift he has received for the good of all ; and 
that a certain gift, necessary to the edification of the 
church, may be refused to a minister and yet granted to 
one of his flock. Thus the passive state of the church 
was then changed into a state of general activity ; and 
in France, especially, this revolution was a<jcomplished. 
In other countries, the reformers were almost exclusively 
pastors and doctors ; but in France men of learning nad 
from the very beginning pious men of the people for 
their allies. In that country God selected for his first 
workmen a doctor of the Sorbonne and a wool-cumber. 

The wool-comber Leclerc began to visit from house 
to house, confirming the disciples. But not stopping 
short at these ordinary cares, he would fain have seen 
the edifice of Popery overthrown, and France, from the 
miUst of these ruins, turning with a cry of joy towards 
the gospel. His unguarded zeal may remind us of that 
of Hottinger at Zurich, and of Carlstadt at Wittemberg. 
Ho wrote a proclamation against the antichrist of Rome, 
annou-ncing that the Lord was about tc destroy it by 
the breath of his mouth. He then boldly posted his 
"placards" on the gates of the cathedn.i.* Presently 

* Get heretique ecrivit des pancartes qu'il att /cha aux portes de 
la grande 6glise de Meaux. MS. de Meaux See aIso Bezae Iconea; 
Crettpin Actes des Martyrs, etc. 



LECLEEC BRANDED. 



443 



all was in confusion around that ancient edifice. The 
faithful were amazed ; the priests exasperated. What ! 
a fellow whose employment is wool-combing dares meas- 
ure himself with the pope I The Franciscans were out- 
rageous, and demanded that this once at least a terrible 
example should be made. Leclerc was thrown into 
prison. 

His trial was finished in a few days, under the eyes 
of Bii9onnet himself, who was now to witness and tol- 
erate all that was done. The carder was condemned to 
be whipped three days successively through the city, 
and on the third to be branded on the forehead. This 
sad spectacle soon began. Leclerc was led through the 
streets with his hands bound, his back bare, and the ex- 
ecutioners inflicted on him the blows he had drawn upon 
himself by rising up against the bishop of Rome. An 
immense crowd followed in the track marked by the mar- 
tyr's blood. Some yelled with rage against the heretic ; 
others by their silence gave him no unequivocal marks of 
their tender compassion. One woman encouraged the un- 
happy man by her looks and words : she was his mother. 

At last, on the third day, when the blood-stained pro- 
cession was ended, they halted with Leclerc at the usual 
place of execution. The hangman prepared the fire, heat- 
ed the iron that was to stamp its burning mark on the 
evangelist, and approaching him, branded him on the 
forehead as a heretic. A shriek was heard, but it did 
not proceed from the martyr. His mother, a spectator 
of the dreadful scene, and wrung with anguish, endured 
a bitter strife : it was the enthusiasm of faith struggling 
in her heart with maternal love ; faith prevailed at last, 
and she exclaimed with a voice that made the adversa- 
ries tremble, " Glory to Jesus Christ and to his witness* 
es."* Thus did that Frenchwoman of the sixteenth cen- 
tury fulfil the commandment of the Son of God : " He that 
loveth his son more than me is not worthy of me." Such 
boldness, and at such a moment, merited signal punish- 
ment ; but this Christian mother had appalled the hearts 

* Hist Eccles. de Tbeo. de Beze, p. 4. Hist des Martyrs de 
Crespin, p. 92. 



444 HISTOllT OF THE REFORMATION. 



both of priests and soldiers. All their fury was controlled 
by a stronger arm than theirs. The crowd, respectfully 
making way, allowed the martyr^s mother slowly to ro 
gain her humble dwelling. The monks, and even the 
town-sergeants, gazed on her without moving. "Not 
one of her enemies dared lay hands upon her," said The- 
odore Beza. After this execution, Leclerc, being set at 
liberty, retired to Rosay, in Brie, a small town about six 
leagues from Meaux, and subsequently to Metz, where 
we shall meet with him again. 

The adversaries were triumphant. " The Cordeliers 
having recaptured the pulpits, propagated their lies and 
trumpery as usual."* But the poor workmen of the city, 
prevented from hearing the word in regular assemblies, 
" began to meet in secret," says our chronicler, " after 
the manner of the sons of the prophets in the time of 
Ahab, and of the Christians of the primitive church ; and 
as opportunity offered, they assembled at one time in a 
house, at another in some cave, sometimes also in a vine- 
yard or in a wood. There, he among them who was most 
versed in the holy Scriptures exhorted the rest ; and this 
done, they all prayed together with great courage, sup- 
porting each other by the hope that the gospel would 
be revived in France, and that the tyranny of antichrist 
would come to an end."f There is no power that can 
arrest the progress of truth. 

But one victim only was not enough ; and if the first 
against whom the persecution was let loose was a wooi- 
comber, the second was a gentleman of the court. It 
was necessary to frighten the nobles as well as the peo- 
ple. Their reverences of the Sor bonne of Paris could 
not think of being outstripped by the Franciscans of 
Meaux. Berquin, " the most learned of the nobles," had 
derived fresh courage from the holy Scriptures, and after 
having attacked "the hornets of the Sorbonne" in cer- 
tain epigrams, had openly accused them of impiety 4 

Beda and Duchesne, who had not ventured to reply 
in their usual manner to the witticisms of the king's 

• Actes des Martyrs, p. 183. t Ibid. t Impietataa 

etiam aocusatos, turn voce, turn scriptis. Bezse Icones. 



A DOMICILIARY VISIT. 



445 



gentleman, changed their mind as soon as they discov- 
ered serious convictions latent behind these attacks. 
Berquin had become a Christian : his ruin was deter- 
mined on. Beda and Duchesne, having seized some of 
his translations, found in them matter to burn more her- 
etics than one. "He maintains," said they, "that it is 
wrong to invoke the Virgin Mary in place of the Holy 
Ghost, and to call her the source of all grace.* He in- 
veighs against the practice of calling her our hope, our 
life^ and says that these titles belong only to the Son of 
God." There were other matters besides these. Ber- 
quin's study was like a bookseller's shop, whence works 
of corruption were circulated through the whole king- 
dom. The Commonplaces of Melancthon, in particular, 
served, by the elegance of their style, to shake the faith 
of the literary men in France. This pious noble, living 
only amidst his folios and his tracts^ had become, out of 
Christian charity, translator, corrector, printer, and book- 

seller It was essential to check this formidable 

tcg-rent at its very sour-ce. 

One day, as Berquin was quietly seated at his stud- 
ies among his beloved books, his house was suddenly 
surrounded by the sergeant-at-arms, who knocked vio- 
lently at the door. They were the Sorbonne and its 
agents, who, furnished with authority from the parliar 
ment, were making a domiciliary visit. Beda, the formi- 
dable syndic, was at their head, and never did inquisitor 
perform his duty better ; accompanied by his satellites, 
he entered Berquin's library, told him his business, or- 
dered a watchful eye to be kept upon him, and began his 
search. Not a book escaped his piercing glance, and an 
exact inventory of the whole was drawn up by his orders. 
Here was a treatise by Melancthon, there a book by Carl* 
gtadt ; further on, a work of Luther's. Here were heret- 
ical books translated from Latin into French by Berquin 
himself ; there, others of his own composition. All the 
works that Beda seized, except two, were filled with Lu" 
theran errors. He left the house, carrying off his booty, 

* Incongrue beatam Virginem invocari pro Spirits Saacta 
Erasm. £pp. 1279. 



446 HISTOUr OF THE REFOUMATIOK. 



and more elated than ever was general laden witn the 
spoils of vanquished nations.* 

Berquin saw that a great storm had burst upon him ; 
but his courage did not falter. He despised his enemies 
too much to fear them. Meanwhile Beda lost no time. 
On the 13th of May, 1523, the parliament issued a decree 
that all the books seized in Berquin's house should be 
laid before the faculty of theology. The opinion of the 
Sorbonne was soon pronounced ; on the 25th of June it 
condemned all the works, with the exception of the two 
already mentioned, to be burned as heretical, and or- 
dered that Berquin should abjure his errors. The par 
liament ratified this decision. 

The nobleman appeared before this formidable body. 
He knew that the next step might be to the scaffold ; 
but, like Luther at Worms, he remained firm. Vainly 
did the parliament order him to retract. Berquin was 
not one of those who fall away after having been made 
partakers of the Holy Ghost. Whosoever is begotten of 
God, keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him 
not. Heb. 6:4; 1 John 5:18. Every fall proves that 
the previous conversion has been only apparent or par 
tial ; but Berquin's conversion was real. He replied 
with firmness to the court before which he stood. The 
parliament, more severe than the diet of Worms had 
been, ordered its officers to seize the accused and take 
him to the prison of the Conciergerie. This was on the 
Ist of August, 1523. On the 5th the parliament handed 
over the heretic to the bishop of Paris, in order that this 
prelate might take cognizance of the affair, and that, 
assisted by the doctors and councillors, he should pro- 
nounce sentence on the culprit. He was transferred 
the episcopal prison.f 

Thus was Berquin passed from court to court and 
from one prison to another. Beda, DuchesnC; and their 
cabal had their victim in their grasp ; but the court stilJ 
cherished a grudge against the Sorbonne, and Francis 

♦ Gaillard Hist, de Francois I., 4. 241. Cr^vier, Univ. de Paria. 
5. 171. t Ductus est in carcerem, reus haereseos periclitatus 

BraBmi Epp. 1279} Cr^vier; Gaillard j loq. cit 



ERASMUS AND BERQUIN. 



447 



was more powerful than Beda. This transacticm excited 
great indignation among the nobles. Do these monks 
and priests forget what the sword of a gentleman is 
worth ? "Of what is he accused ?" said they to Francis 
I. ; " of blaming the custom of invoking the Virgin in 
place of the Holy Ghost ? But Erasmus and many oth- 
ers blame it likewise. Is it for such trifles that they 
imprison a king's ofl5cer?* This attack is aimed at lit- 
erature, true religion, the nobility, chivalry, nay, the 
crown itself." The king was glad to have another op- 
portunity of vexing the whole company. He issued let- 
ters transferring the cause to the royal council, and on 
the 8th of August an usher appeared at the bishop's pris- 
on with an order from the king to set Berquin at liberty. 

The question now was whether the monks would give 
way. Francis I., who had anticipated some resistance, 
said to the agent commissioned to execute his orders, 
" If you meet with any resistance, I authorize you to 
break open the gates." This language was clear. The 
monks and the Sorbonne submitted to the affront, and 
Berquin being restored to liberty, appeared before the 
king's council, by which he was acquitted.f 

Thus did Francis I. humiliate the church. Berquin 
imagined that France, under his reign, might emanci 
pate herself from the Papacy, and had thoughts of renew- 
ing the war. For this purpose he entered into commu- 
nication with Erasmus, who at once recognized him as a 
man of worth.J But, ever timid and temporizing, the 
philosopher said to him, Beware of treading on a hor- 
net's nest, and pursue your studies in peace.§ Above 
all, do not mix me up with your affair ; that would nei- 
ther serve you nor me."|| 

This rebuff did not discourage Berquin ; if the migh- 
tiest genius of the age draws back, he will put his trust 
in God who never falters. God's work will be done 

* Ob hujusmodi noenias. Erasm. Epp. 1279. f At judices, 
ab? videruat causam esse nullius momenti, absolverunt homiaem. 
Ibid. X Ex epistola visus est mihi vir bonus. Ibid. § Sineret 
crabrones et suis se studiis oblectaret. Ibid. || Deiude uo mo 
inyolveret suae causae. Ibid 



448 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



either with or without the aid of man. " Berquin,^ said 
Erasmus, had some resemblance to the palm-tree ; he 
rose up again, and became proud and towering against 
those who sought to alarm him."* 

Such were not all who had embraced the evangelical 
doctrine. Martial Mazurier had been one of the most 
isealous preachers. He was accused of teaching very 
erroneous opinions, f and even of having committed cer- 
tain acts of violence while at Meaux. "This Martial 
Mazurier being at Meaux," says a manuscript of that 
eity, which we have already quoted, "going to the church 
of the reverend Grayfriars, and seeing the image of St. 
Francis with the five wounds outside the convent-gate, 
where that of St. Roch now stands, threw it down and 
broke it in pieces." Mazurier was apprehended, and sent 
to the Conciergerie,J where he suddenly fell into deep 
reflection and severe anguish. It was the morality, 
rather than the doctrine of the gospel, that had attracted 
him to the ranks of the reformers ; and morality left him 
without strength. Alarmed at the prospect of the stake, 
and decidedly of opinion that in France the victory would 
remain on the side of Eome, he easily persuaded himself 
that he would enjoy more influence and honor by return- 
ing to the Papacy. Accordingly he retracted what he 
had taught, and caused doctrines the very opposite of 
those he had previously held to be preached in his par- 
ish ;§ and subsequently joining the most fanatical doc- 
tors, and particularly the celebrated Ignatius Loyola, he 
became from that time the most zealous supporter of the 
papal cause. II From the days of the emperor Julian, 
apostates, after their infidelity, have always bt^come the 
most merciless persecutors of the doctrines they had 
ouce professed. 

• Ille, ut habebat quiddam cum palma commune, adversus de- 
terrentem toUebat animos. Ibid. There is probably an allusion to 
Pliny's Natural History, 16. 42. f Hist, de PUniversit^, par 

Crevier, 5. 203. t Gaillard, Hist, de Francois I., 6. 234. 

§ Comme il 6tait homme adroit, il esquiva la condamnation,*' 
iaye Crevier, 5. 203. || Cum Ignatio Loyola init amicitiaiB 

Laonoi, Navarrae gymnasii historla, p. 621. 



FALL AND CONTRITION OP PAVANNB. Mb 



Mazurier soon found an opportunity of showing his 
zeal. The youthful James Pavanne had also been thrown 
Into prison. Martial hoped that, by making him fall like 
himself, he might cover his own shame. The youth, ami- 
ability, learning, and uprightness of Pavanne, created a 
general interest in his favor, and Mazurier imagined that 
he would himself be less culpable, if he could persuade 
Master James to follow his example. He visiited him in 
piison, and began his manoeuvres by pretending that he 
had advanced further than Pavanne in the knowledge of 
the truth : "You are mistaken, James," he often repeat- 
ed to him ; "you have not gone to the depths of the sea ; 
you only know the surface of the waters."* Nothing 
was spared, neither sophistry, promises, nor threats 
The unhappy youth, seduced, agitated, and shaken, sunk 
at last under these perfidious attacks, and publicly re- 
tracted his pretended errors oj . the morrow of Christmas- 
day, 1524. But frum that hoi.r a spirit of dejection and 
remorse was sent on Pavanne- by the Almighty. A deep 
Badness preyed upon him, and he was continually sigh- 
ing. " Alas," repeated he, " there is nothing but bitter- 
ness for me in life." Sad wages of unbelief. 

Nevertheless, among those who had received the 
word of God in France, were men of more intrepid spirit 
than Mazurier and Pavanne. About the end of the year 
1523, Leclerc had withdrawn to Metz, in Lorraine, and 
there, says Theodore Beza, he had followed the example 
of St. Paul at Corinth, who, while working at his trade 
as a tentmaker, persuaded the Jews and the Greeks 
Leclerc, still pursuing his occupation as a wool-carder, 
instructed the people of his own condition ; and many 
of them had been really converted. Thus did this hujn- 
ble artisan lay the foundation of a church which after- 
wards became celebrated. 

Leclerc was not the first individual who had endeav« 
ored to shed the new light of the gospel over Metz. A 
scholar, renowned in that age for his skill in the occult 
sciences. Master Agrippa of Nettesheim, " a marvellously 

• Actes des Martyrs, p. 99. f Acts of the Apostles, 18: 3, 4 
Apoetoli apud Corintliios exemplum secutus. Bezss Iconecu 

29 



450 HISTORY OF THE EEFOUMATION. 



learned clerk, of small stature, who had spent mnch time 
in travel, who spoke every language, and had studied 
every science,"* had fixed his residence at Metz, and 
had even become syndic of the city. Agrippa had pro- 
cured Luther's works, and communicated them to his 
frionds,f and among others to Master John, priest ol 
Sainte-Croix, himself a great clerk, and with whom Mas- 
ter' Agrippa was very intimate. Many of the clergy, 
nobility, and citizens, stirred by the courage Luther had 
shown at Worms, were gained over to his cause, J and 
already in March, 1522, an evangelical placard extolling 
what Lnther had done was posted in large letters on a 
corner of the episcopal palace, and excited much public 
attention. But when Leclerc arrived, the flames, for an 
instant overpowered, sprung up with renewed energy. 
In the council-room, in the hall of the chapter, and in 
the homes of the citizens, the conversation turned per* 
petuallv on the Lutheran business. Many great clerks 
and learned persons were daily questioning, discussing, 
and debating this matter, and for the most part taking 
Luther's side, and already preaching and proclaiming 
that accursed sect.''§ 

Erelong the evangelical cause received a powerful 
reinforcement. "About this same time, 1524," says the 
chronicle, " there came to Metz an Augustine friar named 
John Chaistellain, (Chatelain,) a man declining in years, 
and of agreeable manners, a great preacher and very 
eloquent, a wondrous comforter to the poorer sort. By 
which means he gained the good will of most of the peo- 
ple — not of all — especially of the majority of the priests 
and great rabbins, against whom the said friar John 
preached daily, setting forth their vices and their sins, 
saying that they abused the poor people, by which great 
animosity was stirred up."|| 

John Chatelain, an Augustine monk of Tournay and 

* Les chroniques de la ville de Metz. Metz, 1838. f Apud 
Metenses mi hi Qonuulla Lutherana communicare dignatis sis. Ami- 
0U8 ad Agrippam, Epp. lib. 3. ep. 10. t Lambert von Avignoa, 
by Prof. Baum, p. 59. § Chroniques de Motz, auno 15231 

U Ibid. 808. 



LAMBERT AT WlTTEHBEEa. 



doctor of divinity, had been brought to the knowledge ol 
God* by his intercourse with the Augustines of Antwerp. 
The doctrine of Christ, when preached by him attired in 
chasuble and stole, appeared less extraordinary to the in- 
habitants of Metz, than when it fell from the lips of a pcof 
artisan, who laid aside the comb with which he carded 
his wool, to explain a French version of the gospel. 

Every thing was fermenting in Metz during that fa- 
mous Lent of 1524, whe»n a new character appeared on 
thd stage, a priest, a doctor, an ex-friar, and, what had 
never yet been seen in France or Lorraine, having a wife 
with him.f This was Lambert of Avignon. 

On Lambert's arrival at Wittemberg, which had been 
the object of his journey on leaving the convent, he was 
well received by Luther, and the reformer had hastened 
to recommend to Spalatin and to the elector this friar, 
who, " on account of persecution, had chosen poverty and 

exile He pleases me in all respects," added Luther. J 

Lambert had begun to lecture on the prophet Hosea at 
the university, before an auditory who could not conceal 
their surprise at hearing such things from the mouth of 
a Gaul.§ And then, with eyes ever turned towards his 
native land, he had begun to translate into French and 
Italian several evangelical pamphlets published by Lu- 
ther and other doctors. He was not the only Frenchman 
at Wittemberg : he there met with counts, knights, no- 
bles, and others come from France to see the elector and 
to converse with Luther, the overseer of the works that 
were accomplishing in the world." || These Frenchmen 
mutually encouraged each other, and as is usual with 
emigrants, exaggerated the state of affairs, imagining 

♦ Vocatus ad cognitionem Dei. Act. Mart. p. 180. f Y vieiit 
ang, 86 disant docteur, qui premier avait est^ religieulx et a present 
ee*ait marie. Chroniques de Metz, p. 807. J Ob persecutio 

nem exul atque pauper factus : mihi per omnia placet vir. L. Epp. 
2. 302. § Aliquid nostri Martini consilio exordiar, vel Oseam 

Prophetam, vel Psalmos. vel Lucam, vel aliquid tale. Schelhorn, 
Amoenitates Litt. 4. 336. || Veniunt passim Wittembergam 

Comites, Equites, Nobiles, et alii etiam e Gallia nostra ut te incly- 
turn Ducem — the elector — videant, et Praefectum Cperum,M. Luthe 
rum. Comment in Osttam prset 



452 HISTOET OF THE EEFORMATION. 



that a speedy revolution would lead to the triumph ic 
their own country of the cause which they had so much 
at heart. " Almost the whole of Gaul is stirring," wrote 
Lambert to the elector of Saxony. " Although in France 
the truth has no master and no leader, its friends are 
very numerous."* 

One thing alone checked these Frenchmen at Wittem* 
berg : the printing of the pamphlets intended for their 
coniitrymen. " Would that I could find some one," ex- 
claimed Lambert, "that could print not only in Latin, 
but in French, and even in Italian."f This was the pos- 
ture of afiairs when certain strangers appeared : they 
were from Hamburg. "We come to ask you for some 
French treatises," said they to Lambert ; "for we have 
some one in Hamburg who will print them carefully ."J 
It would appear that there were also a number of French 
emigrants at Hamburg, and a printer among the rest. 
Lambert could not restrain his joy ; but there was still 
another difficulty : " And how," said he, " can we convey 
these books into France from the banks of the Elbe ?" 
" By sea ; by the vessels that sail to and fro," replied 
the Hamburgers.§ "Every necessary arrangement has 
been made." Thus the gospel had hardly been restored 
to the church, before the ocean became an instrument of 
its dissemination. "The Lord hath made a way in the 
sea." Isa. 43:16. 

Yet this could not suffice ; every Frenchman return- 
ing into France was to carry a few books with him, al- 
though the scaffold might be the reward of his enterprise. 
Now there is more talking, Y/i6n there was more action. 
A young French nobleman, Claude of Taureau, who left 
Wittemberg in May, 1523, took with him a great number 
of evangelical treatises and letters which Lambert had 

* Gallia pene ornnis commota est, et absque magistro sincere* 
habet veritatis dilectores. Schelhorn, Amoen. 4. t Si inve- 

niatur qui imprimat non tantum Latine sed Gallic^ et Italice, haec 
atque alia tradem. Ibid. t Quod ad me ex Amburgo Quntii 

advenerint tractatus Gallicog postulantes ; aiunt enim quod illlo sit 
qui ea lingua elimatissimos posset cudere libros. Ibid. p. 34& 

( QuoB demum navigio in Galliam mittit. Ibid. 



LAMBERT'S INDECISIOIT. 



453 



written to many of the most conspicuous men of France 
and Savoy.* 

On the 13th of Jnly, 1523, Lambert, then at the age 
of thirty-six, " determined," in his own words, " to flee 
the paths of impurity as he had always done," entered 
into the holy bonds of wedlock, two years before Luther, 
and the first of the French monks or priests. When 
married, he called to mind that he ought not to think 
"how he might please his wife, but how he might please 
the Lord." Christina, the daughter of a worthy citizen 
of Herzberg, was ready to be the companion of his suf- 
ferings. Lambert told his Wittemberg friends that he 
intended returning to France. 

Luther and Melancthon were terrified at the thought. 
'''It is rather from France to Germany," said Luther, 
" than from Germany to France, that you should go."f 
Lambert, all whose thoughts were in France, paid no 
attention to the reformer's advice.J 

And yet Luther's sentiments could not fail to make 
some impression on him. Should he go to Zurich, whither 
Luther urges him ? or to France or Lorraine, where Farel 
and, as he believes, Christ "himself are calling him? He 
was in great perplexity.§ At Zurich he would find peace 
and safety; in France peril and death. || His rest was 
broken, he could find no repose ;^ he wandered through 
the streets of Wittemberg with downcast eyes, and his 
wife could not restore him to serenity. At last he fell 
on his knees, and called upon the Lord to put an end to 
his struggle by making known his will in the tasting 
of lots.** He took two slips of paper ; on one he 

* Occupatus multis scriptis potissimum quae pluribus in Gallia 
misi. Junior quippe nobilis Claudius de Tauro abiit. Schelhorn, 
Amcen. 4. 343. f Potius ad nos illinc, quam ad vos hinc, cui 

quam migrandum esse. L. Epp. ad Gerbellium Strasburg, 2. 438. 

X Nec audit meum consilium, sic occupatus suo proprio. lb. 437. 

§ In gravissima perplexitate. Lambert de Fidelium vocatione 
cap. 22. II In priore vocatione erat pax et serenitas ; in ali« 

vero multa et eadem gravissima, etiam mortis pericula erant. 

H Nulla erat miser o requies, ut quidem vixdum somnium cape 
ret. Ibid. Oravit Dominum, ut banc contradictioneixi 

sorte dirimeret. Ibid. 



454 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATIOK. 



wrote France^ on the other Switzerland; he closed hia 
eyes, and drew ; the lot had fallen on Prance.* Again 
he fell on his knees : " 0 God," said he, " if thou wilt 
not close these lips that desire to utter thy praise, deign 
to make known thy pleasure.^f Again he tried, and the 
answer still was, France. And some hours after, recol- 
lecting, said he, that Gideon, when called to march 
against the Midianites, had thrice asked for a sign from 
heaven near the oak of Ophrah, Judges 6 : 20-40, he 
prayed God a third time, and a third time the lot replied, 
France, From that hour he hesitated no longer, and 
Luther, who could not put such confidence in the lot, for 
the sake of peace ceased urging his objections ; and 
Lambert, in the month of February or March, 1524, tak- 
ing his wife with him, departed for Strasburg, whence 
he repaired to Metz, 

He soon became intimate with Chatelain, whom he 
called "his Jonathan," and appearing before a meeting 
commissioned to inquire into his doctrines, " Suffer me 
to preach in public," said the man of Avignon, and I 
will forthwith publish one hundred and sixteen theses 
explanatory of my doctrine, and which I will defend 
against all manner of persons." 

The Chamber of XIIL, messieurs the clerks, and mes- 
seigneurs of justice, before whom Lambert had been 
called, were frightened at such a request, and refused 
permission ; and shortly after, the whole troop of anti- 
christ was in commotion, says Lambert : canons, monks, 
inquisitors, the bishop's officials, and all their partisans, 
endeavored to seize and throw him into the dungeon of 
some cloister.| The magistrates protected Lambert, 
but intimated that he had better leave the city. Lam- 
bert obeyed. " I will flee," said he to his Master, " but 

• Et sors cecidit super vocatione secunda. Lambert de Fide- 
lium vocatione, cap. 22. f Ut non clauderetur omnino 00 

Deum laudare volentis. Ibid. I agree with Professor Baum in 
thinking that Lambert's narrative refers to this circumstance. 

X Sed mox insanavit tota Antichristi cohors, nempe canonic!, 
monachi, inquisitor, officialis, et reliqui qui sunt ex parte eorum ©t 
me capero voluerunt. Epistola ad Fraucifloum regem. 



PETER TOUSSAINT. 



455 



wiM still confess thy name. Whenever it be thy good 
pleasure, I will endure death. I am in thy hands ; I flee, 
and yet I flee not ; it is the flight which becometh all 
those who are made perfect."* Lambert had not been 
a fortnight in Metz, He was to learn that God makes 
known his will by other means than the drawing of lots. 
It was not for France that this monk from the banks of 
the Rhone was destined ; we shall soon behold him play- 
ing an important part in Germany, as reformer of Hesse. 
He returned to Strasburg, leaving Chatelain and Leclerc 
at Metz. 

Owing to the zeal of these two men the light of the 
gospel spread more and more through the whole city 
A very devout woman named Toussaint, of the middle 
rank, had a son called Peter, with whom, in the midst of 
his sports, she would often converse in a serious strain. 
Everywhere, even in the homes of the townspeople, 
something extraordinary was expected. One day the 
child, indulging in the amusements natural to his age, 
was riding on a stick in his mother's room, when the 
latter, conversing with her friends on the things of God, 
said to them with an agitated voice, " Antichrist will 
soon come with great power, and destroy those who 
have been converted at the preaching of Elias."f These 
words being frequently repeated, attracted the child's 
attention, and he recollected them long after. Peter 
Toussaint was no longer a child when the doctor of the- 
ology and the wool-comber were preaching the gospel at 
Metz. His relations and friends, surprised at his youth- 
ful genius, hoped to see him one day filling an eminent 
station in the church. One of his uncles, his father's 
brother, was dean of Metz ; it was the highest dignity 
in the chapter.^ The cardinal John of Lorraine, son oi 

* In manu tua sum, bic fugio quasi non fugiam. Haec est fug» 
omnibus perfectissimis conveniens. De vocatione fidelium, cap. 15. 

"} Cum equitabam in arundine longa, memiui saepe audisse me a 
matre venturum Autichristum cum potentia magna, perditurumquo 
eos qui essent ad Eliae praedicationem conversi. Tossanus FareUo, 
Bept. 4, 1525. MS. in the conclave of Neufchatel. t Ibidi 

July 21, 1525. 



456 HISTORY OP THB REPORMATIOK 



duke Rend, who maintained a large establishment, tes- 
tified much regard for the dean and his nephew. The 
latter, notwithstanding his youth, had just obtained a 
prebend, when he began to lend an attentive ear to the 
gospel. Might not the preaching of Chatelain and Le- 
clerc be that of Elias ? It is true, antichrist is already 
arming against it in every quarter. But it matters not 
"Let us lift up our heads to the Lord," said he ; "for he 
will come, and will not tarry."* 

The evangelical doctrine was making its way into 
the first families of Metz. The chevalier D'Esch, a man 
highly respected, and the dean's intimate friend, had just 
been converted.f The friends of the gospel rejoiced. 
"The knight, our worthy master," .... repeated Peter ; 
adding with noble candor, "if, however, we are permit- 
ted to have a master upon earth."| 

Thus Metz was about to become a focus of light, 
when the imprudent zeal of Leclerc suddenly arrested 
this slow but sure progress, and aroused a storm that 
threatened utter ruin to the rising church. The common 
people of Metz continued walking in their old supersti- 
tions, and Leclerc's heart was vexed at seeing this great 
city plunged in " idolatry." One of their great festivals 
was approaching. About a league from the city stood 
a chapel containing images of the Virgin and of the most 
celebrated saints of the country, and whither all the in- 
habitants of Metz were in the habit of making a pilgrim- 
age on a certain day in the year, to worship the images 
and to obtain the pardon of their sins. 

The eve of the festival had arrived : Leclerc's pious 
and courageous soul was violently agitated. Has not 
God said, " Thou shalt not bow down to their gods ; but 
thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down 
their images ?" Exod. 20 : 4 ; 23 : 24. Leclerc thought 
that this command was addressed to him, and without 

• Levemus interim capita nostra ad Dominum qui veniet et non 
tardabit. Tossanus Farelio, Sept. 4, 1525. f ClariBsimum 

Ilium equitem .... cui multum familiaritatis et amicitiaa, cum pri* 
micerio Metensi, patruo meo. Ibid., Aug. 2, 1524. t Ibid^ 

Jaly 21, 1526. MS. of Neufchatal 



THE IMAQ-ES BROKEIf. 



467 



consulting either Chatelain, Esch, or any of those who 
he might have suspected would have dissuaded him, 
quitted the city in the evening, just as night was com- 
ing on, and approached the chapel. There he pondered 
a while, sitting silently before the statues. He still had 
it in his power to withdraw ; but .... to-morrow, in a 
few hours, the whole city that should worship God alone 
will be kneeling down before these blocks of wood and 
stone. A struggle ensued in the wool-comber's bosom, 
like that which we trace in so many Christians of the 
primitive ages of the church. What matters it to him 
that what be sees are the images of saints, and not of 
heathen gods and goddesses? Does not the worship 
which the people pay to these images belong to God 
alone ? Like Polyeucte before the idols in the temple, 
his heart shudders, his courage revives : 

Ne perdons plus de temps, le sacrifice est prSt, 
Anons y du vrai Dieu soutenir Pinteret ; 
AUons fouler aux pieds ce foudre ridicule, 
Dont arme un bois pourri ce peuple trop cr^dulo ; 
Allons en eclairer Paveuglement fatal, 
A! Ions briser ces dieux de pierre et de m^tal ; 
Abandonnons nos jours a cette ardeur celeste — 
Faisons triompher Dieu ; qu'il dispose du reste.* 

Corneille, Polyeucte, 

Leclerc arose, approached the images, took them down 
and broke them in pieces, indignantly scattering their 
fragments before the altar. He doubted not that the 
Spirit of the Lord had excited him to this action, and 
Theodore Beza thinks the same.f After this, Leclerc re- 
turned to Metz, which he entered at daybreak unnoticed, 
save by a few persons as he was entering the gates.J 

Meanwhile all were in motion in the ancient city; 
bells were ringing ; the brotherhoods were assembling ; 
and the whole population of Metz, headed by the canons, 
priests, and monks, went forth in solemn procession ; 
ihey recited prayers or sung hymns to the saints they 

* What many admire in verse they condemn in history, 
t Divini Spiritus aflflatu impulsus. Bezae Icones. 
X Man^ apud urbis portas deprehensuji' 



458 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATIOl^. 



were going to adore ; crosses and banners moved on in 
due order, and instruments of music or drums responded 
to the voices of the faithful. At length, after nearly an 
bourns march, the procession reached the place of pil- 
grimage. But what was the astonishment of the priests^ 
when advancing, censer in hand, they discovered the im- 
ages they had come to worship mutilated and covering 
the earth with their fragments. They recoiled with hor- 
ror, and announced this sacrilegious act to the crowd. 
Suddenly the chanting ceased, the instruments were si- 
lent, the banners lowered, and the whole multitude was 
in a state of indescribable agitation. The canons, priests, 
and monks endeavored to inflame their minds, and ex- 
cited the people to search for the criminal, and demand 
his death.* But one cry burst from every lip : " Death, 
death to the sacrilegious wretch I" They returned to 
Metz in haste and in disorder. 

Leclerc was known to all ; many times he had called 
the images idols. Besides, had he not been seen at day- 
break returning from the direction of the chapel ? He 
was seized ; he immediately confessed his crime, and 
conjured the people to worship God alone. But this lan- 
guage still further exasperated the fury of the multitude, 
wlio would have dragged him to instant death. When 
led before his judges, he boldly declared that Jesus 
Christ, God manifest in the flesh, should alone be adored. 
He was sentenced to be burned alive, and taken out to 
the place of execution. 

Here a fearful scene awaited him. The cruelty of his 
persecutors had been contriving all that could render his 
punishment more horrible. Near the scaffold men were 
healing pincers that were to serve as the instruments ol 
thei^ rage. Leclerc, firm and calm, heard unmoved the 
wild yells of the monks and people. They began by cutp 
ting ofl" his right hand ; then taking up the burning pin- 
cers, they tore off his nose ; after this, they lacerated his 
arms, and when they had thus mangled them in several 
places, they concluded by burning his breasts.f While 

* Totam civitatem concltarunt ad auctorem ejus facinoris quae* 
rendum. Act Mart. Lat. p. 189. f Naso candeutibuB fas^ 



LECLEEC AND CHATELAIN BURNED. 459 



his enemies were in this manner wreaking their ven- 
geance on his body, Leclerc's mind was at rest. He 
recited solemnly and with a loud voice* these words of 
David : " Their idols are silver and gold, the work of 
men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not ; 
eyes have they, but they see not ; they have ears, but 
they hear not ; noses have they, but they smell not ; 
they have hands, but they handle not ; feet have they, 
but they walk not ; neither speak they through their 
throat. They that make them are like unto them ; so 
is every one that trusteth in them. 0 Israel, trust thou 
in the Lord ; he is their help and their shield." Psalm 
116 : 4-9. The sight of such fortitude daunted the ene- 
mies, and strengthened the faithful ;f the people, who 
had before shown so much anger, were astonished and 
touched with compassion.^ After these tortures Leclerc 
was burned by a slow fire, in conformity with his sen- 
tence. Such was the death of the first martyr of the 
gospel in France. 

But the priests of Metz were not satisfied. In vain 
had they endeavored to shake the constancy of Chatelain. 
"He is deaf as an adder," said they, "and refuses to hear 
the truth."§ He was seized by the creatures of the cardi- 
nal of Lorraine, and carried to the castle of Nommeny. 

He was then degaded by the bishop's officers, who 
stripped him of his priestly vestments, and scraped hia 
fingers with a piece of glass, saying, "By this scraping, 
we deprive thee of the power to sacrifice, consecrate, and 
bless, which thou receivedst by the anointing of hands."|| 
Then, throwing over him a layman's dress, they surren- 
dered him to the secular power, which condemned him 
to be burned alive. The pile was soon erected, and the 
minister of Christ consumed bv the flames. "Lutheran- 

pibus abrepto, iisdemque brachio utroque, ipsisque mammis cruda 
lissim^ perustis. Bezae Icones ; MS. de Meaiix ; Crespin, etc. 

* Altissima voce recitans. Bezae Icones. f Adversariis ter- 
ritis, piis magnopere confirmatis. Ibid. t Nemo qui non com- 
moveretur, attonitus. Act. Mart. Lat. p 189. § Instar aspi 
dis serpentis aures omni surditate affectas. Ibid. 183. 

y Utriusque manus digitos lamina vitrea erasit. Ibid. 66, 



4eO HISTORY OP THE REFORMATIOK. 



ism spread not the less through the whole district of 
Metz," say the authors of the history of the Gallican 
church, who in other respects highly approve of this 
severity. 

As soon as this storm began to beat upon the church 
at Metz, tribulation had entered into Toussaint's family. 
His uncle the dean, without taking an active part in the 
measures directed against Leclerc and Chatelain, shud- 
dered at the thought that his nephew was one of their 
party. His mother's alarm was greater still. There 
was not a moment to lose ; the liberty and life of all 
who had lent their ear to the gospel were endangered. 
The blood that the inquisitors had shed had only in- 
creased their thirst : more scaffolds would erelong be 
raised. Peter Toussaint, the knight Esch, and many 
others, hastily quitted Metz, and sought refuge at Basle. 



FAEEL AND HIS 6E0THEE8. 461 



CHAPTER IX. 

^Brel and his brothers — Farel expelled from Gap— He preaches id 
the fields — The knight Anemond of Coct — The Minorite — ^Ane^ 
mend quits France — Luther to the duke of Savoy — ^Farel quits 
France. 

Thus violently did the gale of persecution blow at 
Meaux and at Metz. The north of France rejected the 
gospel : the gospel for a while gave way. But the Eef- 
ormation only changed its ground, and the provinces of 
the south-east became the scene of action. 

Farel, who had taken refuge at the foot of the Alps, 
was there laboring with great activity. It was of little 
moment to him to enjoy the sweets of domestic life in 
the bosom of his family. The rumor of what had taken 
place at Meaux and at Paris had filled his brothers with 
a certain degree of terror ; but an unknown power was 
drawing them towards the new and admirable things on 
which William conversed with them. The latter be- 
sought them with all the impetuosity of his zeal to be 
converted to the gospel ;* and Daniel, Walter, and 
Claude were at last won over to that God whom their 
brother announced. They did not at first abandon the 
religious worship of their forefathers ; but when perse- 
cution arose, they courageously sacrificed their friends, 
their property, and their country, to worship Jesus Christ 
in freedom.f The brothers of Luther and of Zwingle do 
not appear to have been so decidedly converted to the 
gospel ; the French reform from its very commencement 
had a more tender and domestic character. 

Farel did not confine his exhortations to his bretb' 
ren ; he proclaimed the truth to his relations and frienda 
at Gap, and in the neighborhood. It would even appear, 
if we may credit a manuscript, that, profiting by the 

* Choupard MS. f Farel, gentilhomme de condition, dou< 
de bons moyens, lesquels 11 perdit tous pour sa religion, ausai bieD 
que trois autres sieos frerea. Geneva MS. 



462 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



friendship of certain clergymen, he began to preacn the 
gospel in several churches ;* but other authorities pos- 
itively declare that he did not at this time ascend the 
pulpit. However this may be, the doctrine he professed 
caused great agitation. The multitude and the clergy 
desired to silence him. "What new and strange heresy 
is this said they ; must all the practices of piety be 
counted vain ? He is neither monk nor priest ; he has 
no business to preach."f 

Erelong all the civil and ecclesiastical powers of Gap 
combined against Farel. He was evidently an agent of 
that sect which the whole country is opposing. " Let 
us cast this firebrand of discord far from us," they ex- 
claimed. Farel was summoned to appear, harshly treat- 
ed, and violently expelled from the city.| 

He did not, however, abandon his native country: 
were there not in the fields, the villages, the banks of 
the Durance, of the Guisanne, and of the Isere, many 
souls that stood in need of the gospel ? and if he incur- 
red any danger, could he not find an asylum in those 
forests, caverns, and steep rocks that he had so often 
traversed in his yoi^th ? He began, therefore, to go 
through the country preaching in private houses and in 
solitary fields, and seeking an asylum in the woods and 
on the brink of torrents. § This was a school in which 
God trained him for other labors. The crosses, perse- 
cutions, and machinations of Satan, of which I was fore- 
warned, have not been wanting," said he ; " they are 
even much severer than I could have borne of myself ; 
but God is my father ; he has provided and always will 
provide me the strength which I require."|| A great 
number of the inhabitants of these rural districts re- 
ceived the truth from his lips. Thus the persecution 

* n precha I'evangile publiquement avec ane grande liberty. 
Choupard MS. f Ibid. ; Hist, des fiveques de Niemes, 1738. 

t II fut chass6, voire fort rudement, tant par I'eveque que pal 
ceux de la ville. Choupard MS. § Olim errabundus in silvis, 
in nemoriburi, in aquis vagatus sum. Farel ad Capit. de Bucer. 
Basil, Oct. 25, 1526. MS. letter at Neufchatel. || Non def* 

ere oruces, perBCcutio, et Satanae macbinamenta. Farel Galeoto. 



ANEMOND BE COCT. 



463 



that had driven Farel from Paris and from Meanx, con- 
tributed to the spread of the Reformation in the prov- 
inces of the Saone, of the Rhone, and of the Alps. Every 
age has witnessed the fulfilment of the saying of Scrip- 
ture, **They that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
preaching the word." Acts 8:4. 

Among the Frenchmen who were at that time gained 
over to the gospel, was a gentleman of Dauphiny, the 
chevalier Anemond de Coct, a younger son of the audi- 
tor of Coct, lord of Chatelard. He was active, ardent, 
and lively, sincerely pious, and a foe to relics, proces- 
sions, and the clergy ; he received the evangelical doc- 
trine with great alacrity, and was soon entirely devoted 
to it. He could not endure forms in religion, and would 
gladly have abolished all the ceremonies of the church. 
The religion of the heart, the inward worship, was in his 
view the only true one. Never," said he, " has my 
spirit found any rest in externals. The sum of Chris- 
tianity is comprised in these words: *John truly bap- 
tized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost ; ye must put on the new man.' "* 

Coct, endued with all the vivacity of a Frenchman, 
spoke and wrote at one time in Latin, at another in 
French. He read and quoted Donatus, Thomas Aqui- 
nas, Juvenal, and the Bible. His style was abrupt, 
passing suddenly from one idea to another. Ever in 
mention, he presented himself wherever a door seemed 
open to the gospel, or a celebrated doctor was to be 
heard. By his cordiality he won the hearts of all his 
acquaintances. "He is distinguished by rank and learn- 
ing," said Zwingle at a later period, "but more distin- 
guished still for piety and affability ."f Anemond is the 
type of many of the reformed Frenchmen. Vivacity, 
simple-heartedness, zeal sometimes carried even to im- 
prudence, are the qualities often found in those of his 
fellow-countrymen who embraced the gospel. But at 

* Nunquam in externis quievit spiritus meus. Cocius Farello. 
MS. in the conelave of Neuf'chatel. f Viram est genere doo* 

triuaque clarum, ita pletate humanitateque longe clariorem. Zw 
Epp. p. 31d. 



464 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



the opposite extreme of the French character we find 
the serious features of Calvin, a weighty counterpoise 
to the levity of Coct. Calvin and Anemond are the two 
poles between which revolves the whole religious world 
in France. 

No sooner had Anemond received the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ from Farel,* than he sought himself to gain 
converts to that doctrine of spirit and of life. His father 
was dead ; his elder brother, of harsh and haughty tem- 
per, disdainfully repelled him. Lawrence, the youngest 
of the family, and who loved him sincerely, seemed but 
half to understand him. Anemond, finding himself re- 
jected by his own kindred, turned his activity to another 
quarter. 

Hitherto the awakening in Dauphiny had been con- 
fined solely to the laity. Farel, Anemond, and their 
friends, desired to see a priest at the head of this move- 
ment, which seemed as if it would shake the provinces 
of the Alps. There dwelt at Grenoble a Minorite priest, 
Peter Sebville by name, a preacher of great eloquence, 
of an honest and good heart, not taking counsel with 
flesh and blood, and whom God was gradually attract 
ing to him.f Sebville soon became aware that there ia 
no infallible teacher but the word of God ; and abandon- 
ing the doctrines that are supported on human testimony 
alone, he determined in his own mind to preach the word 
purely, clearly, and holily."J In these three words the 
whole of the Reformation is summed up. Coct and Farel 
were delighted as they heard this new preacher of grace 
raising his eloquent voice in their province, and thought 
that their own presence would henceforward be less 
necessary. 

The more the awakening spread, the more violent 
becamo the opposition. Anemond, desirous of becoming 
acquainted with Luther and Zwingle, and of visiting 
those countries where the Reformation had originated, 

* In a letter to Farel he subscribes himself, Filius turn humilis. 
Sept. 2, 1524. f Pater coelestis animum sic tuum ad se traxit, 
Zwinglius Sebvillae, Epp. p. 320. X Nitide, pure, sanot^qtuf 

pnedioaxe in animum inducis. Ibid. 



AKEMOND VISITS LUTHEE. 



465 



and indignant at the rejection of the gospel by his fel- 
Iov.r-countrymen, resolved to bid farewell to his home 
and his family. He made his will, disposing of his prop- 
erty, at that time in the hands of his elder brother the 
lord of Ohatelard, in favor of his brother Lawrence ;* 
and then quitting Dauphiny and France, he made his 
way with all the impetuosity of the south through counr 
tries which it was no easy matter in that age to trav- 
erse, and passing through Switzerland, hardly stopping 
at Basle, he arrived at Wittemberg, where Luther was 
residing. This was shortly after the second diet of Nu- 
remberg. The French gentleman accosted the Saxon 
doctor with his usual vivacity ; talked with him enthu- 
siastically about the gospel, and eagerly laid before him 
thj plans he had formed for the propagation of the truth. 
The gravity of the Saxon smiled at the southern imagi- 
nation of the chevalier ;f and Luther, notwithstanding 
certain prejudices against the French character, was fas^ 
cinated and carried away by Anemond. He was affected 
by the thought that this gentleman had come from F'rance 
to Wittemberg for the sake of the gospel. J "Assured- 
ly," said the reformer to his friends, "this French knight 
is an excellent, learned, and pious man."§ The young 
noble produced the same impression on Zwingle and on 
Luther. 

Anemond, seeing what Luther and Zwingle had done, 
thought that if they would turn their attention to France 
and Savoy, nothing could resi/jt them. Accordingly, as 
he could not prevail on them to go thither, he begged 
them at least to write. In particular, he requested Lu- 
ther to address a letter to duke Charles of Savoy, brother 
to Louisa and Philiberta, and uncle to Francis L and 
Margaret. "This prince," said he to the doctor, "feels 

* Mon frere Annemond Coct, chevalier, au partir du pays me 
feist son heritier. MS. letters in the library at Neufchatel. 

t Mire ardens in Evangelium, says Luther to Spalatin. Epp, 2. 
S40. Sehr briinstig in der Herrlichkeit des Evangelii, said he to 
the duke of Savoy. Ibid. 401. t Evangelii gratia hue pro- 

fectus e Gallia. L. Epp. 2. 340. § Hie Gallus cques . . , 

optimoB vir est, eruditus ac plus. Ibidi 

30 



466 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 



great attraction towards piety and true religion,* and 
loves to converse on the Reformation with some of the 
persons about his court. He is just the man to under- 
stand you ; for his motto is this : Nihil deest timentihm 
DeuMff and this device is yours also. Injured in turns 
by the empire and by France, humiliated, vexed, and 
always in danger, his heart stands in need of God and 
of his grace : all that he wants is a powerful impulse. 
If he were won to the gospel, he would have an immense 
influence on Switzerland, Savoy, and Prance. Write to 
him, I beseech you." 

Luther was wholly German in character, and would 
have found himself ill at ease out of Germany ; yet ani- 
mated by a true Catholicism, he stretched out his hands 
as soon as he saw brethren, and in every place when 
there was any word of exhortation to be given, he took 
care that it should be heard. He sometimes wrote on 
the same day to the farthest parts of Europe, to the Low 
Countries, to Savoy, and to Livonia. 

"A&suredly,'' replied he to Anemond's request, "a 
love for the gospel is a rare gift, and an inestimable 
jewel in a prince.'J And he addressed a letter to the 
duke, which Anemond probably carried as far as Swit- 
zerland. 

"May your highness pardon me," wrote Luther, "if 
I, a weak and despised man, presume to address you ; 
or rather, ascribe this boldness to the glory of the gos- 
pel ; far I cannot see that glorious light rising and shin- 
ing in any quarter without exulting at the joyful sight. 
. . . . It is my desire that my Lord Jesus Christ should 
gain many souls by the example of your most serene 
highness. And for this reason I desire to set our doc- 
trine before you We believe that the commence- 
ment of salvation and the sum of Christianity is faith in 
Christ, who by his blood alone, and not by our works, 

♦ Ein grosser Liebhaber der wahren Religion und Gottseligkeit 
L. Epp. 2. 401. t Nothing is wanting to those who fear God, 

Hist. Gen. de la Maison de Savoie, par Guichenon, 2. 228. 

t Eine seltsame Gabe und hohes Kleinod unter den Fiirstea I* 
Epp. 2. 401. 



LUTHER TO THE DUKE OP BAVOT- 467 



has made atonement for sin, and put an end to the do- 
minion of death. We believe that this faith is the gift 
of Gud, and that it is created by the Holy Ghost in our 
hearts, and not found by our own labors. For faith is 
a living thing,* which spiritually begetteth % man, and 
maketh him a new creature." 

Luther then proceeded to the consequences of faith, 
and showed how it could not be possessed without 
sweeping away the whole scaffolding of false doctrines 
and human works that the church had so laboriously 
raised. "If grace/' said he, "is obtained by Christ's 
blood, it is not by our own works. This is the reason 
why all the labors of all the cloisters are unavailing, and 
these institutions should be abolished, as being contrary 
to the blood of Jesus Christ, and leading men to trust 
in their own good works. Ingrafted in Christ, nothing 
remains for us but to do good ; for having become good 
trees, we should bear witness to it by good fruits. 

" Gracious prince and lord,'' said Luther in conclu- 
sion, " may your highness, who has made so happy a 
beginning, help to propagate this doctrine ; not with the 
power of the sword, which would injure the gospel, but 
by inviting into your states learned doctors who may 
preach the word. It is by the breath of his mouth that 
Jesus will destroy antichrist, in order that, as Daniel 
says, Dan. 8 : 25, he may be broken without hand. For 
this reason, most serene prince, may your highness fan 
the spark that has been kindled in your heart; may 
a flame go forth from the hoiise of Savoy, as in former 
times from the house of Joseph ;f may all France be 
consumed like stubble before that fire ; may it burn, 
blaze, and purify, so that this illustrious kingdom may 
truly be called most Christian^ for which it is indebted, 
up to this hour, solely to the rivers of blood shed in the 
service of antichrist." 

Thus did Luther endeavor to diffuse the gonpel in 
France. We are ignorant of the effect produced on tlie 

* Der Glaube ist ein lebendig Ding. L. Epp. 2. 402. The Latin 
U wanting. f Dass ein Feuer yon dem Hause Sophoj au8£;eha 
U Epp. 2. 40^. 



468 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



prince by this letter ; but we do not see that he evet 
showed any desire to separate from Rome. In 1622, he 
requested Adrian VL to stand godfather to his eldest 
son, and shortly after the pope promised a cardinaPs hat 
for his second son. Anemond, after making an effort to 
see the court and the elector of Saxony, and having re- 
ceived a letter from Luther for this purpose,* returned to 
Basle, more decided than ever to expose his life for the 
gospel. In his ardor, he would have rejoiced to possess 
the power of rousing the whole of France. All that 
I am," said he, " all that I shall be, all that I have, all 
that I shall have, I am determined to consecrate to the 
glory of 6od."f 

Anemond found his compatriot Farel at Basle. Ane- 
mond's letters had excited in him a great desire to see 
the reformers of Switzerland and Germany. Moreover, 
Farel required a sphere of activity in which he could 
more freely exert his strength. He therefore quitted that 
France which already offered nothing but scaffolds and 
the stake for the preachers of the unadulterated gospel. 
Following byroads and concealing himself in the woods, 
he escaped, although with difficulty, from the hands of 
his enemies. Often did he lose his way. At last he 
reached Switzerland at the beginning of 1524. There 
he was destined to spend his life in the service of the 
gospel, and it was then that France began to send into 
Helvetia those noble-minded evangelists who were to 
establish the Reformation in Switzerland RomandeyX and 
to give it a new and powerful impulse in other parts of 
the confederation and in the whole world. 

* Vult videre aulam et faciam Principis nostri. L Epp. 2. 340. 

t Quidquid sum, habeo, ero, habebove, ad dei Gloriam insumere 
mens est. Coct. Epp. MS. of Neufchatel. X The French part 

of Switzerland, comprising the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, .Neafcba' 
tel, and part of those of Friburg, Berne, and Valois. 



CATHOLICITY OF TKE EE FORMATION 469 



CHAPTER X 

Catholicity of the Reformation— Friendship between Farel and CEoo- 
lampadius — Farel and Erasmus — Altercation — Farel demands a 
disputation — Theses — Scripture and faith — Discussion. 

The catholicity of the Reformation is a noble feature 
in its character. The Germans pass into Switzerland ; 
the French into Germany; in latter times men from Enr- 
gland and Scotland pass over to the continent, and doc- 
tors from the continent into Great Britain. The reform 
ers in the different countries spring up almost indepen- 
dently of one another ; but no sooner are they born than 
they hold out the hand of fellowship. There is among 
them one sole faith, one spirit, one Lord. It has been 
an error, in our opinion, to write, as hitherto, the history 
of the Reformation for a single country ; the work is 
one, and from their very origin the Protestant churches 
form "a whole body, fitly joined together." Eph. 4 : 16. 

Many refugees from Prance and Lorraine at this time 
formed at Basle a Prench church, whose members had 
escaped from the scaffold. They had spoken there of 
Farel, of Lefevre, and of the occurrences at Meaux ; and 
when the former arrived in Switzerland, he was already 
known as one of the most devoted champions of the 
gospel. 

He was immediately taken to (Ecolampadius, who 
had returned to Basle some time before. Rarely does 
it happen that two men of more opposite character are 
brought together. (Ecolampadius charmed by his mild- 
ness ; Farel carried away his hearers by his impetuosity: 
but from the first moment these two men felt themselves 
united for ever.* It was another meeting of Luther and 
Melancthon. (Ecolampadius received Farel into his 
house, gave him a humble chamber, a frugal table, and 
introduced him to his friends ; and it was not long be- 

* Amicum semper habui a primo coUoquio. Farel to Bulling 
May*27, 1666. 



470 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATIOIT. 



fore the learning, piety, and courage of the yonng French- 
man gained every heart. Pellican, Imeli, Wolf hard, and 
other ministers of Basle felt themselves strengthened in 
the faith by his energetic language. (Ecolampadius was 
at that time much depressed in spirit : "Alas," said he 
to Zwingle, "I speak in vain, and see not the least rea- 
son to hope. Perhaps among the Turks I might meet 
with greater success.*^ . . . Alas," added he with a deep 
sigh, " I lay the blame on myself alone." But the more 
he saw of Farel, the more his heart cheered up, and the 
courage he received from the Dauphinese became the 
groundwork of an undying affection. " 0 my dear Fa- 
rel," said he, " I hope that the Lord will make our friend- 
ship immortal, and if we cannot live together here below, 
our joy will only be the greater when we shall be united 
at Christ's right hand in heaven."f Pious and affecting 
thoughts FarePs arrival was for Switzerland evi- 

dently a succor from on high. 

But while this Frenchman was delighted with (Eco- 
lampadius, he shrank coldly and with noble pride from 
a ma^n at whose feet all the nations of Christendom fell 
prostrate. The prince of the schools, he from whom 
every one coveted a word or a look, the master of the 
age, Erasmus, was neglected by Farel. The young 
Dauphinese had refused to go and pay homage to the 
old sage of Rotterdam, despising those men who are 
only by halves on the side of the truth, and who, though 
clearly aware of the consequences of error, are full of 
forbearance towards those who propagate it. Thus we 
witness in Farel that decision which has become one of 
the distinctive characters of the Eeformation in France 
and French Switzerland, and which some have called 
stiffness, exclusiveness, and'intolerance. A controversy, 
arising out of the commentaries of the doctor of Etaples, 
had begun between the two great doctors of the age, 
and at every entertainment the guests would take part 

* Fortasse in mediis Turcis felicius docuissem. Zw. et Ecol. Epp, 
p. 200. t Mi Farelle, Bpero Dominum conservaturum amici- 

tiam Dostram immortalem ; et si hie conjungi nequimas, tanto bea/> 
Uos alibi apud Christum erit oontuberoium. Ibid, 201. 



TEXATIOK AND ANGER OF ERASMUS. 471 



with Erasmus against Lefevre. and Lefevre ap^ainst Eras- 
mus.* Farel hesitated not to take his master's side. But 
what had especially annoyed him was the cowardice of 
the philosopher of Rotterdam with regard to the evan- 
gelical Christians. Erasmus shut his door against them. 
Good. Farel will not go and beg for admission. This 
was a trifling sacrifice to him, as he felt that Erasmus 
possessed not that piety of heart which is the foundation 
of all true theology. Frobenius' wife knows more of 
theology than he does," said Farel ; and indignant at 
the conduct of Erasmus, who had written advising the 
pope how to set about extinguishing the Lutheran con- 
flagration, he boldly affirmed that Erasmus desired to 
stifle the gospel.f 

This independence in young Farel exasperated the 
illustrious scholar. Princes, kings, doctors, bishops, 
popes, reformers, priests, men of the world — all were 
ready to pay him their tribute of admiration ; even Lu- 
ther had treated him with a certain forbearance ; and this 
Dauphinese, unknown to fame and an exile, dared brave 
his power. Such insolent freedom caused Erasmus more 
annoyance than the homage of the whole world could 
give him pleasure, and accordingly he neglected no 
opportunity of venting his ill humor on Farel ; besides, 
by attacking so notorious a heretic, he was clearing 
himself in the eyes of the Romanists from all suspicion 
of heresy. **I have never met with any thing more 
false, more violent, and more seditious than this man,"J 
said he ; "his heart is full of vanity, his tongue over- 
flowing with malice."§ But the anger of Erasmus was 
not confined to f'arel ; it was directed against all the 
Fr(^nch refugees in Basle, whose frankness and decision 
offended him. They had little respect to persons ; and 
if the truth was not openly professed, they cared not for 
the man, however exalted might be his genius. They 
were possibly wanting in some measure in the suavity 

* Nullum est pene convivium. Er. Epp. p. 179. f Consil* 

'mm quo sic ext^nguatur incendium Lutheranum. Ibid. 

t Quo nihil vidi mendacius, virulentius, et seditiosius. Ibid, 
79& ^ Acidse linguae et yaaissimas. Iliid. 2129. 



472 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



of the gospel, but their fidelity reminds ns of the vigor 
of the ancient prophets ; and it is gratifying to meet 
with men who do not bow down before what the world 
adores. Erasmus, amazed at this lofty disdain, com- 
plained of it to every one. What," wrote he to Melano- 
thon, " shall we reject pontiffs and bishops, to have more 
cruel, scurvy, and furious tyrants in their place ? . . . . for 
Buch it is that France has sent us."* " Some French^ 
men," wrote he to the pope's secretary, in a letter accom- 
panying his book on freewill, "are still more out of 
their wits than even the Germans. They have five ex- 
pressions always in their mouths : gospel^ word of Ood, 
faith, Christ, Holy Ohost ; and yet I doubt whether they 
be not urged on by the spirit of Satan."f Instead oi 
Farellus he would often write FalUcus, thus designating 
one of the frankest men of his day with the epithets of 
cheat and deceiver. 

The vexation and anger of Erasmus were at their 
height when it was reported to him that Farel had 
called him a Balaam. Farel believed that Erasmus, like 
this prophet, allowed himself, perhaps unconsciously, to 
be swayed by presents to curse the people of God. The 
learned Dutchman, unable longer to contain himself, re- 
solved to chastise the impudent Dauphinese ; and one 
day, as Farel was talking with several friends on the 
doctrines of Christianity in the presence of Erasmus, the 
latter, rudely interrupting him, said, **Why do you call 
me Balaam ?" J Farel, at first astonished by so abrupt a 
question, soon recovered himself, and answered that it 
was not he who had given him that title. On being 
pressed to name the offender, he said it was Du Blet of 
Lyons, a refugee at Basle like himself.§ " It may be he 
who made use of the word," replied Erasmus, "but it 
was you who taught him." And then, ashamed of hav- 
ing lost his temper, he quickly turned the conversation 
to another subject. "Why," said he to Farel, "do you 

• Scabiosos .... rabiosos .... nam nuper nobis misit Gallia. Er. 
Epp. p. 350. t Non dubitem quin agantur spiritu Satanae Ibid, 

X Diremi disputationem. Ibid. 804 § Ut diceret negotiar 
fcorem quemdam Dupletum hoc dixisse. Ibid. 2129. 



FAREL MAINTAINS HIS THESES. 473 



assert that we ought not to invoke the saints ? Is it 
because it is not enjoined in holy Scripture ?" " Yes/' 
replied the Frenchman. "Well then," resumed Eras» 
mus, I call upon you to prove by Scripture that we 
ought to invoke the Holy Ghost." Farel made this sim- 
ple and true reply: "If He is God, we must invoke 
him."* "I dropped the conversation," says Erasmus, 
"for night was coming on."f From that hour, when- 
ever the name of Farel fell from his pen, he represented 
him as a hateful person, who ought by all means to be 
shunned. The reformer's letters, on the contrary, are 
full of moderation as regards Erasmus. The gospel is 
milder than philosophy, even in the most fiery temper. 

The evangelical doctrine already counted many friends 
in Basle, both in the council and among the people ; but 
the doctors of the university opposed it to the utmost of 
their power. (Ecolampadius, and Stor, pastor of Liestal, 
had maintained some theses against them. Farel thought 
it his duty also to profess in Switzerland the great prin- 
ciple of the evangelical school of Paris and of Meaux : 
ITie word of God is all-sufficient He requested permis* 
sion of the university to maintain certain theses, "the 
rather to be reproved," added he, " if I am in error, than 
to teach others ;"J but the university refused. 

Upon this Farel addressed the council ; and the coun- 
cil issued a public notice, that a Christian man named 
William Farel having by the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost drawn up certain articles in conformity with the 
gospel, § they had given him leave to maintain them in 
Latin. The university forbade all priests and students 
to be present at the disputation ; but the council sent 
out a proclamation to the contrary effect. 

The following are some of the thirteen propositions 
put forth by Farel : 

* Si Deus est, inquit, invocandus est. Er. Epp. p. 804. 

■f Omissa disputatione, nam imminebat nox. Ibid. We have 
only Erasmus' account of this conversation ; he himself informs ua 
that Farel reported it very differently. J Damit er gelehrt 

werde, ob er irre. Fiisslin Beytr. 4. 244. ^ Aus Eingiessung 

des heiligen Geistes ein christlicher Mensch and Bruder. Ibid. 



474 HISTOET OF THE REFORMATION. 



"Christ has given us the most perfect rule of life j 
no one has the right to take any thing from it, or to add 
any thing thereto. 

" To live according to any other precepts than those 
of Christ, leads directly to impiety. 

" The real ministry of priests is to attend to the min- 
istering of the word ; and for them there is no higher 
lignity. 

To deprive the glad tidings of Christ of their cer- 
tainty, is to destroy them. 

" He who hopes to be justified by his own power, 
and by his own merits, and not by faith, sets himself up 
as God. 

" Jesus Christ, whom all things obey, is our polestar, 
and the only star that we ought to follow."* 

Thus did this " Frenchman" stand up in Basle.f It 
was a child of the mountains of Dauphiny, brought ap 
in Paris at the feet of Lefevre, who thus boldly set forth 
in that illustrious university of Switzerland, and in the 
piesence of Erasmus, the great principles of the Refor- 
mation. Two leading ideas pervaded FarePs theses : 
one, that of a return to holy Scripture ; the other, of a 
return to faith : two things which the Papacy at the be- 
ginning of the eighteenth century distinctly condemned 
as impious and heretical in the famous constitution Uni" 
genitu.% and which, closely connected with each other, do 
in fact subvert the whole of the papal system. If faith 
In Christ is the beginning and end of Christianity, it fol- 
lows that we must cleave to the word of Christ, and not 
to the voice of the church. Nay, more, if faith in Christ 
unites souls, where is the necessity pf an external bond ? 
Is it with croziers, bulls, and tiaras, that their holy unity 
is formed ? Faith joins in spiritual and true unity all 
those in whose hearts it takes up its abode. Thus van* 
ished at a single blow the triple delusion of meritorious 
works, human traditions, and false unity ; and this is 
the sum of Roman-catholicism. 

* Gulielmus Farellws Christianis lectoribus, die Martis post Re- 
miniBcere. Fiissl. Beyt. 4. 247. Fiisslin does not give the Latia text 
t Schcdam conclusionum a GaUo illo. Zw. Epp. p. S33. 



MEEKNESS AND IMPETUOSITY. 473 



The disputation began in Latin.* Farel and (Eco- 
la.mpadius set forth and proved their articles, calling 
repeatedly on their adversaries to r&plj ; but not one of 
them appeared. These sophists, as (Ecolampadius terms 
them, acted the braggart, but in dark holes and corners.f 
The people therefore began to despise the cowardice of 
the priests, and to detest their tyranny.^ 

Thus Farel took his stand among the defenders of 
the Reformation. They were greatly delighted to see a 
Frenchman combine so much learning and piety, and 
already began to anticipate the noblest triumphs. "He 
is strong enough," said they, **to destroy the whole Sor- 
bonne single-handed."§ His candor, sincerity, and frank- 
ness captivated every heart. || But amid all his activity, 
he did not forget that every mission should begin with 
our own souls. The gentle (Ecolampadius made a com- 
pact with the ardent Farel, by which they mutually en- 
gaged to practise humility and meekness in their famil- 
iar conversations. These bold men, even on the field of 
battle, were fitting themselves for the duties of peace. 
It should be observed, however, that the impetuosity of 
a Luther and a Farel were necessary virtues. Some 
effort is required when the world is to be moved and the 
church renovated. In our days we are too apt to forget 
this truth, which the meekest men then acknowledged. 
"There are certain men," wrote (Ecolampadius to Luther 
when introducing Farel to him, "who would have his 
zeal against the enemies of the truth more moderate ; 
but I cannot help seeing in this same zeal an admirable 
virtue, which, if seasonably exerted, is no less needed 
than gentleness itself."^ Posterity has ratified the 
judgment of (Ecolampadius. 

* Schedam conclusionum Latinfe apud nos disputatam. Zw. Fppb 
p. 333. t Agunt tamen magnos interim thrasones sed in an* 

gulls iucifugae. Ibid. J Incipit tamen plebs paulatim illoram 
Ignaviam et tyrannidem verbo Dei agnoscere. Ibid. § Ad to- 
tam Sorbonicam affligendam si non et perdendam. CEcol. LutherO| 
Epp. p. 200. II FareUo nihil candidius est. Ibid. • 

If Verum ego virtutem illam admirabilem et non minuB placldi* 
tate, si tempestiy^ fuerit, necessariam. Ibid. 



476 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



In the month of May, 1524, Farel, with some friends 
from Lyons, visited Schaffhausen, Zurich, and Constance. 
Zwingle and Myconius gladly welcomed this exile from 
France, and Farel remembered their kindness all his life. 
But on his return to Basle he found Erasmus and his 
other enemies at work, and received orders to quit the 
city. In vain did his friends loudly give utterance to 
their displeasure at such an abuse of authority ; he was 
compelled to quit the territory of Switzerland, already, 
at this early period, the asylum and refuge of the perse- 
cuted. " It is thus we exercise hospitality,'' said the in- 
dignant (Ecolampadius, " we true children of Sodom."* 

At Basle, Farel had contracted a close friendship 
with the chevalier Esch, who resolved to bear him com- 
pany, and they set out with letters for Luther and Cap- 
ito from (Ecolampadius, to whom the doctor of Basis 
commended Farel as " that William who had toiled so 
much in the work of God."f At Strasburg, Farel formed 
an intimacy with Capito, Bucer, and Hedio : but it does 
not appear that he went so far as Wittemberg. 

• Adeo hospitum habemus rationem, veri Sodomitse. Zw. Epp^ 
p. 434. t Galielmua ille qui tarn prob^ uayayit operam. Zw. 
et CBooL Bpp. p. 176. 



A NEW CAMPAiair 



477 



CHAPTER XI 

New campaign— Farel's call to the ministry— An ontpoBt — ^Lyons 
— Sebville at Grenoble — Conventicles — Preaching at Lyons— 
Maigret in prison — ^Margaret intimidated. 

God usually withdraws his servants from the field 
of battle only to bring them back stronger and better 
armed. Farel and his friends of Meaux, Metz, Lyons, 
and Dauphiny, driven from France by persecution, had 
been retempered in Switzerland and Germany among 
the elder reformers ; and now, like an army at first dis- 
persed by the enemy, but immediately rallied, they were 
turning round and marching forward in the name of the 
Lord. It was not only on the frontiers that these friends 
of the gospel were assembling, but in France also they 
were regaining courage, and preparing to renew the 
attack. The bugles were already sounding the reveilld ; 
the soldiers were girding on their arms, and gathering 
together to multiply their attacks ; their leaders were 
planning the order of battle ; the signal, " Jesus, his 
word, and his grace," more potent in the hour of battle 
than the sound of warlike music, filled all hearts with 
the same enthusiasm ; and every thing was preparing 
in France for a second campaign, to be signalized by 
new victories, and new and greater reverses. 

Montbeliard was then calling for a laborer in the 
gospel. The youthful duke Ulrich of Wurtemberg, a 
violent and cruel prince, having been dispossessed of 
his states by the Swabian league in 1519, had taken 
refuge in this earldom, his only remaining possession. 
In Switzerland he became acquainted with the reform- 
ers ; his misfortunes had proved salutary to him, and he 
took delight in the gospel.*^ (Ecolampadius intimated 

• Le prince qui avoit cognoissance de V fivangile. Farel, Sum- 
maire, c'est a dire, brieve declaration de G. Farel, in the conclading 
part 



47» HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATIOK . 



to Farel that a door was opened at Montbeliard, and the 
latter secretly repaired to Basle, 

Farel had not regularly entered on the ministry of 
the word ; but we find in him, at this period of his life, 
all that is necessary to constitute a minister of the 
Loid. He did not lightly and of his own prompting 
enter the service of the church. "Considering my weak- 
ness," said he, " I should not have dared preach, wait- 
ing for the Lord to send more suitable persons."* But 
God at this time addressed him in a threefold call. As 
Boon as he had reached Basle, CEcolampadius, touched 
with the wants of France, entreated him to devote him- 
self to it. "Behold," said he, "how little is Jesus 
Christ known to all those who speak the French lan- 
guage. Will you not give them some instruction in 
tiieir own tongue, that they may better understand the 
Scriptures ?"f At the same time, the people of Mont* 
beliard invited him among them, and the prince gave 
his consent to this call.| Was not this a triple call 

from God ? " I did not think," sa4d he, " that it 

was lawful for me to resist. I obeyed in God's name."§ 
Concealed in the house of CEcolampadius, struggling 
against the responsibility offered to him, and yet obliged 
to submit to so clear a manifestation of the will of God, 
Farel accepted this charge, and CEcolampadius set him 
apart, calling upon the name of the Lord,|| and address- 
ing his friend in language full of wisdom. " The more 
you are inclined to violence," said he, " the more should 
you practise gentleness ; temper your lion's courage 
with the meekness of the dove."^ Farel responded to 
this appeal with all his soul. 

Thus Farel, once the zealous follower of the old 
church, was about to become a servant of God in the 
new. If Kome imperatively requires in a valid ordina- 
tion the imposition of the hands of a bishop who de- 

* Farel, Summaire. f Ibid. | Pliant reqois et demand^ 
du peuple et du coasentement du prince. Ibid. § Ibid. 

11 Avec rinvocatioQ du Dom de Dieu. Ibid. IT Leoainam 

magQaoimitatem columbiaa modestia frangas. (£colam. Epp. 
18& 



THE GOSPEL AND NOT THE FATHEES. 479 



scends from the apostles in uninterrupted succession, it 
is because she places human traditions above the word 
of God. In every church where the authority of the 
word is not absolute, some other authority must needs 
be sought. And then, what is more natural than to ask 
of the most venerated of God's ministers, that which 
fchoy cannot find in God himself? If we do not speak 
In the name of Jesus Christ, is it not something at least 
to speak in the name of St. John or of St. Paul? He 
who speaks in the name of antiquity is stronger than 
the rationalist who speaks only in his own name. But 
the Christian minister has a still higher authority : he 
preaches, not because he descends from St. Chrysostom 
or St. Peter, but because the word that he proclaims 
comes down from God himself. The idea of succes- 
sion,* venerable as it may appear, is not the less a 
human system substituted for the system of God. In 
FarePs ordination there was no human succession. Nay, 
more, we do not see in it that which is necessary in 
the Lord's fold, where every thing should be done de- 
cently and in order," and whose God " is not a God of 
confusion." He was not regularly ordained by the 
church ; but extraordinary times justify extraordinary 
measures. At this memorable epoch God himself inter- 
posed. He consecrated by marvellous dispensations 
those whom he called to the regeneration of the world. 
In FarePs ordination, we see the infallible word of God 
given to a man of God, that he might bear it to the 
world — the call of God and of the people — the conse- 
cration of the heart, and a solemn appointment by one 
of the ministers of the church ; and all this was the 
best substitute of which his case admitted for the full 
and formal seal of the church on his ministry. Farel 
took his departure for Montbeliard in company with 
Esch. 

Farel thus found himself stationed as it were at an 
advanced post. Behind him, Basle and Strasburg sup- 
ported him with their advice and their printing presses ; 
before him lay the provinces of Franche Comt^, Bur« 

* See voL L, p. 2. 



480 HISTORY OP THE REFOEMATIOBT. 



gnndy, Lorraine, the Lyonnais, and the rest of France, 
where men of God were beginning to struggle against 
error in the midst of profound darkness. He imme- 
diately began to preach Jesus Christ, and to exhort the 
faithful not to permit themselves to be turned aside 
from the holy Scriptures either by threats or strata- 
gems. Beginning, long before Calvin, the work that 
this reformer was to accomplish on a much larger scale, 
Farel was, at Montbeliard, like a general on a hill whose 
piercing eye glances over the field of battle, cheering 
those who are actively engaged with the enemy, rally- 
ing those ranks which the impetuosity of the charge has 
broken, and animating by his courage those who hang 
back.* Erasmus immediately wrote to his Roman-cath- 
olic friends, that a Frenchman, escaped from France, 
was making a great disturbance in these regions f 

FarePs labors were not unfruitful. " On every side,*^ 
wrote he to a fellow-countryman, **men are springing 
np who devote all their powers and their lives to extend 
Christ's kingdom as widely as possible."| The friends 
of the gospel gave thanks to God that his blessed word 
shone brighter every day in all parts of France. § The 
adversaries were astounded. " The faction wrote Eras- 
mus to the bishop of Rochester, "is spreading daily, and 
is penetrating Savoy, Lorraine, and France." || 

For some time Lyons appeared to be the centre of 
evangelical action within the kingdom, as Basle was 
without. Francis I., marching towards the south on an 
expedition against Charles V., had arrived in this city 

* This comparison is employed by one of FareVs friends during 
his stay at Montbeliard. Strenuum et oculatum imperatorum, qui 
lis etiam animum facias qui in acie versantur. Tossanus Farello, 
MS. in the conclave of Neufchatel, Sept. 2, 1524. f TumuU 

tuatur et Burgundia nobis proxima, par Phailicum quemdam Gal- 
ium qui e Gallia profugus. Er. Epp. p. 809. % SuppuUulare 
qui omnes conatus afferant, quo possit Christi regnum quam latis- 
Bime patere. Neufchatel MS., Aug. 2, 1524. § Quod in Gal* 
liis omnibus sacrosanctum Dei verbum in dies magis ac magig elu- 
cescat. Ibid. || Factio crescit in dies latius, propagata in 
Sabaudiam, Lothoringiam, Franciam. Exasra. Epp. > 809. 



jftAUG-ARET AT LYONS. 



481 



with his mother, his sister, and the court. Margaret 
brought with her many gentlemen devoted to the gos- 
pel. All other people she had removed from about her 
person," says a letter written at this time.* While 
Francis 1. was hurrying through Lyons an army com- 
posed of 14,000 Swiss, 6,000 French, and 1,500 lances 
of the nobility, to repel the invasion of the imperialists 
into Provence — while this great city reechoed with the 
noise of arms, the tramp of horses, and the sound of the 
trumpet, the friends of the gospel were marching to 
more peaceful conquests. They desired to attempt at 
Lyons what they had been unable to do at Paris. Per- 
haps, at a distance from the Sorbonne and from the par- 
liament, the word of God might have freer course. Per- 
haps the second city in the kingdom was destined to 
become the first for the gospei. Was it not there that 
about four centuries previously the excellent Peter 
Waldo had begun to proclaim the divine word ? Even 
then he had shaken all France. And now that God had 
prepared every thing for the emancipation of his church, 
might there not be hopes of more extended and more 
decisive success ? Thus the people of Lyons, who were 
not generally indeed poor men," as in the twelfth cen 
tury, were beginning more courageously to handle "the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 

Among those who surrounded Margaret was her 
almoner Michael d^Arande. The duchess caused the 
gospel to be publicly preached at Lyons ; and Master 
Michael proclaimed the word of God with courage and 
purity before a great number of hearers, attracted partly 
by the charm that attends the glad tidings wherever 
they are published, and partly also by the favor in 
wliich the preaching and the preacher were held by the 
king^s beloved sister.f 

Anthony Papillon, a man of highly cultivated mind, 
an elegant Latin scholar, a friend of Erasmus, "the first 

* De Sebville to Coct, Dec. 28, 1524. Neufchatel MS. 

t EUe a ung docteur de Paris appele maitre Michel, Elejmo 
anarius, lequel ne preche devant elle que purement r^vangilOt 
Ibid. 

nm.(itM, UL 3 ^ 



482 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



In France for knowledge of the gospel,"* accompanleit 
the princess also. At Margaret's request he had trans- 
lated Luther's work on monastic vows, "in conse- 
quence of which he had much ado with those Parisian 
vermin," says Sebville ;f but Margaret had protected 
Lim against the attacks of the Sorbonne, and procured 
bim the appointment of head-master of requests to the 
dauphin, with a seat in the great council.^ He was not 
less useful to the gospel by his devotedness than by his 
prudence. A merchant named Vaugris, and especially 
a gentleman named Anthony du Blet, a friend of FarePs, 
took the lead in the reformation at Lyons. The latter 
person, a man of great activity, served as a bond of 
union between the Christians scattered throughout those 
countries, and placed them in communication with Basle. 
While the armed hosts of Francis L had merely passed 
through Lyons, the spiritual soldiers of Jesus Christ 
halted there with Margaret ; and leaving the former to 
carry the war into Provence and the plains of Italy, they 
began the fight of the gospel in Lyons itself. 

But they did not confine their efforts to the city. 
They looked all around them ; the campaign was opened 
on several points at the same time ; and the Christians 
of Lyons encouraged by their exertions and their labors 
all those who confessed Christ in the surrounding prov- 
inces. They did more : they went and proclaimed it in 
places where it was as yet unknown. The new doctrine 
ascended the Saone, and an evangelist passed through 
the narrow and irregular streets of Macon. Michael 
d'Arande himself visited that place in 1524, and aided 
by Margaret's name, obtained permission to preach in 
this city,§ which was destined at a later period to be 
filled with blood, and become for ever memorable for its 
sauteries,\\ 

• Neufchatel MS. f Ibid. t Ibid. § Arandiua 

prSche a Mascon. Coct to Farel, December, 1524 Ibid. 

II After the taking of Macon in 1562, the governor St. Pont 
amused the dissolute women who were invited to his table, by 
taking several Huguenots from prison and compelling them to 
leajp (sauter) from the bridge over the Saone into the river. It is 



8EBVILLE AT G-RENOBLE. 



483 



After exploring the districts of the Saone, the Chris 
tianR of Lyons, ever on the watch, extended their incur- 
sions in the direction of the Alps. There was at Lyons 
a Dominican named Maigret, who had been compelled to 
quit Dauphiny, where he had boldly preached the new 
doctrine, and who earnestly requested that some one 
xould go and encourage his brethren of Grenoble and 
iJap. Papillon and Du Blet repaired thither.* A violent 
atorm had just broken out there against Sebville and his 
preachings. The Dominican® had moved heaven and 
earth ; and maddened at seeing so many evangelists 
escape them — as Farel, Anemond, and Maigret — they 
would fain have crushed tho^e who remained within their 
reach.f They therefore called for Sebville's arrest.J 

The friends of the gospel in Grenoble were alarmed ; 
must Sebville also be taken from them ? . . . . Marga- 
ret interceded with her brother ; many of the most dis- 
tinguished personages at Grenoble, the king's advocate 
among others, open or secret friends to the gospel, ex- 
erted themselves in behalf of the evangelical Grayfriar, 
and at length their united efforts rescued him from the 
fury of his adversaries. § 

But if Sebville's life was saved, his mouth was stop- 
ped. " Remain silent," said they, " or you will be led 
to the scaffold." " Silence has been imposed upon me," 
he wrote to Anemond de Coct, under pain of death."|| 
These threats alarmed even those of whom the most 

added that he did not confine his savage cruelty to the Huguenots, 
but would seize other persons, untainted with heresy, and put them 
to the same inhuman death. * II y a eu deux grands per- 

sonages a Grenoble. Neufchatel MS. The title of Messire, given 
(o Du Blet in Coct's letter, indicates a person of rank. I am in- 
)lined to think that the epithet negotiator ^ elsewhere applied to 
aim refers to his activity; it is possible, however, that he may 
have been a great merchant of Lyons. f Conjicere potes ut 

post Macretum et me in Sebivillam exarserint Anemond to Farel, 
Sept. 7, 1524. Neufchatel MS. J Les Thomistes ont voulu 

proc^der centre moi par inquisition et caption de personne. Letter 
from Sebville Ibid. § Si ce ne fut certains amis secrets, j€ 

estois mis entre les mains des Fharisiens. Ibid. U Ibid. 



484 HISTORT OP THE REFORMATIO!! 



favorable hopes had been entertained. The king^s advo 
cate and other friends of the gospel now showed nothing 
but coldness.* Many returned to the Romish worship, 
pretending to adore God secretly in their hearts, aud to 
give a spiritual signification to the outward observances 
of Romanism — a melancholy delusion, leading from infi- 
delity to infidelity. There is no hypocrisy that cannot 
l>e justified in the same manner. The unbeliever, by 
means of his systems of myths and allegories, will 
preach Christ from the Christian pulpit ; and a philoso- 
pher will be able, by a little ingenuity, to find in an 
abominable superstition among the pagans, the type of 
a pure and elevated idea. In religion, the first thing is 
truth. Some of the Grenoble Christians, among whom 
were Amadeus Galbert, and a cousin of Anemond's, still 
clung fast to their faith.f These pious men would meet 
secretly with Sebville at each other's houses, and talk 
together about the gospel. They repaired to some se- 
cluded spot ; they visited some brother by night ; or met 
in secret to pray to Christ, as thieves lurking for a guilty 
purpose. Often would a false alarm disturb the humble 
assembly. The adversaries consented to wink at these 
secret conventicles ; but they had sworn that the stake 
should be the lot of any one who ventured to speak of 
the word of God in public.^ 

Such was the state of affairs when Du Blet and Pa- 
pillon arrived at Grenoble. Finding that Sebville had 
been silenced, they exhorted him to go and preach the 
gospel at Lyons. The Lent of the following year would 
present a favorable opportunity for proclaiming the gos- 
pel to a numerous crowd. Michael d'Arande, Maigiet, 
and Sebville, proposed to fight at the head of the gospel 
army. Every thing was thus preparing for a striking 
manifestation of evangelical truth in the second city of 
France. The rumor of this evangelical Lent extended 
as far as Switzerland. " Sebville is free, and will preach 
the Lent sermons at St. PauPs in Lyons," wrote Ane- 

* Non solum tepidi sed frigidi. Neufchatel MS. f Tuo 

cognaio, Amedeo Galberto exceptis. Ibid. J Mala de en pai* 
to publiquement, il n'y pend que le feu Ibid. 



HAiaRET IMPRISONED. 



485 



mond to Farel.* But a great disaster, which threw all 
France into confusion, intervened and prevented this 
spiritual combat. It is during peace that the conquests 
of the gospel are achieved. The defeat of Pavia, which 
took place in the month of February, disconcerted the 
daring project of the reformers. 

Meantime, without waiting for Sebville, Maigret had 
begun early in the winter to preach salvation by Jesus 
Christ alone, in despite of the strenuous opposition of 
the priests and monks of Lyons.f In these sermons 
there was not a word of the worship of the creature, 
of saints, of the Virgin, of the power of the priesthood. 
The great mystery of godliness, " God manifest in the 
flesn,^ was alone proclaimed. The old heresies of the 
poor men of Lyons are reappearing, it was said, and in 
a more dangerous form than ever. But notwithstanding 
this opposition, Maigret continued his ministry ; the 
faith that animated his soul found utterance in words 
of power : it is in the nature of truth to embolden the 
hearts of those who have received it. Yet Rome was 
destined to prevail at Lyons as at Grenoble. Maigret 
was arrested, notwithstanding Margaret's protection, 
dragged through the streets, and cast into prison. The 
merchant Vaugris, who then quitted the city on his road 
to Switzerland, spread the news everywhere on his pas- 
sage. All were astonished and depressed. One thought, 
howeeer, gave confidence to the friends of the Reforma- 
tion : "Maigret is taken," said they, *^h\it Madame d^Alenr 
^on is there ; praised be God^X 

It was not long before they were compelled to re- 
ounce even this hope. The Sorbonne had condemned 
several of this faithful minister's propositions. § Marga- 
ret, whose position became daily more difficult, found 
the boldness of the partisans of the Reformation and the 
hatred of the powerful increasing side by side. Francis 
I. began to grow impatient at the zeal of these evange- 

♦ Le samedi des Quatre-Temps. Dec, 1524. Neufchatel MS. 

t Pour vray Maigret a prech6 a Lion, maulgre les pretres et 
moines. Ibid. % Ibid. § Histoire de Francois L pM 

Graillard, 4. 233. ^ 



486 HISTORY OF THE RBPORMATIOlf 



lists : he looked upon them as mere fanati(;s, whom it 
was good policy to repress. Margaret, thus fluctuat- 
ing between desire to serve her brethren and her inabil- 
ity to protect them, sent them word to avoid running 
into fresh dangers, as she could no longer intercede with 
the king in their favor. The friends of the gospel be- 
lieved that this determination was not irrevocable. " God 
has given her grace," said they, "to say and write only 
what is necessary to poor souls."* But if this human 
support is taken away, Christ still remains. It is well 
that the soul should be stripped of all other protection, 
that it may rely upon God alone. 

* Peter Toiusa&int to Farel, Basle, Dec. 17, 1624. Neufcbatel 



FKENGH At BASLS 



487 



CHAPTER XII. 

The French at Basle — Encouragement of the Swiss — Fears of die- 
cord — Translating and printing at Basle — Bibles and tracts dis- 
seminated in France. 

The exertions of the friends of the gospel in Franco 
were paralyzed. The men in power were beginning to 
show their bcsiililylo Christianity; Margaret was grow- 
ing alarmed ; teiiible news would soon be coming across 
the Alps and plunging the nation into mourning, filling 
it with one thought only — of saving the king, of saving 
France. But if the Christians of Lyons were checked in 
their labors, were there not soldiers at Basle who had 
escaped from the battle, and who were ready to begin 
the fight again? The exiles from France have never 
forgotten her. Driven from their country for nearly 
three centuries by the fanaticism of Rome, their latest 
descendants have been seen carrying to the cities and 
fields of their ancestors those treasures of which the 
pope still deprives them.* At the very moment when 
the soldiers of Christ in France were mournfully laying 
down their arms, the refugees at Basle were preparing 
for the combat. As they saw the monarchy of St. Louis 
and of Charlemagne falling from the hands of Francis 
I., shall they not feel urged to lay hold of "a kingdom 
which cannot be moved V Heb. 12 : 28. 

Farel, Anemond, Esch, Toussaint, and their friends, 
formed an evangelical society in Switzerland with the 
view of rescuing their country from its spiritual dark- 
ness. Intelligence reached them from every quarter 
that there was an increasing thirst for God's word in 
France ;f it was desirable to take advantage of this, 

• The general committee of the Evangelical Society of Geneva, 
which sends a hundred missionaries and colporteurs into France, ia 
composed almost entirely of the descendants of French refugees. 

t Gall is verborum Dei sitientibus. Coct to Farel, Sept. 2, 1524« 
Neafchatel MS. 



488 HISTORY OP THE REFOH^ATIOlr 



and to water and sow while it was yet seed-time. OSco 
lampadius, Zwingle, and Oswald Myconius, were contin* 
ually exhorting them to do this, giving the right hand 
of fellowship, and communicating to them a portion of 
their own faith. In January, 1525, the Swiss school* 
master wrote to the French chevalier: "Banished as 
you are from your country by the tyranny of antichrist, 
even your presence among us proves that you have act- 
ed boldly in the cause of the gospel. The tyranny of 
Christian bishops will at length induce the people to 
look upon them as deceivers. Stand firm ; the time is 
not far distant when we shall enter the haven of repose, 
whether we be struck down by our tyrants, or they them- 
selves be struck down ;* all then will be well with us, 
provided we have been faithful to Christ Jesus." 

These encouragements were of great value to the 
French refugees ; but a blow inflicted by these very 
Christians of Switzerland and Germany, who sought to 
cheer them, cruelly wrung their hearts. Recently es- 
caped from the scaffold or the burning pile, they saw 
with dismay the evangelical Christians on the other side 
of the Rhine disturbing the repose they enjoyed by their 
lamentable differences. The discussions on the Lord's 
supper had begun. Deeply moved and agitated, feeling 
strongly the necessity of brotherly unity, the French 
would have made every sacrifice to conciliate these di- 
vided sentiments This became their leading idea. At 
the epoch of the Reformation, none had greater need 
than they of Christian unity ; of this Calvin was after- 
wards a proof. " Would to God that I might purchase 
peace, concord, and union in Jesus Christ at the cost of 
my life, which in truth is of little worth," said Peter 
Toussaint.f The French, whose discernment was cor- 
rect and prompt, saw immediately that these rising dis- 
sensions would check the work of the Reformation. " All 
things would go on more prosperously than many per 
sons imagine, if we were but agreed amon^ ourselves. 

• Non long^ abest enim, quo in por^um tranquillum p«rve«ua» 
mus, eto. Obw. Myo. to Coot. Neufchatel MS. t Ibid^ Dea 
£1, 1526. 



ZEAL OF THE FUENCH. 



489 



Numbers would gladly come to the light ; but when 
they see these divisions among the learned, they stand 
hesitating and confused.''* 

The French were the first to suggest conciliatory 
advances. "Why," wrote they from Strasburg, *4s not 
Bucer or some other learned man sent to Luther ? The 
longer we wait the greater will these dissensions be* 
come.''^ Their fears grew stronger every day.f At 
length, finding all their exertions of no avail, these 
Christians mournfully turned their eyes away from Ger- 
many, and fixed them solely upon France. 

France, the conversion of France, thenceforth exclu- 
sively occupied the hearts of these generous men, whom 
history, that has inscribed on her pages the names of so 
many individuals vainly pufied up with their own glory, 
has for three centuries passed over in silence. Thrown 
on a foreign land, they fell on their knees, and daily, in 
silence and obscurity, invoked God in behalf of the coun- 
try of their forefathers. J Prayer was the power by 
which the gospel spread through the kingdom, and the 
great instrument by which the conquests of the Refor- 
mation were gained. 

But these Frenchmen were not merely men of prayer : 
never has the evangelical army contained combatants 
more ready to sacrifice their lives in the day of battle. 
They felt the importance of scattering the holy Scriptures 
and pious books in their country, still overshadowed 
with the gloom of superstition. A spirit of inquiry was 
breathing over the whole kingdom : it seemed necessary 
on all sides to spread the sails to the wind. Anemond, 
ever prompt in action, and Michael Bencin, a refugee 
like himself, resolved to unite their zeal, their talents, 
their resources, and their labors. Bentin wished to 
establish a printing press at Basle, and the chevalier, 
to profit by the little German he knew, to translate the 

• Neufchatel MS., Dec. 21, 1525. f Multis jam christianifi 

Gallis dolet, quod a Zwinglii aliorumque de Eucharistia Bententia 
dissentiat Lutherus. Toussaint to Farel, July 14, 1525. 

} Quam soUicit^ quotidianis precibus commeudem. Ibid., Sep^ 

1624, Neufchatel MS. 



490^ HISTORY OP THE REFORMAliON 



best works of the reformers into French. " Oh,'^ said 
they, rejoicing in their plans, "would to God that France 
were filled with evangelical volumes, so that every- 
where, in the cottages of the poor, in the palaces of the 
nobles, in cloisters and presbyteries, nay, in the inmost 
sanctuary of the heart, a powerful testimony might be 
borne to the grace of Jesus Christ."* 

Funds were necessary for such an undertaking, and 
the refugees had nothing. Vaugris was then at Basle : 
on his departure Anemond gave him a letter for the 
brethren of Lyons, many of whom abounded in the riches 
of this world, and who, although oppressed, were faith- 
ful to the gospel ; he requested them to send him some 
assistance ;f but that did not suflBce ; the French wish- 
ed to establish several presses at Basle, that should be 
worked night and day, so as to inundate France with 
the word of God.J At Meaux, at Metz, and in other 
places, were men rich and powerful enough to support 
this enterprise. No one could address Frenchmen with 
so much authority as Farel himself, and it was to him 
that Anemond applied.§ 

It does not appear that the chevalier's project was 
realized, but the work was done by others. The presses 
of Basle were constantly occupied in printing French 
works ; they were forwarded to Farel, and by him in- 
troduced into France with unceasing activity. One of 
the first writings sent by this religious tract society was 
Luther's Explanation of the Lord^s Prayer. **We are 
retailing the Fater at four deniers of Basle each," wrote 
Vaugris to Farel, " but we sell them wholesale at the 
rate of two florins the two hundred, which comes to 
something less."|| 

Anemond sent to Farel from Basle all the useful 

• Opto enim Galliam Evangelicis voluminibus abundare. Ooct 
to Farel, Neufchatel MS. f Ut pecuniae aliquid ad me miicaut 
Ibid. t Ut praela multa crigere possimus. Ibid. 

§ An censes inveniri posse Lugdunae, Meldae, aut alibi in Galliia 
qui nos ad hsec juvare veiint. Ibid. || Vaugris to Farel, Baale, 
Aug. 29, 1524, Neufchatel MS. The value of the florin is about U 
?d sterling. 



KEW TESTAMENT TRANSLATED, 491 



books that appeared or that arrived from Germany ; at 
one time a work on the appointment of gospel minis- 
ters, at another a treatise on the education of children.* 
Farel examined these works ; he composed, translated 
or got others to translate them into French, and seemed 
at one and the same time entirely devoted to active exer- 
tions and to the labors of the study. Anemond urged 
on and superintended the printing ; and these epistles, 
prayers, books, and broadsheets, were the means of the 
regeneration of the age. While profligacy descended 
from the throne, and darkness from the steps of the altar, 
these unnoticed writings alone diffused throughout ihe 
nation beams of light and seeds of holiness. 

But it was especially God's word that the evangeli- 
cal merchant of Lyons was calling for in the name of 
his fellow-countrymen. These people of the sixteenth 
century, so hungering for intellectual food, were to re- 
ceive in their own tongue those ancient monuments of 
the first ages of the world, in which the new breath of 
primitive humanity respires, and those holy oracles of 
the gospel times in which shines forth the fulness of the 
revelation of Christ. Vaugris wrote to Farel, "I be- 
seech you, if possible, to have the New Testament trans- 
lated by some person who can do it efficiently : it would 
be a great blessing for France, Burgundy, and Savoy. 
And if you want proper type, I will have some brought 
from Paris or Lyons ; but if there be any good types at 
Basle, it will be all the better." 

Lefevre had already published at Meaux, but in de- 
tached portions, the books of the New Testament m 
French. Vaugris wished for some one to revise it thor- 
oughly, and to superintend a complete edition. Lefevre 
undertook to do so, and he published it, as we have 
already seen, on the I2th of October, 1524. An uncle 
of Vaugris named Conrad, also a refugoe at Basle, im- 
mediately procured a copy. The chevalier Coct happen- 
ing to be at a friend's house on the 18th of November, 

* Mitto tibi librum de instituendis ministris ecclesiae, cun? librc 
de inBtituondls pueris. Coct to Farel, September 2, 1524. Neaf^ 
9batel MS. 



492 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



there saw the book, and was filled with joy. " Lose no 
time in reprinting it," said he, "for I doubt not a great 
number will be called for."* 

Thus was the word of God offered to France in oppo- 
rition to the traditions of the church, which Rome still 
continue s to present to her. " How can we distinguisb 
what is of man in your traditions, and what is of God,* 
said the reformers, " except by the Scriptures of God ? 
The maxims of the fathers, the decretals of the pontiffs, 
cannot be the rule of our faith. They show us what 
was the opinion of these old doctors ; but the word alone 
teaches us what is the judgment of God. We must sub- 
mit every thing to the rule of Scripture." 

Such were the principal means by which these writ- 
ings were circulated. Farel and his friends consigned 
the books to certain pedlars or colporteurs^ simple and 
pious men, who, laden with their precious burden, passed 
from town to town, from village to village, and from 
house to house, in Franche Comtd, Lorraine, Burgundy, 
and the adjoining provinces, knocking at every door. 
They procured the books at a low rate, "that they might 
be the more eager to sell them."f Thus as early as 1524 
there existed in Basle a Bible society, a tract society, 
and an association of colporteurs, for the benefit ot 
France. It is a mistake to conceive that these efforts 
date only from our own age ; they go back in essentials 
not only to the times of the Reformation, but still furthel 
to the primitive ages of the church. 

* Nenfohaiel MS. t VauKris to Farel. Nenfohatel MS. 



»OaE£SS AT MOKTBELUED. 493 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

Progress at Montbeliard — Resistance and commotion — Tonssaint 
leares CEcolampadius — The image of St. Anthony — Death of 
Anemond — Strasburg — ^Lambert's letter to Francis I. — Succes- 
sive defeats. 

The attention which Farel bestowed on Prance did 
not divert his attention from the place where he was 
residing. Arriving at Montbeliard about the end of 
July, 1524, he had hardly sown the seed, before the 
first fruits of the harvest — to use the words of CEcolam- 
padius — began to appear. Parol wrote to his friend 
with great exultation. " It is an easy thing,'' replied 
the doctor of Basle, "to instil a few dogmas into the 
ears of our auditors ; but to change their hearts is in 
the power of God alone."* 

The chevalier de Coct, delighted with this intelli- 
gence, ran with his usual vivacity to Peter Toussaint. 
" I shall set off to-morrow to visit Parol," said he has- 
tily. Toussaint, more calm, was writing to the evange- 
list of Montbeliard : "Be careful," said he to Parol ; "you 
are engaged in an important cause ; it must not be pol- 
luted by the counsels of men. The mighty ones promise 

you their favor, their support, and heaps of gold 

But to put your trust in these things, is deserting Christ 
and walking in darkness."f Toussaint was finishing 
this letter when the chevalier entered ; the latter took 
it, and departed for Montbeliard. 

He found the city in great commotion. Many of the 
aobles were alarmed, and said as they looked contemptu- 
jUBly at Parol, "What does this sorry fellow want with 
as ? Would to God he had never come. He cannot stay 
here, for he will ruin us all, as well as himself." The 

* Animum autem immutare, divinum opus est. CEcolam. Epp. 
p. 200. t A quibufi si peixdemus« jam a Christo defecimua 

Neufchatel MS. 



« 



494 HISTORY OF THE REFORMAIIOU. 



lords who had taken refuge with the duke at Montbe 
Hard, feared that the disturbance which everywhere 
accompanied the Reformation would attract the atten- 
tion of Ferdinand and Charles Y., and that they would 
be expelled from their last asylum. But it was the 
clergy in particular who resisted Farel. The superior 
of the Franciscans of Besan9on had hastened to Montbe- 
Uard, and formed a plan of defence in conjunction with 
the clergy of the place. On the following Sunday, Farel 
had hardly begun to preach before they interrupted him, 
calling him liar and heretic. In an instant the whole 
assembly was in an uproar. The audience rose up, and 
called for silence. The duke hurried to the spot, seized 
both Farel and the superior, and ordered the latter 
either to prove ot to retract his charges. The Francis- 
can adopted the last alternative, and an oflBcial account 
of the whole affair was published.* 

This attack excited Farel all the more ; he thought 
it was now his duty to unmask without scruple those 
interested priests ; and drawing the sword of the word, 
he plied it vigorously. He was more inclined to imitate 
Jesus when lie expelled the money-changers from the 
temple and overthrew their tables, than when the spirit 
of prophecy declared of him, "He shall neither strive 
nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the 
streets " (Ecolampadius was affrighted. These two 
men were perfect types of two characters diametrically 
opposed to each other, and yet both worthy of admira- 
tion '^You were sent," wrote (Ecolampadius to Farel, 
**to draw men gently to the truth, and not to drag them 
with violence ; to spread the gospel, and not to curse 
them. Physicians resort to amputation only when other 
means have failed. Act the part of a physician, and not 
of an executioner. It is not enough, in my opinion, to 
be gentle towards the friends of the gospel ; you must 
likewise gain over the adversaries. If the wolves are 
di'iven from the sheepfold, let the sheep at least hear 
the voice of the ghepherd. Pour oil and wine into the 

* Der Christliche Handel zu, Miimpelgard, verloffen mit grand' 
lioher Wahrheit. 



CONSPIRACY AGAINST TOUSSAINT. 4&5 



wounds, and conduct yourself as an evangelist, not as 
a judge or a tyrant."* 

The report of these labors spread into France and 
Lorraine, and the Sorbonne and the cardinal Guise were 
beginning to be alarmed at this meeting of refugees at 
Basle and Montbeliard. They would willingly have 
broken up a troublesome alliance ; for error knows no 
greater triumph than when attracting some deserter to 
its standard. Already had Martial Mazurier and others 
given the papal party in France an opportunity of re- 
joicing over shameful defections ; but if they could suc- 
ceed in seducing one of these confessors of Christ who 
had taken refuge on the banks of the Rhine, and who 
had suffered so much for the name of the Lord, how 
great would be the victory for the Roman hierarchy. 
They therefore planted their batteries, and the youngest 
of these refugees was the object of their attack. 

The dean, the cardinal of Lorraine, and all those who 
joined the crowded meetings held in this prelate's man- 
sion, deplored the sad fate of Peter Toussaint, who had 
once promised so fair. He is at Basle, said they, in the 
house of (Ecolampadius, living with one of the leaders 
of this heresy. They wrote to him with fervor, and as 
if they would rescue him from eternal condemnation 
These letters were the more painful to the young man, 
because he could not help recognizing in them the marks 
of sincere affection. f One of his relations, probably the 
dean himself, urged him to remove to Paris, to Metz, or 
to any other place in the world, provided it were far 
away from these Lutherans. This relation, bearing in 
mind all that Toussaint owed to him, doubted not that 
he would immediately comply; but when he found his 
efforts useless, his affection changed into violent hatred. 
At the same time this resistance exasperated the whole 
family and all his friends against the young refugee. 
They went to his mother, who was "under the power oi 

* Quod Evangelistam, non tyrannicum legislatorera praestes. 
(Ecol. Epp. p. 206. t ^6 ill <ii6s divexari legendis amicorum 

Uteris qui me ... , ab Instituto remorari nituntur. Touwaiut to 
Farel, Sept. 2, 1524, Neulchatel M& 



496 



HISTORY OP THK REFOEMATION. 



the monks the priests crowded round her, frightei^ 
ing and persuading her that her son had committed 
crimes that they could not mention without shuddering. 
Upon this the afflicted mother wrote a touching letter 
to her son, "full of weeping/' said he, and in which she 
described her misery in heart-rending language. "0 
wretched mother," said she ; "0 unnatural son, cursed 
be the breasts that suckled thee, and the knees that bare 
thee l"t 

The unhappy Toussaint was distracted : what should 
he do? He could not return into France. By leaving 
Basle and going to Zurich or Wittemberg, beyond the 
reach of his family, he would only add to their sorrow. 
(Ecolampadius advised a middle course : "Leave my 
house," said he.J With a heart full of sadness, he adopt- 
ed the suggestion, and went to live with an ignorant 
and obscure priest, § one well adapted to reassure his 
relations. What a change for Toussaint 1 He never 
met his host save at meals, at which times they were 
continually discussing matters of faith ; and as soon as 
the repast was over, Toussaint retired to his chamber, 
where alone, far from noise and controversy, he care 
fully studied the word of God. " The Lord is my wit- 
ness," said he, " that in this valley of tears I have but 
one desire, that of seeing Christ's kingdom extended, so 
that all with one mouth may glorify God."|| 

One circumstance occurred which consoled Tous- 
saint. The enemies of the gospel were daily growing 
stronger in Metz. At his entreaty, the chevalier d'Esch 
departed, in the month of January, 1525, to encourage 
the evangelical Christians in this city. He traversed 
the forests of the Yosges, and reached the place where 
Leclerc had laid down his life, carrying with him sev- 
eral books with which Farel had provided him.^f 

* Jam capulo proxima. Neufchatel MS. f Literas ad me 

dedit plenas lacrymis quibus maledicit et uberibus quae me lactttr 
runt, etc. Ibid. t Visum est (Ecolampadio consultum . . , 

Ut a 86 secederem. Ibid. § Utor domo cujusdam sacrificuli 

Ibid. jl Ut Christi reguum quam latissime pateat. Ibid. 

t Qu'il B^en retourne a Metz, la ou les eanemis de Dim s'^l^ 



BE COCT AND PAREL. 



497 



It was not only to Lorraine that these Frenchmen 
turned their eyes. The chevalier de Coct received let 
ters from one of ParePs brothers, depicting the state of 
Dauphiny in the gloomiest colors. He carefully avoided 
showing them, lest he should alarm the weak-hearted 
and was content with ardently seeking from God the 
support of his almighty hands.* In December, 1524, 
Peter Verrier, a Dauphinese messenger, arrived on horse- 
back at Montbeliard with commissions for Anemond and 
Farel. The chevalier, with his usual vivacity, imme- 
diately resolved on returning to France. " If Peter has 
brought any money," wrote he to Parol, "keep it ; if he 
has brought any letters, open and copy them, and then 
forward them to me. Do not, however, sell the horse, 
but take care of it, for perchance I may need it. I am 
inclined to enter Prance secretly, and go to Jacobus 
Faber (Lefevre) and Arandius. Write and tell me what 
you think of it."f 

Such was the confidence and open-heartedness that 
existed between these refugees. The one opened the 
other's letters, and received his money. It is true that 
de Coct was already indebted thirty-six crowns to Parel, 
whose purse was always open to his friends. There was 
more zeal than discretion in the chevalier's desire to re- 
enter Prance. He was of too imprudent a character not 
to expose himself to certain death. This Parel no doubt 
explained to him. He left Basle, and withdrew to a small 
town, where he had " great hopes of acquiring the Ger* 
man language, God willing."^ 

Parel continued preaching the gospel in Montbeliard. 
His soul was vexed as he beheld the majority of the peo- 
ple in this city entirely given up to the worship of im- 
ages. It was, in his opinion, a revival of the old pagan 
idolatry. 

Yet the exhortations of CEcolampadius, and the fear 

rent journellement centre rl^vangile. Toussaint tc Farel, Dec. 17, 
1624, Neufchatel MS. * Accepi ante horam a fratre tuo episto* 
lam quam hie nuUi manifestavi, terrerentur enim infirmi. Coct to 
Farel, Sept. 2, 1524. f Ibid., Dec. 1625, Neufchatel MS. 

t Ibid., January. 1525. 

22 



498 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



of compromising the truth, would perhaps have long re» 
strained him, but for an unforeseen circumstance One 
day about the end of February — it was the feast of St. 
Anthony — Farel was walking on the banks of a little 
river that runs through the city, beneath a lofty rock on 
which the citadel is built, when, on reaching the bridgOi 
he met a procession, which was crossing it, reciting 
prayers to St. Anthony, and headed by two priests bear^ 
ing the image of this saint. Farel suddenly found him* 
self face to face with these superstitions, without, how- 
ever, having sought for them. A violent struggle took 
place in his soul. Shall he give way? shall he hide him- 
self? Would not this be a cowardly act of unbelief? 
These lifeless images, borne on the shoulders of igno- 
rant priests, made his blood boil. Farel boldly advanced, 
snatched the shrine of the holy hermit from the priest's 
arms, and threw it over the bridge into the river. And 
then, turning to the awe-stricken crowd, he exclaimed, 
"Poor idolaters, will ye never forsake your idolatry?"* 

The priests and people stood motionless with aston- 
ishment. A religious fear seemed to rivet them to the 
spot. But they soon recovered from their stupor. "The 
image is drowning," exclaimed one of the crowd ; and 
transports and shouts of rage succeeded their deathlike 
silence. The multitude would have rushed on the sacri- 
legious wretch who had just thrown the object of their 
adoration into the water. But Farel, we know not how, 
escaped their violence.f 

There is reason, we are aware, to regret that the 
reformer should have been hurried into the commission 
of an act that tended rather to check the progress of the 
truth. No one should think himself authorized to attack 
with violence any institution sanctioned by the public 
authority. There is, however, in the zeal of the reformer 
something jiore noble than that cold prudence so com- 

• Revue du Dauphine. 2. p. 38 ; Choupard MS. f M. Kircb- 
hDfer, in his Life of Jarel, gives this circumstance as an uncertain 
tradition ; but it is related by Protestant writers, and it appears to 
me quite in harmony with Farel's character and the fears of Qicolam* 
padius. Wc must not be blind to the weaknesses of tlie refornaar^. 



> 



PSATH OF ANEMOKB. 



49» 



mon among men, which shrinks before the least danger, 
and fears to make the least sacrifice for the advancement 
of God's kingdom. Farel was not ignorant that by this 
proceeding he was exposing himself to the fate of Le- 
clerc. But his own conscience bore witness that he 
desired only to promote the glory of God, and this mado 
him superior to all fear. 

After this affair of the bridge, which is a character- 
istic feature in Farel's history, the reformer was obliged 
to hide himself, and he quitted the town soon after. He 
took refuge at Basle with (Ecolampadius, but ever pre- 
served that attachment for Montbeliard which a servant 
of God never ceases to entertain for the first fruits of 
his ministry.* 

Sad tidings awaited Farel at Basle. If he was a fugi 
tive, his friend Anemond de Coct was seriously ill. Farel 
immediately sent him four gold crowns ; but a letter 
written by Oswald Myconius on the 25th of March, an- 
nounced the death of the chevalier. " Let us so live,*^ 
said Oswald, "that we may enter into that rest into which 
we hope the soul of Anemond has already entered."f 

Thus did Anemond descend to a premature grave ; 
still young, full of activity and strength, willing to 
undertake every labor to evangelize France, and in 
himself a host. " God's ways are not our ways.'' Not 
long before, and in the neighborhood of Zurich, another 
chevalier, XJlrich Hiitten, had breathed his last. There 
is some similarity in the characters of the German and 
French knights, but the piety and Christian virtues of 
the Dauphinese place him far above the witty and in- 
trepid enemy of the pope and of the monks. 

Shortly after Anemond's death, Farel, unable to re- 
main in Basle, whence he had been once banished, joined 
his friends Capito and Bucer at Strasburg. 

Strasburg, an imperial city, at whose head was Sturm, 
one uf the most distinguished men in Germany, and which 
contained many celebrated doctors within its walls, was 

♦ Ingens affectu8, qui me cogit Mumpelgardum amare. FarelU 
Epp. t Quo Anemundi spiritum jam pervenisse speramaa 

Myconius to Farel, Nei^fchatel MS. 



500 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION 



as it were an advanced post of the Reformation, thrown 
beyond the Rhine, and in which the persecuted Chris 
tians of France and Lorraine took refuge, and from 
whence they hoped to win these countries to the gos» 
pel of Jesus Christ. Lambert's pious ambition was to 
become for France what Luther was for Germany ; and 
accordingly he had no sooner reached Strasburg after 
quitting Metz, than he made his preparations, waiting 
for the moment when he should be enabled to carry tho 
sword of the gospel into the very heart of that country 
which he loved so tenderly.* 

He first appealed to Francis L "The pope," said he, 
" if he had his way, would change every king into a beg- 
gar. Lend your ear to the truth, most excellent prince, 
and God will make you great among the princes of the 
earth. Woe be to all the nations whose master is the 
pope. 0 Avignon, city of my birth, art thou not the 
wretched daughter of Babylon? Given over to a legate, 
not of holiness, but of impiety and heresy,f thou seest 
lewd sports, immodest dances, and adultery multiply 
within thy walls, and all around thy fields are laid 
waste by daily hunting parties, and thy poor laborers 
oppressed. 

"0 most Christian king, thy people thirst for the 
word of God." At the same time addressing the pope, 
he said, Erelong that powerful France which thou art 
wont to call thy arm will separate from thee."J Such 
were Lambert's illusions. 

Finding that his epistle had produced no effect, he 
wrote a second in a still more earnest tone. " What," 
said he, "the Arabians, Chaldeans, Greeks, and Jews 
possess the word of God in their own language, and the 
French, Germans, Italians, and Spaniards cannot have 
it in theirs. Let God but speak to the nations in the 

• Hie operior donee ad ipsos Metenses aut in aliquam nrbem 
Galliae revoces. Ad Franc. Reg. Comment, m Cantie. 

t Ab haeresis et impietatis latere legatum. Epistola ad Fran* 
cificum G. R. praef. Comm. de Sacra conjugis. t ^^st autexn 

Ip proximo ut aliena fiat a te potens Gallia quam brachium tump 
appellare solebas. De Causis Excusationis, p. 76* 



SUCCESSIVE DEFEATS. 



501 



langnage of the people, and the empire of pride will 
crumble into dust.''* 

These anticipations were not realized. At Montbe- 
liard and Basle, as at Lyons, the ranks of the reformers 
had suflTered. Some of the most devoted combatants had 
l>een taken off by death, others by persecution and exile. 
In vain did the warriors of the gospel mount everywhere 
to the assault ; everywhere they were beaten back. But 
if the forces they had concentrated, first at Meaux, then 
at Lyons, and afterwards at Basle, were dispersed in suc- 
cession, there still remained combatants here and there, 
who in Lorraine, at Meaux, and even in Paris, struggled 
more or less openly to uphold the word oi God in France. 
Though the Reformation saw its column? broken, it still 
had its isolated champions. Against these the Sorbonne 
and the parliament were about to turn their anger. 
They would not have remaining on the soil of France a 
single one of these noble-minded men who had under- 
taken to plant in it the standard of Jesus Christ ; and 
unheard of misfortunes seemed now to be conspiring 
with the enemies of the Reformation, and to aid them in 
the accomplishment of their task. 

* Spist ad Fraoo. B. Pnsf. Commeat. in Cantio. Cantla 



502 HISTOET OF THE REFOEKATIOH. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Franclf made prisoner at Pavia — ^Reaction against the Eeformation 
— Margaret's anxiety for her brother — Louisa consults the Sor- 
bonne — Commission against the heretics — Bri^onnet brought to 
trial — ^Appeal to the parliament — Fall — Recantation — Lefevre 
accused — Condemnation and flight — Lefevre atStrasburg — Louis 
Berquin imprisoned — Erasmus attacked — Schuch at Nancy — Hia 
martyrdom — Struggle with Caroli — Sorrow of Pavanne — His 
martyrdom — A Christian hermit — Concourse at Notre Dame. 

During the latter period of FarePs sojourn at Mont- 
beliard, great events were passing on the theatre of the 
world. Lannoy and Pescara, Charles' generals, having 
quitted France on the approach of Francis I., this prince 
had crossed the Alps, and blockaded Favia. On the 24th 
of February, 1625, he was attacked by Pescara. Bon- 
nivet, La Tremouille, Palisse, and Lescure died fighting 
round their sovereign. The duke of Alen9on, Margaret's 
husband, the first prince of the blood, had fled with the 
rear-guard, and gone to die of shame and grief at Ly- 
ons ; and Francis, thrown from his horse, had surren- 
dered his sword to Charles Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, 
who received it kneeling. The king of France was pris- 
oner to the emperor. His captivity seemed the greatest 
of misfortunes. "Nothing is left me but honor and life/' 
wrote the king to his mother. But no one felt a keener 
Borrow than Margaret. The glory of her country tar- 
nished, France without a monarch and exposed to the 
greatest dangers, her beloved brother the captive of his 
haughty enemy, her husband dishonored and dead. . . , 
What bitter thoughts were these ! . . . . But she had a 
comforter ; and while her brother to console himself 
rep'^ated, " Tout est perdu^ fors Vhonneur^ All is lost save 
honor," she was able to say, 

Fors J6sus seul, mon frere, fils de Dieu I* 
*<Save Christ alone, dear Brother, Son of God 1" 

* Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, 1. 29. 



MARaARET TO MONTMORENCY. 503 



Margaret thought that in the hour of trial Francis 
might receive the word of God. A few months before, 
the king had already betrayed religious sentiments on 
the death of his daughter the princess Charlotte. The 
duchess of Alen9on, having concealed the child's sick- 
ness from him, Francis, who no doubt suspected somo 
thii g, dreamed three several times that his daaglitei 
said to him, '^Farewell, my king, I am going to para- 
dise." He guessed that she was dead, and gave way to 
"extreme grief," but wrote to his sister that **he would 
rather die than desire to have her in this world contrary 
to the will of God, whose name he blessed."* 

Margaret thought that the terrible disaster of Pavia 
would complete what the first trial had begun ; and most 
earnestly desiring that the word of God might be with 
Francis in his prison, she wrote a very touching letter, 
which deserves to be preserved, to Marshal Montmoren- 
cy, who had been taken prisoner along with the king. 
It is very probable that she speaks of herself and Bishop 
Brieonnet in the graceful allegory which serves as an 
introduction to her request : 

" Dear Cousin — There is a certain very devout her- 
mit who for these three years past has been constantly 
urging a man whom I know to pray to God for the king, 
which he has done ; and he is assured that if it pleases 
the king by way of devotion, daily when in his closet 
to read the epistles of St. Paul, he will be delivered to 
the glory of God; for he promises in his gospel, that 
whosoever loveth the truth, * the truth shall make him 
free.' And forasmuch as I think he has them not, I send 
you mine, begging you to entreat him on my part that 
he will read them, and I firmly believe that the Holy 
G host, which abideth in the letter, will do by him as great 
things as he has done by those who wrote them ; for God 
is not less powerful or good than he has been, and hia 
promises never deceive. He has humbled you by cap- 
tivity, but he has not forsaken you, giving you patience 
fuLa hope in his goodness, which is always ac^companied 

* Lettres intSdites de la reine de Navarre, p. 170. 



604 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOIT. 



oj consolation and a more perfect knowledge of him, 
which I am sure is better than the king ever knows, 
having his mind less at liberty, on account of the imr 
prisonment of the body. 

" Your good cousin, 

"MARGARET.'' 

Id such language did Margaret of Valois, full of anx- 
iety for the salvation of her brother's soul, address the 
king after the battle of Pavia. It is unfortunate that 
her letter and the epistles of St. Paul were not sent 
direct to Francis ; she could not have selected a worse 
medium than Montmorency. 

The letters which the king wrote from the castle of 
Pizzighitone, where he was confined, afibrded his sister 
some little consolation. At the beginning of April she 
wrote to him, "After the sorrow of the Passion, this has 
been a Holy Ghost," that is, a Pentecost, " seeing the 
grace that our Lord has shown you.''* But unhappily 
the prisoner did not find in the word of God that "truth 
which maketh free," and which Margaret so earnestly 
desired he might possess. 

All France, princes, parliament, and people, was over- 
whelmed with consternation. Erelong, as in the first 
three ages of the church, the calamity that had befallen 
the country was imputed to the Christians ; and fanati- 
cal cries were heard on every side calling for blood, as 
a means of averting still greater disasters. The mo- 
ment, therefore, was favorable : it was not enough to 
have dislodged the evangelical Christians from the three 
strong positions they had taken, but it was necessary 
to take advantage of the general panic, to strike while 
the iron was hot, and sweep the whole kingdom clear 
of that opposition which had become so formidable to 
the Papacy. 

At the head of this conspiracy and of these clamors 
were Beda, Duchesne, and Lecouturier. These irrecon- 
cilable enemies of the gospel flattered themselves they 
might easily obtain from public terror the victims that 

Lettres de la reine de Navarre a Francois, 1. p. 27. 



ACCUSATIONS AND MENACES 605 



had been hitherto refused them. Tliey instantly employ- 
ed every device, conversations, fanatical harangues, 
lamentations, threats, defamatory writings, to excite the 
anger of the nation, and particularly of their governors 
They vomited fire and flame against their adversaiieSi, 
and covered them with the most scurrilous abuse.* All 
means were good in their eyes; they picked out a few 
words here and there, neglecting the context that might 
explain the passage quoted ; substituted expressions of 
their own for those of the doctors they criminated, and 
omitted or added, according as it was necessary to 
blacken their adversaries' characters.f We have this 
on the testimony of Erasmus himself. 

Nothing excited their wrath so much as the funda- 
mental doctrine of Christianity and of the Reformation — 
salvation by grace. " When I see these three men," said 
Beda, "Lefevre, Erasmus, and Luther, in other respects 
endowed with so penetrating a genius, uniting and con- 
spiring against meritorious works, and resting all the 
weight of salvation on faith alone,J I am no longer 
astonished that thousands of men, seduced by these doc- 
trines, have learned to say, * Why should I fast and mor- 
tify my body?' Let us banish from France this hateful 
doctrine of grace. This neglect of good works is a fatal 
delusion from the devil." 

In such language did the syndic of the Sorbonne en- 
deavor to fight against the faith. He was destined to 
find supporters in a debauched court, and in another 
part of the nation more respectable, but not less opposed 
to the gospel : I mean those grave men, those rigid mor- 
alists, who, devoted to the study of laws and forms of 
jurisprudence, regard Christianity as no more than a 
system of legislation, the church as a moral police ; 
and whc unable to adapt to those principles of jurispru* 
tience which absorb their whole thoughts the doctrines 

* Plus quam scurrilibus conviciis debacchantes. Er. FranciBOO 
Regi, p. 1108. t Pro meis verbis supponit sua, prajtermittit* 

ftddit. Ibid. 887. J Cum itaque cerneram tres istos .... nno 

ftDimo in opera meritoria conspirasse. Natalifi Bedae Apologias ad 
versos claudestinos Lutherauos, fol. 41. 

HfatoTRof. UL 



506 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 



of the spiritual inability of man, of the new biith and of 
justification by faith, look upon them as fanciful dreams, 
dangerous to public morals and the prosperity of the 
state. This hostile tendency to the doctrine of grace 
was manifested in the sixteenth century by two very 
different excesses : in Italy and Poland by the doctrine 
of Socinus, the descendant of an illustrious family of 
lawyers at Sienna ; and in France by the persecuting 
decrees and burning piles of the parliament. 

The parliament, in fact, despising the great truths of 
the gospel which the reformers announced, and thinking 
themselves called upon to do something in so over- 
whelming a catastrophe, presented an address to Louisa 
of Savoy, full of strong remonstrances on the conduct 
of the government with regard to the new doctrine. 
"Heresy," said they, "has raised its head among us, 
and the king, by neglecting to bring the heretics to the 
scaffold, has drawn down the wrath of heaven upon the 
nation." 

At the same time the pulpits resounded with lamenta- 
tions, threats, and maledictions ; prompt and exemplary 
punishments were loudly called for. Martial Mazuriei 
was particularly distinguished among the preachers of 
Paris ; and endeavoring by his violence to efface the 
recollection of his former connection with the partisans 
of the Reformation, he declaimed against the "secret 
disciples of Luther." " Do you know the rapid opera- 
tion of this poison?" exclaimed he. "Do you know its 
potency ? Well may we tremble for France ; as it works 
with inconceivable activity, and in a short time may 
destroy thousands of souls."* 

It was not difficult to excite the regent against the 
partisans of the Reformation. Her daughter Margaret| 
the first personage of the court, Louisa of Savoy herself; 
who had always been so devoted to the Roman pontifl^ 
were pointed at by certain fanatics as countenancing 
Lefevre, Berquin, and the other innovators. Had she 

* Mazurius contra occultos Lutheri discipulos declamat, ac re 
centis veneni celeritatem vimque denimciat. Lannoi, regii JSavar 
ltd gjmuasii historia, p. 621. 



LOUJSA CONSULTS THE POPE. 607 



not read their tracts and their translations of the Bible? 
The queen-mother desired to clear herself of such out- 
rageous suspicions. Already she had despatched her 
confessor to the Sorbonne to consult that body on the 
means of extirpating this heresy. "The damnable doc- 
trine of Luther," said she to the faculty, " is every day 
gaining new adherents." The faculty smiled on the re- 
ceipt of this message. Till then, its representations had 
not been listened to, and now their advice was humbly 
solicited in the matter. At length they held within their 
grasp that heresy they had so long desired to stifle 
They commissioned Noel Beda to return an immediate 
answer to the regent. "Seeing that the sermons, the 
discussions, the books with which we have so often 
opposed heresy, have failed in destroying it," said the 
fanatical syndic, "all the writings of the heretics should 
be prohibited by a royal proclamation ; and if this 
means does not suffice, we must employ force and con- 
straint against the persons of these false doctors ; for 
those who resist the light must be subdued by torture 
and by terror, ^^"^ 

But Louisa had not waited for this reply. Francis 
had scarcely fallen into the hands of the emperor before 
she wrote to the pope to know his pleasure concerning 
the heretics. It was of great importance to Louisa-s 
policy to secure the favor of a pontiff who could raise 
all Italy against the victor of Pavia, and she was ready 
to conciliate him at the cost of a little French blood. 
The pope, delighted that he could wreak his vengeance 
in the "most Christian kingdom" against a heresy that 
he could not destroy either in Switzerland or Germany, 
gave immediate orders for the introduction of the Inqui- 
sition into France, and addressed a brief to the parlia- 
ment. At the same time Duprat, whom the pontiff had 
created cardinal, and on whom he had conferred the 
archbishopric of Sens, and a rich abbey, labored to re- 
spond to the favors of the court of Home by the display 
of indefatigable animosity against the heretics. T'lua 
the pope, the regent, the doctors of the Sorbonne, the 
♦ Histoire de PUniversit^, par Cr^vier, 6. 196. 



508 HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATIOK. 



parliament, and the chancellor, with the most ignorant 
and fanatical part of the nation, were conspiring together 
t) ruin the gospel and put its confessors to death. 

The parliament took the lead. Nothing less than the 
first body in the kingdom was required to begin the cam- 
paign against this doctrine ; and moreover, was it not 
their peculiar business, since the public safety was at 
Btake? Accordingly the parliament, ''influenced by a 
holy zea> and fervor against these novelties,* issued a 
decree to the effect that the bishop of Paris and the other 
prelates should be bound to commission Messieurs Philip 
Pot, president of requests, and Andrew Verjus, council- 
lor, and Messieurs William Duchesne and Nicholas Le* 
clerc, doctors of divinity, to institute and conduct the 
trial of those who should be tainted with the Lutheran 
doctrine. 

" And that it might appear that these commissioners 
were acting rather under the authority of the church 
than of the parliament, it has pleased his holiness to 
send his brief of the 20th of May, 1525, approving of 
the appointment of the said commissioners. 

"In consequence of which, all those who were de- 
clared Lutherans by the bishop or ecclesiastical judges 
to these deputies, were delivered over to the secular 
arm, that is to say, to the aforesaid parliament, which 
thereupon condemned them to be burned alive."f 

This is the language of a manuscript of the time. 

Such was the terrible commission of inquiry appoint- 
ed during the captivity of Francis L against the evangel- 
ical Christians of France on the ground of public safety. 
It was coniposed of two laymen and two ecclesiastics, 
and one of the latter was Duchesne, after Beda the most 
fanatical doctor of the Sorbonne. They ♦had sufficient 
modesty not to place him at their head, but his influence 
was only the more secure on that account. 

• De la religion catholique en France, par de Lezeau. MS. in 
the library of St. Genevieve, Paris. f The manuscript in 

the library of St. Genevieve, at Paris, from which I have quoted 
this passage^ bears the name of Lezeau, but that of Lefel&'e in the 
eatalogue. 



CHARaES AGAINST BRICONNBT 



509 



Thus the machine was wound up ; its springs were 
well prepared ; death would be the result of each of its 
blows. It now became a question on whom they should 
make their first attack. Beda, Duchesne, and Leclerc, 
assisted by Philip Pot the president, and Andrew Verjus 
the councillor, met to deliberate on this important point. 
Was there not the count of Montbrun, the old friend of 
Louis XII., and formerly ambassador at Rome — ^Bri9on- 
net, bishop of Meaux ? The committee of public safety, 
assembled in Paris in 1525, thought that by commencing 
with a man in so exalted a station, they would be sure 
to spread dismay throughout the kingdom. This was a 
suflBcient reason, and the venerable bishop was im- 
peached. 

It is true that Bri9onnet had given guarantees of 
submission to Rome, to the parliament, and to the pop- 
ular superstitions ; but it was strongly suspected that 
he had done so merely to ward off the blow about to fall 
upon him, and that he was still countenancing heresy in 
secret. It would appear that, after giving way, he had 
partly regained his courage — a circumstance quite in 
harmony with these irresolute characters, who are tossed 
about and driven to and fro, as the waves of the sea by 
the wind. Several acts were ascribed to him in different 
places that would have been the most signal retraction 
of his unhappy decrees of 1523 and 1524. The more 
eminent his rank in the church and in the state, the 
more fatal was his example, and the more necessary 
also was it to obtain from him a striking recantation of 
his errors, or to inflict upon him a still more notorious 
punishment. The commission of inquiry eagerly col- 
lected the evidence against him. They took account of 
the kindly reception the bishop had given to the here- 
tics ; they stated that, a week after the superior of the 
Cordeliers had preached in St. Martin's church at MeAux, 
conformably to the instructions of the Sorbonne, to re- 
store sound doctrine, Bri§onnet himself had gone into 
the pulpit, and publicly refuted the orator, calling him 
and the other Grayfriars bigots, hypocrites, and false 
prophets ; and that, not content with this public affrout 



610 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATIOH 



he had, through his official, summoned the superior to 
appear before him in person.* It would even appear 
from a manuscript of the times that the bishop had gone 
much further, and that in the autumn of 1524, accompar 
nied by Lefevre of Etaples, he had spent three months 
in travelling through his diocese, and had burned all the 
images, save the crucifix alone. Such daring conduct, 
which would prove Bri5onnet to have possessed great 
boldness combined with much timidity, cannot, if it be 
true, fix upon him the blame attached to other image- 
breakers ; for he was at the head of that church whose 
superstitions he was reforming, and was acting in the 
sphere of his rights and duties.f 

Be that as it may, Bri9onnet could not fail of being 
guilty in the eyes of the enemies of the gospel. He had 
not only attacked the church in general, but he had grap- 
pled with the Sorbonne itself, that body whose supreme 
law was its own glory and preservation. Accordingly 
it was delighted on hearing of the examination instituted 
against its adversary ; and John Bochart, one of the 
most celebrated advocates of the times, supporting the 
charge against Bri§onnet before the parliament, cried 
out, elevating his voice, "Against the faculty, neither 
the bishop of Meaux nor any private individual may 
raise his head or open his mouth. Nor is the faculty 
called upon to enter into discussion, to produce and set 
forth its reasons before the said bishop, who ought not 

• Hist, de I'Uaiv. par Cr^vier, 5. 204, f library of 

the pastors at Neufchatel there is a letter from Sebville, in which 
the following passage occurs: Je te notifie que I'eveque de Meaux 
en Brie pres Paris, cum Jacobo Fabro Stapulensi, depuis trois mois, 
en visitant I'eveche, ont brule actu toutes les images, reserve le 
crucifix, et sout personellement ajournes a Paris, a ce mois de Mars 
venant, pour repondre coram supremd curia et universitate.^^ I 
ait inclined to believe this fact authentic, although Sebville was 
not on the spot, and though neither Mezeray, Daniel, nor Maimbourg 
allude to it. These Romanist authors, who are very brief, night 
have had reasons for passing it over in silence, considering the issue 
of the trial ; and Sebville 's report agrees in other respects with all 
the known facts. The matter is, however, doubtful. 



ALARM OF BEICONNET. 



51i 



to resist the wisdom of that holy society, which he should 
regard as aided of God."* 

In consequence of this requisition, the parliament 
issued a decree on the 3d of October, 1525, by which, 
after authorizing the arrest of all those who had been 
informed against, it ordered that the bishop should be 
interrogated by James Menager and Andrew Verjua, 
councillors of the court, touching the facts of which he 
was accused.f 

This decree of the parliament amazed the bishop. 
Bri9onnet, the ambassador of two kings — Bri9onnet, a 
bishop and a prince, the friend of Louis XII. and Fran- 
cis I., to submit to an examination by two councillors 
of the court 1 . . . . He who had hoped that God would 
kindle in the heart of the king, of his mother, and of his 
sister, a fire that would spread over the whole nation, 
now saw the nation turning against him to extinguish 
the flame which he had received from heaven. The king 
is a prisoner, his mother is at the head of the enemies 
of the gospel, and Margaret, alarmed at the misfortunes 
that burst upon France, dares not ward off the blows 
that are about to fall on her dearest friends, and directed 
first against that spiritual father who has so often con- 
soled her ; or, if she dares, she cannot. Quite recently 
she had written to Bri9onnet a letter full of pious out- 
pourings : " 0 that my poor lifeless heart could feel 
some spark of love, with which I desire it were burned 
to ashes."! But now it was a question of literal burn- 
ing. This mystic language was no longer in season ; 
and whoever now desired to confess his faith, must brave 
the scaffold. The poor bishop, who had so earnestly 
hoped to see an evangelical reform gradually and gently 
making its way into every heart, was frightened, and 
trembled as he saw that he must now purchase it at the 
cost of his life. Never perhaps had this terrible thought 
occurred to him, and he recoiled from it in agony and 
affright. 

* Hist, de rUniv. par Cr^vier, 6. 204. f Maimbourg, 

Hist, du Calv. p. 14, | MS. m the Royal Library, Paria, 

8. F. 3^0. '^1. 



312 HISTORY OF THE REFORMAT /ON. 



let Bri9onnet had still one hope : if he were permit^ 
ted to appear before the assembled chambers of parlia- 
ment, as became a person of his rank, in that august 
and numerous court he would be sure to find generous 
hearts responding to his appeal, and undertaking hig 
defence. He therefore entreated the court to grant him 
this favor ; but his enemies had equally reckoned on the 
issue of such a hearing. Had they not seen Luther ap- 
pearing before the German diet and shaking the most 
determined hearts ? On the watch to remove every 
chance of safety, they exerted themselves to such effect 
that the parliament refused Bri9onnet this favor by a 
decree dated the 25th of October, 1625, in confirmation 
of the one previously issued.* 

Here then was the bishop of Meaux referred like the 
humblest priest to the jurisdiction of James Menager 
and Andrew Verjus. These two lawyers, docile instru- 
ments in the hands of the Sorbonne, would not be moved 
by those higher considerations to which the whole cham- 
ber might have been sensible ; they were matter of fact 
men : had the bishop differed from that society, or had 
he not ? This is all they desire to know. Bri9onnet's 
conviction was therefore secured. 

While the parliament was thus holding the sword 
over the head of the bishop, the monks, priests, and doc- 
tors were not idle ; they saw that Bri9onnet's retraction 
would be of more service to them than his punishment. 
His death would only inflame the zeal of all those who 
held the same faith with him ; but his apostasy would 
plunge them into the deepest discouragement. They 
went to work accordingly. They visited and entreated 
him, Martial Mazurier in particular endeavoring to make 
him fall, as he had done himself There was no lack of 
arguments which might appear specious to Bri902Lnet 
Would he like to be deprived of his functions ? Could 
he not, by remaining in the church, employ his influence 
with the king and the court to effect an incalculable 
tuaount of good ? What would become of his old frienda, 



Maimbourg, Hist, du Galv. p. Id. 



BRiOONNET FALLS AWAY 



513 



when he was no longer in power f Might not his resis1> 
ance compromise a reform, which, to be salutary and 
durable, should be carried out by the legitimate influ* 
ence of the clergy? How many souls he would offend 
by resisting the church ; how many souls he would at- 
tract, on the contrary, by giving way They, like 

himself, were anxious for a reform. All is advancing 
insensibly ; at the court and in the city and provinces 
every thing is moving forward, .... and would he in 
mere recklessness of heart destroy so fair a prospect? 
. . . . After all, they did not call upon him to sacrifice 
his opinions, but only to submit to the established order 
of the church. Was it well in him, when France was 
laboring under so many reverses, to stir up new confu- 
sions? '*In the name of religion, of your country, of 
your friends, and of the Reformation itself, be persuad- 
ed,'' said they. By such sophisms are the noblest causes 
ruined. 

Yet every one of these considerations had its influ- 
ence on the mind of the bishop. The tempter, who de- 
sired to make our Saviour fall in the wilderness, thus 
presented himself to Bri9onnet in specious colors ; but 
instead of saying with his Master, " Get thee behind me, 
Satan," he listened, welcomed, and pondered on these 
suggestions. Prom that hour his fidelity was at an 
end. 

Bri9onnet had never embarked with his whole heart, 
like Luther or Farel, in the movement that was then 
regenerating the church ; there was in him a certain 
mystical tendency which weakens men's minds, and de- 
prives them of that firmness and courage which proceed 
from faith alone based on the word of God. The cross 
that he was called to take up that he might follow Christ 
was too heavy ."^ Shaken, alarmed, stupefied, and dis* 
tractedjf he stumbled against the stone which had been 
artfully placed in his path ; .... he fell, and instead of 
Uarowing himself into the arms of Jesus, he threw him 

* Gruels statim oblatse terrore perculsus. Bezse looiiea 
t DementatuB. Ibid. 

33 



614 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



self into those of Mazurier,* and by a shameful rccanta 
tion sullied the glory of a noble faithfulness.f 

Thus fell Bri9onnet, the friend of Lefevre and of Map» 
garet ; thus the earliest supporter of the gospel in France 
denied the glad tidings of grace, in the guilty thought 
that if he remained faithful, he would lose his influence 
over the church, the court, and France. But what was 
represented to him as the salvation of his country, per- 
haps became its ruin. What would have been the result 
if Bri9onnet had possessed the courage of Luther ? If 
one of the first bishops of France, beloved by the king 
and by the people, had ascended the scaffold, and had, 
like the little ones of the world, sealed the truth of the 
gospel by a bold confession and a Christian death, would 
not France herself have been moved ; and the blood of 
the bishop becoming, like that of Polycarp and Cyprian, 
the seed of the church, might we not have seen that 
country, so illustrious in many respects, emerging in 
the sixteenth century from that spiritual darkness with 
which it is still clouded ? 

Bri9onnet underwent a mere formal examination be- 
fore James Menager and Andrew Verjus, who declared 
that he had sufficiently vindicated himself of the crime 
imputed to him. He was then subjected to penance, 
and assembled a synod in which he condemned Luther's 
books, retracted all that he had taught contrary to the 
doctrine of the church, restored the invocation of saints, 
endeavored to bring back those who had forsaken the 
Romish worship, and wishing to leave no doubt of his 
reconciliation with the pope and the Sorbonne, kept a 
solemn fast on the eve of Corpus Christi, and gave or- 
ders for pompous processions, in which he appeared per- 
sonally, still further testifying his faith by his magnifi- 
cence and by every kind of devout observance.^ In hia 
will he commended his soul to the Virgin Mary and to 
the heavenly choir of paradise, and desired that after his 

* Ut Episcopus etiara desisteret suis consiliis eflfecit. Lauaoi, 
regii Navarrae gymnasii hist. p. 621. f Nisi turpi palinodia 

gloriam banc omnem ipse sibi invidisset. Bezae Icoaes. 

X Mezeray, 2. 9 SI] Daniel, 6. 644 ] Moreri, art. Bri^onoet. 



BEICONi^ET AND FENELON 616 



death— which happened in 1633 — twelve hundred masses 
should be said for the repose of his soul. 

The fall of Bri9onnet is perhaps the most memorable 
in the history of the Reformation. Nowhere else do we 
find a man so sincerely pious and so deeply engaged in 
the reform turning round so suddenly against it : yet we 
must clearly understand his character and his fall. Bri- 
fonnet was, as regards Rome, what Lefevre was with 
respect to the Reformation. They were both persons of 
half measures, properly belonging to neither party. The 
doctor of Etaples inclined towards the word, while the 
bishop of Meaux leaned to the hierarchy ; and when 
these two men who touch each other were called upon 
to decide, the one ranged himself under the banner of 
Rome, and the other of Jesus Christ. We cannot, how- 
ever, be sure that Bri§onnet was wholly untrue to the 
convictions of his faith ; at no period after his recanta- 
tion did the Romish doctors place entire confidence in 
him. But he acted, perhaps, as the archbishop of Cam- 
bray afterwards did, and whom he resembled in many 
points ; he thought he might submit outwardly to the 
pope, while remaining inwardly subject to his old con- 
victions. Such weakness is incompatible with the prin- 
ciples of the Reformation. Bri§onnet was one of the 
chiefs of the mystic or quietist school in France, and we 
know that one of its leading maxims has ever been to 
accommodate itself to the church in which it exists, 
whatever that church may be. 

Bri9onnet's guilty fall went to the hearts of his old 
friends, and was the sad forerunner of those lamentable 
apostasies which the spirit of the world so often obtain- 
ed in France in another age. The man who seemed to 
hold the reins of the Reformation in his hand was sud- 
denly thrown from his seat ; and the Reformation was 
thenceforward destined to pursue its course in France 
without a human leader, without a chief, in humility and 
in obscurity. But the disciples of the gospel raised their 
heads, and from that time looked with a firmer faith tow* 
aids that heavenly Guide whose faithfulness tliey kneiv 
could not be shaken. 



616 HISTOEY OF THE EEFOEMAlIOiT. 



The Sorbonne triumphed ; this was a great stride 
towards the destruction of the reform in France ; and it 
was important to achieve another victory without delay. 
Lefevre stood next after Brigonnet. Accordingly Beda 
bad immediately turned the attack against him, by pub- 
lishing a book against this illustrious doctor, full ot 
such gross calumnies, that Erasmus says, Even smiths 
and cobblers could have pointed them out." His fury 
was particularly excited by the doctrine of justification 
through faith, which Lefevre was the first to preach to 
Christendom in the sixteenth century. To this point 
Beda continually recurred, as an article which, accord- 
ing to him, overturned the church. "What," said he, 
Lefevre affirms that whoever places his salvation 11 
himself will surely perish ; while the man that lays aside 
all strength of his own, and throws himself entirely into 

the arms of Jesus Christ, will be saved 0 what 

heresy, to teach the inefficacy of meritorious works 1 . . . . 
What a hellish error ; what a deceitful snare of the 
devil I Let us oppose it with all our might."* 

That engine of persecution which produces either 
retraction or death, was immediately turned against the 
doctor of Etaples ; and hopes were already entertained 
of seeing Lefevre share the fate of the poor wool-comber, 
or of the illustrious Bri9onnet. His accusation was soon 
drawn up ; and a decree of the parliament, dated Au- 
gust 28, 1525, condemned nine propositions extracted 
from his commentaries on the gospels, and placed his 
translation of the Scriptures in the list of prohibited 
books.f 

This was only the prelude ; and that the learned doc- 
tor knew. Upon the first symptoms of persecution, he 
had felt that, in the absence of Francis I., he must fall 
under the assault of his enemies, and that the moment 
was now come to obey the Lord's commandment : " When 
they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another." 
Matt. 10 : 14, 23. Lefevre quitted Meaux, where, aftor 

• Perpendens perniciosissmam daemonis fallaciam Occuni 

^UBAtom valiu. Nat. Bedae Apolog. adv. Lutheranos, foL 42* 
t J. Leloag, Biblioth. sacree, 2e partie, p. 44. 



FLIGHT OF LEFEVR 



the bishop^s apostasy, he had drunk nothing but the cup 
of bitterness, and saw all his activity paralyzed ; and 
as he withdrew from his persecutors, he shook the dust 
from off his feet against them, "not to call down evil 
upon them, but as a sign of the evils that were in store 
for them ; for," says he in one place, "just as this dust 
is shaken from off our feet, are they cast off from the 
face of the Lord."* 

The persecutors had missed their victim ; but they 
consoled themselves with the thought that France was 
at least delivered from the father of the heretics. 

The fugitive Lefevre arrived at Strasburg under a 
borrowed name ; there he immediately united with the 
friends of the Eeformation ; and what must have been 
his joy at hearing that gospel publicly taught which he 
had been the first to bring forward in the church ? Lo, 
there was his faith ; this was exactly what he had 
intended to teach. He seemed to have been born a 
second time to the Christian life. Gerard Koussel, one 
of those evangelical men who, like the doctor of Eta 
pies, did not attain complete emancipation, had alsc 
been compelled to quit France. Together they followed 
the teaching of Oapito and Bucer ;f they had frequent 
private conversations with these faithful doctors,| and 
a report was circulated that they had even been com- 
missioned to do so by Margaret the king's sister. § But 
Lefevre was more occupied in contemplating the ways 
of God than with polemics. Casting his eyes over Chris- 
tendomj filled with astonishment on beholding the great 
events that were taking place, moved with thankfulness, 
and his heart full of anticipation, he fell on his knees 
and prayed the Lord " to perfect that which he saw then 
beginning."|| 

* Quod excussi sunt a facie Domini sicut pulvis ille excussus est 
a pedibus. Faber in Ev. Matth. p. 40. f Faber stapulensis et 
Gerardus Rufus, clam e Gallia profecti, Capitonem et Bucerum au- 
dierunt. Melch. Adam. Vita Capitonis, p. 90. t omnibuf 

doctrinal prajcipuis locis cam ipsis disseruerint. Ibid. 

§ Missi a Margaretha, regis Francisci sorore. Ibid. 

y Farel a tous seigneurs, peuples, et pasteurs. 



518 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



One pleasure in particular awaited him in Stras- 
burg: Farei his disciple, his son, from whom he had 
been separated by persecution for nearly three years, 
had arrived there before him. The aged doctor of the 
Sorbonne found in his young pupil a man in the vigor 
of life, a Christian in all the energy of faith. Fare! 
affectionately clasped that wrinkled hand which had 
guided his first steps, and he experienced an indescrib 
able joy at again meeting with his father in an evangel- 
ical city, and on seeing him surrounded with faithful 
men. Together they listened to the pure instructions 
of illustrious teachers ; together they partook of the 
Lord's supper in conformity with Christ's institution ; 
together they received touching proofs of the love of 
their brethren. "Do you remember," said Farel, "what 
you once observed to me when we were both sunk in 
darkness : William, God will renew the world, and you 
will see it ? . . . . Here is the beginning of what you 
then told me." "Yes," answered the pious old man, 
"God is renewing the world My dear son, con- 

tinue to preach boldly the holy gospel of Jesus Christ."* 

Lefevre, from excess of caution doubtless, wished to 
live unknown at Strasburg, and had taken the name ot 
Anthony Pilgrim, while Roussel assumed that of Solnin. 
But the illustrious doctor could not remain hidden ; in a 
short time the whole city and the very children saluted 
the aged Frenchman with respect.f He did not dwell 
alone, but resided in Capito's house with Farel, Roussel, 
Vedastus, who was eulogized for his diffidence, and a 
certain Simon, a converted Jew. The houses of Capito, 
(Ecolampadius, Zwingle, and Luther, were then like inns. 
Such was at that time the strength of brotherly love. 
Many other Frenchmen were living in this city on the 
Danks of the Rhine, and they founded a church in which 
Farel often preached the doctrine of salvation This 
Christian society soothed the pain of exile. 

* Quod et pius senex fatebatur ; meque hortabatur pergerem m 
annuntiatione sacri evangelii. Farel to Pellican. Hotting. H. L 
6. 17. t Nam latere cupiunt et tamen pueris noti sunt Oapitc 
to Zwingle, Epp. p. 439. 



BERQUIN IMPRISONED. 



519 



While these brethren were thus enjoying the asylum 
offered them by fraternal affection, those in Paris and in 
other parts of France were exposed to great dangers. 
Bri^onnet had retracted ; Lefevre had quitted France : 
this was no doubt something for the Sorbonne ; but it 
had still to wait for the punishments that it had advised. 
Beda and his party had found no victims ; . . . one man 
exasperated them still more than Bri9onnet and Lefevre j 
this was Louis Berquin. The gentleman of Artois, of a 
more decided character than his two masters, omitted 
no opportunity of tormenting the monks and theologians, 
and of unmasking their fanaticism. Living by turns at 
Paris and in the provinces, he collected and translated 
the writings of Luther and Erasmus :* he himself would 
compose controversial works, and defend and propagate 
the new doctrine with all the zeal of a new convert. 
The bishop of Amiens denounced him ; Beda seconded 
the charge ; and the parliament had him thrown into 
prison. "This one," said they, "shall not escape us like 
Bri^onnet or Lefevre." In effect, they kept him in close 
confinement. In vain did the superior of the Carthu- 
sians and others entreat him to apologize ; he boldly 
declared that he would not give way on a single point. 
" There seemed no way left," says a chronicler, " but to 
lead him to the stake."f 

Margaret, in consternation at what had happened tc 
Bri9onnet^ dreaded to see Berquin dragged to that scaf- 
fold which the bishop had so shamefully escaped. Not 
daring to visit him in prison, she endeavored to convey 
a few words of consolation to him ; and it was perhaps 
for him that the princess composed this touching com- 
plaint of the prisoner, in which the latter, addressing 
the Lord, exclaims,J 

But yet, where'er my prison be, 
Its gates can never keep out Thee 5 
For instant where I am, Thou art with me. 

But Margaret did not stop here ; she instantly wrote 

• Erasmus, Epp. p. 923. f Actes des Martyrs, p. 103. 

t Margueriteft de la Marguerite des Princesses, 1. 445. 



520 HISTORY OF THE REFOEMATION. 



to her brother, soliciting this gentleman's pardon. Hap* 
py would she be if she could deliver him in time from 
the hatred of his enemies. 

While waiting for this victim, Beda resolved to 
intimidate the enemies of the Sorbonne and of the 
monks by crushing the most celebrated of them. Eras- 
mus had taken up the pen against Luther ; but that wa« 
of little consequence. If they can succeed in destroying 
Erasmus, with much the stronger reason would the ruin 
of Farel, of Luther, and of their associates be inevitable. 
The surest way to reach the mark is to aim beyond it. 
When once Rome has placed her foot upon the neck of 
the philosopher of Rotterdam, where is the heretical doc- 
tor that can escape its vengeance ? Lecouturier, com- 
monly known by his Latin name Sutor^ (cobbler,) had 
already begun the attack by launching from his soli- 
tary Carthusian cell a treatise overflowing with vio- 
lence, in which he called his opponents theologasters 
and jackasses, charging them with scandalous crimes, 
heresy, and blasphemy. Treating of subjects which he 
did not understand, he reminded his readers of the old 
proverb, Ne sutor ultra crepidam^ Let the cobbler stick 
to his last. 

Beda hastened to the assistance of his brother. He 
ordered Erasmus to write no more ;* and taking up that 
pen which he had commanded the greatest writer of the 
age to lay down, he made a collection of all the calum- 
nies that the monks had invented against the illustrious 
philosopher, translated them into French, and composed 
a book that he circulated in the city and at court, striv- 
ing to raise all France against him.f This work was 
the signal of attack ; Erasmus was assailed from every 
quarter. An old Carmelite of Louvain, Nicholas Eo 
mond, exclaimed every time he went into the pulpit^ 
There is no difference between Luther and Erasmus^ 
except that Erasmus is the greater heretic and wher 
ever the Tarmelite might be, at table, in coach, or iu 

* Primum jubet ut desinam scribere. Erasm. Epp. 921. 

t Ut totam Galliam in me concitaret. Ibid. 886. 

I Nisi quod Erasmus esset major hsereticus. Ibid. 916. 



DEFENCE OF ERASMUS. 



531 



"boat, he called Erasmus a heresiarch and forger * The 
faculty of Paris, excited by these clamors, prepan»d a 
censure against the illustrious writer. 

Erasmus was astounded. This, then, is the end of 
all his forbearance, and of even his hostility against 
Luther. He had mounted to the breach with greater 
courage than any man ; and now they want to make 
him a stepping-stone, and trample him under foot, that 
they may the more securely attack the common enemy. 
This idea disgusted him : he turned round immediately, 
and almost before he had ceased his attack upon Luther, 
fell upon these fanatical doctors, who had assailed him 
from behind. Never was his correspondence more ac- 
tive than now. He glances all around him, and his 
piercing eye soon discovers in whose hands depends 
his fate. He does not hesitate : he will lay his com- 
plaints and remonstrances at the feet of the Sorbonne, 
of the parliament, of the king, and of the emperor him- 
self. "What is it that has kindled this immense Luther- 
an conflagration wrote he to those theologians of the 
Sorbonne, from whom he still expected some little im- 
partiality ; " what has fanned it, if not the virulence of 
Beda and his fellows ?f In war, a soldier who has done 
his duty receives a reward from his general ; and all the 
recompense I shall receive from you, the leaders in this 
war, is to be delivered up to the calumnies of such as 
Beda and Lecouturier.'' 

" What 1" wrote he to the parliament, " when I was 
contending with these Lutherans, and while I was main- 
taining a severe struggle by order of the emperor, the 
pope, and other princes, even at the peril of my life, 
Beda and Lecouturier attacked me from behind with 
their foul libels. Ah, if fortune had not deprived us of 
King Francis, I should have invoked this avenger of 
the muses against this new invasion of the barbarians.J 

* Quoties in conviviis, in vehiculis, in navibua. Erasm. Epp 
916. t Hoc gravissimum Lutheri incendium, unde natum, unde 
hue progressum, nisi ex Beddaicis intemperiis. Er. Epp. p. 887. 

I Musaram yindicem adversus barbarorum mcursiones. Ibid, 
p. 2070. 



522 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



But now it is your duty to put an end to such injus- 
tice.'' 

Ab soon as he found the possibility of conveying a 
letter to the king, he wrote to him immediately. His 
penetrating eye detected in these fanatical doctors of 
the Sorbonne the germs of the league, the predecessors 
of those three priests who were one day to set up the 
Sixteen against the last of the Valois ; his genius fore- 
warned the king of the crimes and misfortunes which 
his descendants were destined to know but too well. 
"Religion is their pretext," said he, but they aspire to 
tyranny even over princes. They move with a sure step, 
though their path is underground. Should the prince be 
disinclined to submit to them in every thing, they will 
declare that he may be deposed by the church ; that is 
to say, by a few false monks and theologians who con- 
spire against the public peace.''* Erasmus in writing 
to Francis I. could not have touched a tenderer point. 

Finally, to be more certain of escape from his ene- 
mies, Erasmus invoked the protection of Charles V. 
" Invincible emperor," said he, certain individuals, 
who, under the pretence of religion, wish to establish 
their own gluttony and despotism, are raising a horrible 
outcry against me.f I am fighting under your banners 
and those of Jesus Christ. May your wisdom and power 
restore peace to the Christian world." 

Thus did the prince of letters address the great ones 
of the age. The danger was averted ; the powers of the 
world interposed ; the vultures were compelled to aban- 
don a prey which they fancied already in their talons. 
Upon this they turned their eyes to another quarter, 
seeking fresh victims, which were soon found. 

Lorraine was the first place in which blood was 
again to flow. From the earliest days of the reform 
there had been a fanatical alliance between Paris and 
the country of the Guises. When Paris was quiet, Lor- 

• Nisi princeps ipsorum voluntati per omnia paruerit, dicetui 
fautor haereticorum et destitui poterit per ecclesiam. Er. Epp. p. 
1108. t Simulato religionis praetextu, ventris tyrannidisqaf 

(RisD negotium agentes. Ibid. p. 9^)2. 



E8CH IMPRISONEll. 



623 



ralne applied to the task ; and then Paris resumed her 
labor, while Mctz and Nancy were recovering their 
strength. In June, 1525, Peter Toussaint returned to 
Metz, in company with Farel. They desired a hearing 
before their lordships the Thirteen; and this being 
refused, they appealed to the eschevin. Plans were 
already laid for throwing them into prison, when, fear- 
ful of danger, they quickly left the city, travelling all 
night lest they should be overtaken.* 

The first blows were destined apparently to fall on 
an excellent man, one of the Basle refugees, a friend of 
Farel and Toussaint. The Chevalier d^Esch had not 
been able to escape the suspicions of the priests in Metz. 
They discovered that he kept up a communication with 
the evangelical Christians, and he was imprisoned at 
Pont-a-Mousson, about five miles from Metz on the 
banks of the Moselle.f These tidings overwhelmed the 
French refugees and the Swiss themselves with sorrow. 
" 0 heart full of innocence," exclaimed (Ecolampadius. 
"I have confidence in the Lord," added he, "that he 
will preserve this man to us, either in life as a preacher 
of righteousness, to announce His name, or as a martyr 
to confess him in death."| But at the same time (Eco- 
lampadius disapproved of the impetuosity, enthusiasm, 
and imprudent zeal which distinguished the French ref- 
ugees, wish," said he, "that my very dear lords of 
France would not be so hasty in returning into their 
own country before they had duly examined all things ;§ 
for the devil is spreading his snares on every side. Nev- 
ertheless, let them obey the Spirit of Christ, and may 
this Spirit never abandon them." 

There was, in truth, reason to fear for the chevalier. 
The fury of the enemy had broken out in Lorraine with 
redoubled violence. The provincial of the Cordeliers^ 
Bonaventure Renal, confessor to Duke Anthony the 

* Chroniques de Metz, p. 823. f Noster captus detinetur 

m Bundamosa quinque millibus a Metis. (Ecol. to Farel, Epp. 201, 

X Vel vivum confessorein, vel mortuum martyrem servabit. lb. 

§ Nollem carissimos dominos meos Galles properare in GalUan\ 
eta lb. 



524 



HISTORY OF THE REFOUMATIOK 



Good, a man devoid of shame, and not very commenda^ 
ble on the score of morals, gave this weak prince, who 
reigned from 1508 to 1544, great license in his pleas- 
ares, and persuaded him, almost by way of penance, to 
destroy the innovators without mercy. " It is enough 
for every one to know his Pater and his -4ve,'' this prince^ 
BO well tutored by Renel, would say; "the greater thj^ 
doctor, the greater the disturbance."* 

Towards the end of 1524, the duke's court was in- 
formed that a pastor named Schuch was preaching some 
new doctrine in the town of St. Hippolyte, at the foot of 
the Vosges. "Let them return to their duty," said An- 
thony the Goody "or else I will march against the city, 
and destroy it by fire and sword."f 

Upon this the faithful pastor resolved to give him* 
self up for his flock, and repaired to Nancy, where the 
prince was residing. As soon as he arrived he was 
thrown into a filthy prison, under the guard of brutal 
and cruel men ; and Friar Bonaventure at last saw the 
heretic in his power. It was he who presided at the 
trial. "Heretic, Judas, devil," exclaimed he. Schuch, 
calm and collected, made no reply to this abuse ; but 
holding in his hands a Bible all covered with notes, he 
meekly yet forcibly confessed Christ crucified. On a 
sudden he became animated; he stood up boldly, and 
raising his voice, as if filled by the Spirit from on high, 
looked his judges in the face, and threatened them with 
the terrible judgments of God. 

Brother Bonaventure and his companions, amazed 
and transported with rage, rushed upon him with vio- 
lent cries, tore away the Bible from which he was read- 
ing this menacing language, " and like mad dogs," says 
the chronicler, " unable to bite his doctrine, they burned 
it in their convent."J 

All the court of Lorraine resounded with the obsti- 
nacy and impudence of the minister of St. Hippolyte, 
and the prince, curious to hear the heretic, desired to be 
present at his last interrogatory, but in secret however, 

* Actes des Martyrs, p. 97. f Ibid. p. 95. t Actofi 

doe Martyrs, recueilllH par Crespin, en Fran^ais, p. 97. 



MAETYUDOM OF SCHUCH. 



525 



and concealed from every eye. As the examination took 
place in Latin, he could not understand a word ; but he 
was struck with the firm countenance of the minister, 
who seemed neither vanquished nor confounded. Exas- 
perated at sujch obstinacy, Anthony the Good rose up, 
and said as he withdrew, Why do you still dispute ? 
He denies the sacrament of the mass ; let them proceed 
to execution against him."* Schuch was instantly con- 
demned to be burned alive. When the sentence was 
made known to him, he raised his eyes to heaven, saying 
mildly, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go 
into the house of the Lord." Psa. 122 : 1. 

On the 19th of August, 1525, the v^rhole city of 
Nancy was in motion. The bells were tolling for the 
death of a heretic. The mournful procession set out. 
It was necessary to pass before the convent of the Cor- 
deliers, who, rejoicing and expectant, had assembled 
before the gate. At the moment that Schuch appeared. 
Father Bonaventure, pointing to the carved images over 
the portals of the convent, exclaimed, "Heretic, pay 
honor to God, to his mother, and to the saints." "Ye 
hypocrites," replied Schuch, standing erect before these 
blocks of wood and stone, " God will destroy you, and 
bring your deceits to light." 

When the martyr reached the place of execution, his 
books were burned before his face ; he was then called 
upon to retract ; but he refused, saying, " It is thou, 0 
God, who hast called me, and thou wilt give me strength 
unto the end."f After this he began to repeat aloud the 
fifty-first Psalm: **Have mercy upon me, 0 Lord, ac- 
cording to thy loving kindness." Having mounted the 
pile, he continued to recite the psalm until the smoke 
and the flames stifled his voice. 

Thus the persecutors of France and Lorraine beheld 
a renewal of their victories ; at length men paid atten- 
tion to their advice. The ashes of a heretic had been 
scattered to the winds at Nancy ; it was a challenge to 

• Hist, de Francois I. par Gaillard, 4. 233. f Eum aucto- 

rum vocationis suae atque conservatorem, ad extremum usque spiii 
turn recoguovit. Acta Mart. p. 202. 



626 HISTORY OF THE EEFORllATION. 



the capital of France. What, shall Beda and Lecontii- 
rier be the last to show their zeal for the pope ? Let • 
flames reply to flames, and heresy, swept from the soil 
of the kingdom, would soon be entirely driven back be- 
yond the Rhine. 

But before he could succeed, Beda had to sustain a 
combat, half serious, half ludicrous, against one of those 
men with whom the struggle against the Papacy is 
merely an intellectual pastime, and not an earnest pur- 
pose of the heart. 

Among the scholars whom Bri9onnet had attracted 
to his diocese, was a doctor of the Sorbonne named 
Peter Caroli, a vain and frivolous man, not less quarrel- 
some and litigious than Beda himself. In the new doc- 
trine Caroli saw the means of vexing Beda, whose as- 
cendency he could not endure. Accordingly, on his 
return from Meaux to Paris, he made a great sensation 
by carrying into the pulpit what was called, "the new 
way of preaching." Then began an indefatigable strug- 
gle between the two doctors ; it was blow for blow, and 
trick for trick. Beda summoned Caroli before the Sor- 
bonne, and Caroli summoned him before the bishop's 
court by way of reparation. The faculty continued the 
examination, and Caroli gave notice of an appeal to the 
parliament. He was provisionally forbidden to enter 
the pulpit, and he preached in all the churches of Paris. 
Being positively forbidden to preach at all, he publicly 
lectured on the Psalms in the college of Cambray. The 
faculty forbade him to continue his course, and he beg- - 
ged permission to finish the explanation of the twenty- 
second Psalm, which he had just begun. Finally, on the 
refusal of his request, he posted the following placard 
on the college gates: Peter Garolif desirous of obeying 
the orders of the sacred faculty, has ceased to lecture ; hs 
will resume his lectures, whenever it shall please God^ at 
the ve^'se where he left off : They have pierced my hands 
AND MY FEET." Thus Beda at last found his match. If 
Caroli had seriously defended the truth, the burning pile 
would soon have been his reward ; but he was of too pro* 
faoie a spirit to be put to death. How could the judges 



PAVANNE IMPEISONED 



527 



capitally punish a man who made them ose their grav- 
ity. Neither the bishop's court, nor the parliament, nor 
the council, could ever come to a definite decision in his 
cause. Two men such as Caroli would have wearied 
out the activity of Beda himself ; but the Eeformation 
did not produce his parallel.* 

As soon as this unseasonable contest was ended, 
Beda applied to more serious matters. Happily for the 
syndic of the Sorbonne, there were men who gave per- 
secution a better hold of them than Caroli. Bri9onnet, 
Erasmus, Lefevre, and Farel, had escaped him ; but 
since he cannot reach these distinguished individuals, 
he will content himself with meaner persons. The poor 
youth James Pavanne, after his abjuration at Christmas, 
1524, had done nothing but weep and sigh. He might 
be seen with a melancholy air, his eyes fixed on the 
earth, groaning inwardly, and severely reproaching him- 
self for having denied his Saviour and his God.f 

Pavanne was undoubtedly the most diffident and 
inoffensive of men : but what mattered that ? he had 
been at Meaux, and in those days that was sufficient. 
"Pavanne has relapsed,'' was the cry; "the dog is 
turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was 
washed to her wallowing in the mire." He was imme- 
diately arrested, thrown into prison, and taken before 
his judges. This was all that the youthful James re- 
quired. He felt comforted as soon as he was in chains, 
and found strength sufficient to confess Jesus Christ 
with boldness.^ The cruel persecutors smiled as they 
saw that, this time at least, nothing could save their 
victim ; there was no recantation, no flight, no powerful- 
patronage. The young man's mildness, his candor and 
courage, failed to soften his adversaries. He regarded 
them with love ; for by casting him into prison, they 
had restored him to tranquillity and joy ; but his tender 

• Gerdesius, Hist, seculi xvi. renovati, p. 52 ; D'Argentre, Col- 
lectic judiciorum de novis erroribus, 2. 21 ; GaLUard, Hist, de Fraa- 
^ois I., 4. 233. t Animi factum suum destestaiitis dolorem, 

Baepe declaraverit. Acta Mart. p. 203. { Puram religionis 

ClturUtiauae confessioaem addit. Ibid. 



328 HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATION 



looks only served to harden their hearts. His trial was 
soon concluded : a pile was erected on the Gr^ve, where 
Pavanne died rejoicing, strengthening by his example 
all those who in that large city believed openly or se- 
cretly in the gospel of Christ. 

This was not enough for the Sorbonne. If they are 
compelled to sacrifice the little ones of the world, their 
number must at least make amends for their quality 
The flames of the Gr^ve struck terror into Paris and the 
whole of France ; but a new pile, kindled on another 
spot, will redouble that terror. It will be talked of at 
court, in the colleges, and in the workshops of the peo- 
ple ; and such proofs will show more clearly than any 
edicts, that Louisa of Savoy, the Sorbonne, and the par- 
liament, are resolved to sacrifice the very last heretic to 
the anathemas of Rome. 

In the forest of Livry, three leagues from Paris, and 
not far from the spot where once stood the ancient ab- 
bey of the Augustines, dwelt a hermit, who in his excur- 
sions having met with some men of Meaux, had received 
the evangelical doctrine in his heart.* The poor hermit 
had felt himself rich in his retreat, when one day, return- 
ing with the scanty food that public charity bestowed 
on him, he carried back Jesus Christ and his grace. 
From that time he found that it was better to give than 
to receive. He went from house to house in the sur- 
rounding villages, and as soon as he had opened the 
doors of the poor peasants whom he visited in their 
humble huts, he spoke to them of the gospel, of the per- 
fect pardon that it offers to the burdened soul, and which 
is far better than absolutions.f Erelong the good her- 
mit of Livry was known in the environs of Paris ; peo- 
ple went to visit him in his lowly cell, and he became a 
mild and fervent missionary for the simple souls of that 
dibtrict. 

• Cette Bemence de Faber et de ses disciples, prise au grenicr de 
Luther, germa dans le sot esprit d'un ermite, qui se teaait pres la 
ville de Paris. Hist. cath. de notre temps, par S. Fontaine, Paris, 
1662. t Lequel par les villages qu'il frequentait, sous couleur 
de faire ses quotes, tenait propos b^r^tiques. Ibid. 



THE HERMIT OF LIVRT, 



529 



The rnmor of the doings of this new evangelist did 
not fail to reach the ears of the Sorbonne and of the 
magistrates of Paris. The hermit was seized, dragged 
from his hermitage, from his forest, from those fields 
through which he used to wander daily, thrown into a 
prison in that great city which he had ever shunned, and 
condemned " to suffer the exemplary punishment of the 
slow fire.''* 

In order to render the example more striking, it was 
ietermined that he should be burned alive in the front of 
Notre-Dame, before that splendid cathedral, that majes- 
tic symbol of Roman-catholicism. All the clergy were 
convoked, and as much pomp was displayed as on the 
most solemn festivals.f They would, if possible, have 
attracted all Paris round the stake, *'the great bell of 
the church of Notre-Dame,'' says a historian, ^'tolling 
solemnly to arouse the citizens."^ The people flocked 
in crowds through all the streets that led into the square. 
The deep tones of the bell drew the workman from his 
toil, the scholar from his books, the merchant from his 
traffic, the soldier from his idleness, and already the wide 
space was covered by an immense crowd which still kept 
increasing. The hermit, clad in the garments assigned 
to obstinate heretics, with head and feet bare, had been 
led before the gates of the cathedral. Calm, firm, and 
collected, he made no reply to the exhortations of the 
confessors who presented him a crucifix, save by declar- 
ing that his sole hope was in the pardon of God. The 
doctors of the Sorbonne, in the front ranks of the spec- 
tators, seeing his constancy, and the effect it was pro- 
ducing on the people, cried aloud, '^He is damned ; they 
are leading him to hell-fire.''§ The great bell still con- 
tinued tolling, and its loud notes, by stunning the ears 
of the crowd, increased the solemnity of this mournful 
spectacle. At length the bell was silent, and the mar- 
tyr having replied to the last questions of his enemies, 

• Hist. cath. de notre temps, par S. Fontaine, Paris, 1562. 
t Avec une grande ceremonie. Hist, des tlg\, Ref. par Thdod. 
de B^ze, 1.4. t Ibid. § Ibid, 



HiM-oriUf. IIL 



34 



630 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



that he was resolved to die in the faith of his Lord 
Jesus Christ, was burned by a slow j&re, according to 
the tenor of his sentence. And thus, in front of Notre- 
Darae, amid the shouts and emotion of a whole people, 
under the shadow of the towers raised by the piety of 
Louis the younger, peacefully died a man whose name 
history has not transmitted to us, except as the "Hor* 
mit of Livry.'' 



A STUDENT OF NOTOM. 



531 



CHAPTER XV. 

A student of Noyon — Character of young Calvin — Early edncatioQ 

—Consecrated to theology — The bishop gives him the tonsure- 
He leaves Noyon on account of the plague — The two Calvins — 
Slanders — The Reformation creates new languages — Persecution 
and terror — Toussaint put in prison — The persecution more fu- 
rious — Death of Du Blet, Moulin, and Papillon — God saves the 
church—Margaret^s project — Her departure for Spain. 

While men were thus putting to death the first con- 
fessors of Jesus Christ in France, God was preparing 
mightier ones to fill their places. Beda hurried to the 
stake an unassuming scholar, a humble hermit, and 
thought he was dragging almost the whole of the re- 
form along with them. But Providence has resources 
that are unknown to the world. The gospel, like the 
fabulous phoenix, contains a principle of life within 
itself, which the flames cannot consume, and it springs 
up again from its own ashes. It is often at the moment 
when the storm is at its height, when the thunderbolt 
seems to have struck down the truth, and when thick 
darkness hides it from our view, that a sudden glimmer- 
ing appears, the forerunner of a great deliverance. At 
this time, when all human powers in Prance were arm- 
ing against the gospel for the complete destruction of 
the Reformation, God was preparing an instrument, 
weak to all appearance, one day to support his rights 
and to defend his cause with more than mortal intrepid- 
ity. In the midst of the persecutions and blazing piles 
that followed each other in close succession after Fran- 
cis became Charles' prisoner, let us fix our eyes on a 
youth, one day to be called to the head of a great army 
in the holy warfare of Israel. 

Among the inhabitants of the city and colleges of 
Paris who heard the sound of the great bell, was a 
young scholar of sixteen, a native of Noyon in Picardy, 
of middle stature, sallow features, and whose piercing 



532 HISTORT OP THE UEFORMATIOlf . 



eye and animated looks announced a mind of no com« 
mon sagacity.* His dress, extremely neat, but of per- 
fect simplicity, betokened order and moderation.f This 
young man, by name John Cauvin, or Calvin, was then 
studying at the college of La Marche, under Mathuria 
Cordier, a rector celebrated for his probity, erudition, 
and peculiar fitness for the instruction of youth. Brought 
up in all the superstitions of Popery, the scholar of No- 
yon was blindly submissive to the church, cheerfully 
complying with all her observances,! and persuaded 
that the heretics had richly deserved their fate. The 
blood which was then flowing in Paris aggravated the 
crime of heresy in his eyes. But although naturally ot 
a timid and fearful disposition, and which he himself has 
styled soft and pusillanimous, § he possessed that up- 
rightness and generosity of heart which lead a man to 
sacrifice every thing to his convictions. Accordingly, 
in vain had his youth been appalled by those frightful 
spectacles, in vain had murderous flames consumed the 
faithful disciples of the gospel on the Gr^ve and in front 
of Notre-Dame ; the recollection of these horrors could 
not prevent him from one day entering on the new path, 
which seemed to lead only to the prison or the stake. 
Moreover, there were already perceptible in the charac- 
ter of young Calvin certain traits that announced what 
he would become. Strictness of morals in him led the 
way to strictness of doctrine, and the scholar of sixteen 
already gave promise of a man who would deal seriously 
with every principle he embraced, and who would firmly 
require in others what he himself found it so easy to 
perform. Quiet and serious during his lessons, never 
sharing in the amusements or follies of his school-fel- 
lows during the hours of recreation, holding himself 

* Statura fult mediocri, colore subpallido et nigricante, oculis 
ad mortem usque limpidis, quique ingenii sagacitatem testarentur. 
Bezae Vita Calvini. f Cultu corporis neque culto neque sor- 

did© sed qui singularem modestiam deceret. Ibid. i Primo 

quidem quum superstitionibus Papatus magis pertinaciter addictua 
essem. Calv. Praef. ad Psalm. § Ego qui natura timi^". moUJ 
et pueillo animo me esse fateor. Ibid« 



CHARACTEE OP YOlTNa CALVIN. 633 



aloof,* and filled with horror at sin, he would often 
reprimand their disorders with severity and even bitter-, 
ness.f And hence, as a canon of Noyon informs us, 
his fellow-students nicknamed him the accusative case.J 
Among them he was the representative of conscience 
and of duty, so far was he from being as some of his 
calumniators have depicted him. The pale features and 
the piercing eyes of the scholar of sixteen had already 
inspired his comrades with more respect than the black 
gowns of their masters ; and this Picard youth, of a 
timid air, who daily took his seat on the benches in the 
college of La Marche, was even then, by the seriousness 
of his conversation and life, an unconscious minister and 
reformer. 

It was not in these particulars alone that the youth 
of Noyon was already far above his school-fellows. His 
great timidity sometimes prevented him from manifest- 
ing all the horror he felt at vanity and vice ; but he 
already consecrated to study the whole force of his 
genius and of his will, and to look at him one might see 
he was a man who would spend his life in toil. He 
comprehended every thing with inconceivable facility ; 
he ran in his studies while his companions were lazily 
creeping along, and he impressed deeply on his pro- 
found genius what others spend much time in learning 
superficially. Accordingly his master was compelled to 
take him out of the classes, and introduce him singly to 
fresh studies. § 

Among his fellow-students were the young De Mom- 
mors, belonging to the first nobility of Picardy. John 
Calvin was very intimate with them, especially with 
Claude, who afterwards became abbot of St. Eloi, and 

* Summam in moribus affectabat gravitatem et paucorum bond 
Qnm consuetudine utebatur. Raemundi Hist. Hseres. 7. 10. 

t Severus omnium in suis sodalibus censor. BezsD Vita Calv. 

t Annales de l'£glise de Noyon, par Levasseur, chanoine, p. 
1168. § Exculto ipsius ingenio quod ei jam turn erat acerri- 

mum, ita profecit ut caeteris sodalibus in grammatices curriculo re^ 
lictis, ad dialecticos et aliarum quas vocant axtium stadium promo 
reretur. Beza. 



534 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



to whom he dedicated his commentary on Seneca. It 
was in the company of these young nobles that Calvin 
had come to Paris. His father, Gerard Calvin, apostolic 
notary, procurator-fiscal of the county of Noyon, secre- 
tary of the diocese, and proctor of the chapter,* was a 
man of judgment and ability, whose talents had raised 
him to offices sought after by the best families, and who 
had gained the esteem of all the gentry in the province, 
and in particular of the noble family of Mommor.f Ge- 
rard resided at Noyon ; J he had married a young woman * 
of Cambray, of remarkable beauty and unassuming pi- 
ety, by name Jane Lefranq, who had already borne him 
a son named Charles, when on the 10th of July, 1509, 
she gave birth to a second son, who received the name 
of John, and who was christened in the church of St. 
6odeberte.§ A third son, Anthony, who died young, 
and two daughters, made up the family of the procura- 
tor-fiscal of Noyon. 

Gerard Calvin, living in familiar intercourse with 
the heads of the clergy and the chief persons in the 
province, desired that his children should receive the 
same education as those of the best families. John^ 
whose precocious habits he had observed, was brought 
up with the sons of the Mommor family ; he lived in 

• Levasseur, doctor of the Sorbonne, Annales de I'figlise Cath6- 
drale de Noyon, p. 1151. Drelincourt, Defense de Calvin, p. 193. 

t Erat is Gerardus non parvi judicii et concilii homo, ideoque 
nobllibus ejus regionis plerisque earns. Beza. J Dans la 

place ou est bastie maintenant la maison du Cerf. Desmay, doctor 
of the Sorbonne, Vie de Jean Calvin, heresiarque, p. 30. Levas- 
seur, Ann. de Noyon, p. 1157. § The calumnies and extrav- 
agant tales about Calvin began early. J. Levasseur, afterwardi 
dean of the canons at Noyon, relates that when Calvin's mother 
was in labor, "before the child was born, there came forth a swarm 
of large flies, an indubitable presage that he would one day be an 
evil speaker and a calumniator. " Ann. de la Cath. de Noyon, p. 1 157. 
These absurdities and many others of the same kind refute them 
selves, without our taking upon ourselves to do so. In our days, 
those Romish doctors who are not ashamed to employ the weapons 
of calumny, make a selection from these low and ridiculous storioe, 
not darini; to cite them all ; but they are all equally worthless. 



EAELr EDUCATIOH. 



53fi 



(heir house as one of themselves, and studied the same 
lessons as Claude. In this family he learned the first 
elements of literature and of life ; he thus received a 
higher polish than he appeared destined to acquire.* 
He was afterwards sent to the college of the Capettes, 
founded in the city of Noyon.f The child enjoyed but 
little recreation. The austerity that was one of the 
characteristic features of the son, was found also in the 
father. Gerard brought him up strictly ; from his ear- 
liest years, J ohn was compelled to bend to the inflexible 
rule of duty, which soon became habitual to him, and 
the influence of the father counteracted that of the Mom- 
mor family. Calvin, who was of a timid and somewhat 
rustic character, as he says himself, J and rendered still 
more timid by his father's severity, shrunk from the 
splendid apartments of his protectors, and loved to re« 
main alone and in obscurity. § Thus in retirement his 
young mind formed itself to great thoughts. It would 
appear that he sometimes went to the village of Pont 
PEveque, near Noyon, where his grandfather resided in 
a small cottage, || and where other relatives also, who at 
a later period changed their name from detestation of 
the heresiarch, kindly received the son of the procura- 
tor-fiscal. But it was to study chiefly that young Calvin 
devoted his time. While Luther, who was to act upon 
the people, was brought up like a child of the people, 
Calvin, who was to act especially as a theologian and 
profound reasoner, and become the legislator of the ren- 
ovated church, received even in childhood a more liberal 
education.*!" 

A spirit of piety early showed itself in the child's 

• Domi vestraj puer educatus, iisdem tecum etudiis initiatus, 
primam vitae et literarum disciplinam familise vestrae nobilissimaa 
acceptam refero. Calv. Praef. in Senecam ad Claudiam. 

t Desmay, Remarques, p. 31 ; Dreliucourt, Defense, p. 168. 

X Ego qui natura subrusticus. Praef. ad Psalm. 

§ Umbram et otium semper amavi .... latebras captare. Ibid 

11 Le bruit est que son grand-pere etait tonnelier, Drelincourt, 
p. SO; Levasseur, Ann. de Nojon, p. 1151, % Henry, Dafi 

hebetx Calvins, p. 29. 



636 HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION 



heart. One author relates that he was accustomed^ 
when very young, to pray in the open air, under the 
vault of heaven, a habit which contributed to avsvaken 
in ms heart the sentiment of God's omnipresence.* Bu«t 
although Calvin might, even in infancy, have heard the 
voice of God in his heart, no one at Noyon was so rigid 
as he in the observance of ecclesiastical regulations. 
And hence Gerard, remarking this disposition, conceived 
the design of devoting his son to theology.f This pros- 
pect no doubt contributed to impress on his soul that 
serious form, that theological stamp, by which it was 
subsequently distinguished. His spirit was of a nature 
to receive a strong impression in early years, and to 
familiarize itself from childhood with the most elevated 
thoughts. The report that he was at this time a chor- 
ister has no foundation, as even his adversaries admit. 
But they assure us that, when a child, he was seen join- 
ing the religious processions, and carrying a sword with 
a cross-shaped hilt by way of a crucifix. J " A presage," 
add they, "of what he was one day to become." "The 
Lord hath made my mouth like a sharp sword," says the 
servant of Jehovah in Isaiah. The same may be said of 
Calvin. 

Gerard was poor ; his son's education had cost him 
much, and he wished to attach him irrevocably to the 
church. The cardinal of Lorraine had been coadjutor of 
the bishop of Metz at the age of four years. It was then 
a common practice to confer ecclesiastical titles and 
revenues upoa children. Alphonso of Portugal was 
made cardinal by Leo X. at the age of eight, and Odet 
of Chatillon by Clement VII. at eleven ; and subsequent 
to Calvin's day, the celebrated M^re Ang^lique of Port 
Royal was appointed coadjutrix of that nunnery at the 
age of seven years. Gerard, who died a good Catholic, 
was regarded with favor by Messire Charles de Hangest, 

* Calvin-s Leben von Fischer, Leipzig, 1794. The author does 
not quote his authority for this fact. f Destinarat autem eum 
pater ab initio theologi33 studiis, quod in ilia etiam teneratate mi- 
rum in modum religiosus esset. Bezae Vita Calv. J LevaBseur, 
Aim. de Noyon, pp. 1159, 117a. 



THE TONSURE. 



537 



bishop of Noyon, and by his vicars-general. Accord- 
ingly, when the chaplain of La Gdsine resigned, the 
bishop, on the 21st of May, 1521, conferred this benefice 
on John Calvin, who was then nearly twelve years old. 
The appointmen^t was communicated to the chapter 
twelve days after. On the eve of Corpus Christi, the 
bishop solenmly cut off the child^s hair,* and by this 
ceremony of the tonsure, John became a member of the 
clergy, and capable of entering into holy orders, and of 
holding a benefice without residing on the spot. 

Thus was Calvin called to make trial in his own per- 
son of the abuses of the Romish church. Of all who 
wore the tonsure in France, there was none more serious 
in his piety than the chaplain of La Gdsine, and the se- 
rious child was probably astonished himself at the work 
of the bishop and his vicars-general. But in his sim- 
plicity he felt too much veneration towards these exalted 
personages to indulge in the least suspicion on the law- 
fulness of his tonsure. He had held the title about two 
years when Noyon was visited by a dreadful pestilence. 
Several of the canons petitioned the chapter that they 
might be allowed to quit the city. Already many of the 
inhabitants had been carried off by the great death, and 
Gerard was beginning to fear that his son John, the 
hope of his life, might in a moment be snatched from his 
tenderness by the scourge of God. The young De Mom- 
mors were going to Paris to continue their studies ; this 
was what the procurator-fiscal had always desired for 
his son. Why should he separate John from his fellow- 
students ? On the 6th of August, 1523, he petitioned 
the chapter to procure the young chaplain "liberty to 
go wherever he pleased during the plague, without loss 
Ol his allowance ; which was granted him until the feast 
ol St. Eemy.'^f John Calvin quitted his father's house 

♦ Vie de Calvin, par Desmay, p. 31; Levasseur, p. 1158. 

f This is what the priest and the vicar-general Desmay, Jean 
Calvin, heresiarque, p. 32, and the canon Levasseur, Ann. de Noyon, 
p. 1160, declare they found in the registers of the chapter of Noyon. 
Thus these Romanist authors refuse the inventions or mistakes of 
Richelieu and other writers. 



538 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATIOK. 



at the age of fourteen. It requires great audacity in 
calumny to ascribe his departure to other causes, and 
in mex-e wantonness challenge that disgrace which justly 
recoils on those who circulate charges the falsehood of 
which has been so authentically demonstrated. It ap- 
pears that, in Paris, Calvin lodged at the house of ono of 
his uncles, Eichard Cauvin, who resided near the church 
of St. Germain I'Auxerrois. " Thus flying from the pes- 
tilence,'' says the canon of Noyon, "he went to catch it 
elsewhere.'' 

Some years after Calvin had quitted Noyon, another 
individual of the same name arrived in that city.* John 
Cauvin was a young man of corrupt principles, but as 
he came from another part of France, and was a stran- 
ger, or unknown, in Noyon, he was received among the 
priests who chanted in the choir, and in a short time a 
chapel was given him, as in the case of the first Calvin. 
As this took place at a time when the latter had already 
" turned to heresy," the good canons looked upon Cau- 
vin's arrival as a sort of recompense and consolation ; 
but it was not long before the disorderly life of this 
wretched man excited alarm among his protectors. He 
was reprimanded, punished, and even deprived of his 
Btip**nd : but to this he paid no attention,f continually 
lapsing again into incontinence. Seeing then," says 
the canon, "his hardness of heart, which made him neg- 
lect every kind of remonstrance," the canons deprived 
John Cauvin of his chapel, and expelled him from the 
choir. James Desmay, a priest and doctor of divinity, 
who had studied at Noyon every thing that concerned 
this church, adds, that he was privately scourged in 
1562, and then driven from the town.J This is indeed 
a disgraceful end for a priest. The canon Levasseur 
disputes the scourging, but admits all the rest. 

In the following year the same circumstances hap- 

• Annales de I'llglise de Noyon, at the chapter entitled, D'un 
autre Jean Cauvin^ chapel ain, vicaire de la me me 6glise de Noyon, 
Hon h^r^tique, by Jacques Levasseur, canon and dean of that city. 

t Ibid. X Vie de Jean Calvin, par T. Desmay, imprim^ 

i Boaen, ohez Richard PAUement, 1621, 



THB TWO CALVIUIB. 



539 



pcned again, for the history of Popery abounds in snch 
adventures. A certain Baldwin the younger, also chap' 
lain at Noyon, having taken to live scandalously with 
him certain women of suspicious character,* was con 
demned to attend every service in the church during a 
month, and to be scourg'jd.f 

While these two Romanist authors agree in relating 
the disorders and punishments inflicted on these young 
ecclesiastics, they likewise agree in declaring that they 
had found nothing at Noyon or in its registers against 
the morals of the great French reformer, and are content 
to execrate his error ; "for to call a man a heretic, is to 
call him by the most opprobrious of names.^'J 

The dean of Noyon goes even farther in his zeal for 
the Papacy, and relates that John Cauvin, who had been 
expelled in 1552 for incontinence, died a good Catholic. 
"Thanks be to God," adds he, "that he never turned his 
coat, nor changed his religion, to which his libertine life 
and the example of his namesake Calvin seemed to in- 
cline him." The dean concludes his strange narrative, 
the discovery of which is highly valuable to the history 
of the Reformation, in these words : " I thought it my 
duty to add this chapter to the history of the first Cal- 
vin the reformer, ad diluendam homonymiam" — to guard 
against the similarity of names — " for fear one should be 
taken for the other, the Catholic for the heretic." § 

Never was fear better founded. We know what the 
popish writers are accustomed to do. They take advan- 
tage of the misdeeds of John Cau-vin at Noyon, and 
ascribe them to the reformer. They tell their readers 
gravely that he was driven from his native town for 
misconduct, after having been condemned to be scourged 
and even branded In spite of all the pains taken by 
the dean of Noyon to add a chapter for fear one should 
he taken for the other , the Catholic for the heretic^ the apol- 
ogists of Rome fail not to ascribe to the reformer the 

* Scandalose vivendo cum quibusdam mulieribus suspectis. Aii« 
Dales de I'figlise de Noyon, p. 1171 f Praefati Domini ordi 

Darunt ipsum csedi virgis. Ibid. % 1162. 

§ Ibid. 1171. 



640 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 



debaucheries of his namesake. What engrossed the 
thoughts of the canon of Noyon was the glory of John 
Cauvin who died a good Catholic, and he feared lest Cal- 
vin's heresy should be laid to him. And accordingly he 
clearly assigns incontinence to the one, and heresy to the 
other. There have indeed been equivocations^ as he says, 
but in a contrary direction. Let us now return to Cal- 
vin at Paris. 

A new world opened before the young man in the 
metropolis of letters. He profited by it, applied to his 
studies, and made great progress in Latin literature. 
He became familiar with Cicero, and learned from this 
great master to employ the language of the Romans 
with a facility, purity, and ease, that excite the admira- 
tion even of his enemies. But at the same time, he 
found riches in this language which he afterwards trans- 
ferred to his own. 

Up to this time Latin had been the only language of 
the learned ; and to our own days it has remained the 
language of the Roman church. The Reformation cre- 
ated, or at least emancipated the vulgar tongue. The 
exclusive office of the priest had ceased ; the people 
were called to learn and know for themselves. In this 
one fact was involved the ruin of the language of the 
priest, and the inauguration of the language of the peo- 
ple. It is no longer to the Sorbonne alone, to a few 
monks, or ecclesiastics, or literary men, that the new 
ideas are to be addressed ; but to the noble, the citizen, 
and the laborer. All men are now to be preached to ; 
nay, more, all are to become preachers — wool-combers 
and knights, as well as doctors and parish priests. A 
new language is wanted, or at least the language of the 
people must undergo an immense transformation, a great 
enfranchisement, and, drawn from the common uses of 
life, must receive its patent of nobility from renovated 
Christianity. The gospel, so long slumbering, has 
awoke ; it speaks and addresses whole nations, every- 
where kindling generous affections ; it opens the treas- 
ures of heaven to a generation that was thinking only 
of the mean things on earth ; it shakes the masses ; it 



THE FRENCH LANaUAOB 



541 



talks to them of God, of man, of good and evil, of the 
pope and the Bible, of a crown in heaven, and perhaps 
a scaffold upon earth. The popular tongue, which hith- 
erto had been the language of chroniclers and trouba- 
dours only, was called by the Reformation to act a new 
part, and consequently to new developments. A new 
world is opening upon society, and for a new world 
there must be new languages. The Reformation re- 
moved the French from the swaddling bands in which it 
had hitherto been bound, and reared it to its majority. 
From that time the language has had full possession of 
those exalted privileges that belong to the operations of 
the mind and the treasures of heaven, of which it had 
been deprived under the guardianship of Rome. No 
doubt the language is formed by the people themselves 
they invent those happy words, those energetic and fig 
urative expressions, that impart to language such color- 
ing and life. But there are resources beyond their reach, 
and which can only proceed from- men of intellect. Cal- 
vin, when called upon to discuss and to prove, enriched 
his mother tongue with modes of connection and depend- 
ence, with shadows, transitions, and dialectic forms, that 
it did not as yet possess. 

These elements were already beginning to ferment 
in the head of the young student at the college of La 
Marche. This lad, who was destined to exercise so pow- 
erful a mastery over the human heart, was also to sub- 
jugate the lang uage he would have to use as his weapon. 
Protestant France subsequently habituated itself to the 
French of Calvin, and Protestant France comprehends 
the most cultivated portion of the nation ; from it issued 
those families of scholars and dignified magistrates who 
exerted so powerful an influence over the refinement of 
the people ; out of it sprung the Port Royal,* one of the 
greatest instruments that have ever contributed to form 
the prose and even the poetry of France, and who, after 
endeavoring to transfer to the Gallican Catholicism the 

♦ M. A. Arnauld, grandfather of the Mere Ang^lique, and of aU 
the Arnaulds of Fort Royal, waa a Protestant. See Fort Rujal^ by 
Bainte Beuvo. 



642 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



doctrine and language of the Reformation, failed lu one 
of his projects, but succeeded in the other ; for Roman 
catholic France was forced to go and learn of her Jan- 
senist and Reformed adversaries how to wield those 
weapons of language without which it cannot contend 
against them.* 

While the future reformer of religion and language 
was thus growing to maturity in the college of La 
Marche, every thing was in commotion around the 
young and serious scholar, who took no part as yet in 
the great movements that were agitating society. The 
flames that consumed the hermit and Pavanne had 
spread terror through Paris. But the persecutors were 
not satisfied ; a system of terror was set on foot through- 
out France. The friends of the Reformation no longer 
dared correspond with one another, for fear their inter- 
cepted letters should betray to the vengeance of the tri- 
bunals both those who wrote them and those to whom 
they were addressed.*}* One man, however, ventured to 
carry intelligence from Paris and France to the refugees 
at Basle, by sewing under his doublet a letter that bore no 
signature. He escaped the squadrons of arquebusiers, 
the mardchaussde of the several districts, the examina- 
tions of the provosts and lieutenants, and reached Basle 
without the mysterious doublet being searched. His 
tidings filled Toussaint and his friends with alarm. "It 
is frightful," said Toussaint, " to hear of the great cruel- 
ties there inflicted."J Shortly before this, two Francis- 
can monks had arrived at Basle, closely pursued by the 
oflScers of justice. One of them named John Provost 
had preached at Meaux, and had afterwards been thrown 
into prison at Paris. § All that they told of Paris and 
Lyons, through which they had passed, excited the com- 
passion of these refugees. "May our Lord send his 
grace thither," wrote Toussaint to Farel ; "I assure you 
that I am sometimes in great anxiety and tribulation." 

• Etude litt^raire but Calvin, par M. A. Sayous, Geneve, 1839, 
QTt, 4. It has been followed by others on Farel, Viret, and Beza. 

t U u'y a personne qui oae m'^crire. Toussaint to Farel, Sept. 
i, 1^. Neutchatel MS. t Ibid. § Ibid., July 21, 15^ 



HOPE AND LIBERTY 



543 



These excellent men still kept up their courage : in 
rain were all the parliaments on the watch ; in vain did 
the spies of the Sorbonne and of the monks creep into 
churches, colleges, and even private families, to catch 
up any word of evangelical doctrine that might there be 
uttered ; in vain did the king's soldiers arrest on the 
highways every thing that seemed to bear the stamp of 
the Reformation : those Frenchmen whom Rome and her 
satellites were hunting down and treading under foot, 
had faith in better days to come, and already perceived 
afar oflF the end of this Babylonish captivity, as they 
called it. "The seventieth year, the year of deliver- 
ance, will come at last," said they, " and liberty of spirit 
and of conscience will be given to us."* But the sev- 
enty years were destined to last nearly three centuries, 
and it was only after calamities without a parallel that 
these hopes were to be realized. It was not in man, 
however, that the refugees placed any hope. "Those 
who have begun the dance," said Toussaint, "will not 
stop on the road." But they believed that the Lord 
"knew those whom he had chosen, and would deliver 
his people with a mighty hand."| 

The Chevalier d'Esch had in effect been delivered. 
Escaping from the prison at Pont a Mousson, he had 
hastened to Strasburg ; but he did not remain there long, 
" For the honor of God," immediately wrote Toussaint to 
Farel, "endeavor to prevail on the knight, our worthy 
master,! to return as speedily as possible ; for our 
brethren have great need of such a leader." In truth, 
the French refugees had new cause of alarm. They 
trembieti lest that dispute about the Lord's supper, 
which had so much distressed them in Germany, should 
pass the Rhine, and cause fresh troubles in France. 
Francis Lambert, the monk of Avignon, after visiting 
Zurich and Wittemberg, had been in Metz; but they 

• San^ venit annus septuagesimus, et tempus appetit ut tandem 
vindicemur in libertatem spiritus et conscientiae. Toussaint to Fa- 
rel, July 21, 1521. t Sed novit Dominus quos elegerit. Ibid. 

X Si nos magistrum in terris habere deceat — if it becomes ua ta 
have any master upon earth — he adds. Ibid. N^ufchatel MS. 



544 HISrORT OF THE REFORMATION, 



did not place entire confidence in him ; they feared lest 
he should have imbibed Luther's sentiments, and that 
by controversies, both useless and "monstrous," as 
Toussaint calls them, he might check the progress of 
the Reformation.* Esch therefore returned to Lorraine ; 
but it was to be again exposed to great dangers, " along 
with all those who were seeking the glory of Jesus 
Christ/'t 

Yet Toussaint was not of a disposition to send oth- 
ers to the battle without joining in it himself. Deprived 
of his daily intercourse with (Ecolampadius, reduced to 
associate with an ignorant priest, he had sought commun- 
ion with Christ, and felt his courage augmented. If he 
could not return to Metz, might he not at least go to 
Paris ? True, the pile^s of Pavanne and the hermit of 
Livry were smoking still, and seemed to repel from the 
capital all those who held the same faith as they did. 
But if the colleges and the streets of Paris were struck 
with terror, so that no one dared even name the gospel 
and the Reformation, was not that a reason why he 
should go thither? Toussaint quitted Basle, and en- 
tered those walls where fanaticism had taken the place 
of riot and debauchery. While advancing in Christian 
studies, he endeavored to form a connection with those 
brethren who were in the colleges, and especially in that 
of the Cardinal Lemoine, where Lefevre and Farel had 
taught.J But he could not long do so freely. The tyr- 
anny of the parliamentary commissioners and of the the- 
ologians reigned supreme in the capital, and whoevei 
displeased them was accused of heresy. § A duke and 
an abbot, whose names are unknown to us, denounced 
Toussaint as a heretic ; and one day the king's sergeants 
arrested the youth from Lorraine and put him in prison. 
Separated from all his friends, and treated like a crim- 

• Vereor ne aliquid monstri alat. Toussaint to Farel, Sept. 27, 
1526. t Audio etiam equitem periclitari, simul et omnes qui 

iUic Christi gloriae favent. Ibid., Dec. 27, 1525. t F^atrei 

qui in coUegio Cardinalis Monachi sunt te salutant. Ibid. Neuf- 
chatel MS. § Begnante hie tyrrannide oommisBariorom ei 

ibeologorum. Ibid. 



FIRMNESS AKB GOUEAaS. 545 



inal, Toussaint felt his wretchedness the more keenly. 
"0 Lord,'' exclaimed he, "withdraw not thou thy Spirit 
from me ; for without it I am but flesh and a sink of 
iniquity." While his body was in chains, he turned in 
heart to those who were still combating freely for the 
gospel. There was (Ecolampadius his father, and 
"whose work I am in the Lord,'' said he* There was 
Leclerc, whom he no doubt believed, on account of his 
age, "unable to bear the weight of the gospel ;"f Vau- 
gris, who had displayed all the zeal "of the most affec* 
tionate brother" to rescue him from the hands of his 
enemies Roussel, " by whom he hoped the Lord would 
bring great things to pass and lastly, Farel, to whom 
he wrote, " I commend myself to your prayers, for fear 
that I should fall in this warfare."|| How must the 
names of all these men have softened the bitterness of 
his imprisonment, for he showed no signs of falling. 
Death, it is true, seemed hanging over him in this city, 
where the blood of a number of his brethren was to be 
poured out like water ;^ the friends of his mother, of his 
uncle the dean of Metz, and the cardinal of Lorraine, 
made him the most lavish offers.** .... "I despise 
them," answered he ; "I know that they are a tempta- 
tion of the devil. I would rather suffer hunger, I would 
rattier be a slave in the house of the Lord, than dwell 
with riches in the palaces of the wicked."f f At the 
same time he made a bold confession of his faith. " It 
is my glory," exclaimed he, " to be called a heretic by 
those whose lives and doctrines are opposed to Jesus 

* Patrem noBtrom, cujas nos opus sumas in Domino. Tou»< 
saint to Farel, Neufchatel MS. This letter is undated, but it would 
9eem to have been written shortly after Toussaint's deliverance, and 
ihows the thoughts that then filled his mind. f Faber impar 

est oneri evangelico ferendo. Ibid. i Fidelissimi fratris 

officio functum. Ibid. § Per Rufum magna operabitur Do- 

minos. Ibid. || Commendo me vestris precihus ne succum 

bem in hac militia. Ibid. ^ Me periclitari de vita Ibid, 

Offerebantur hic mihi conditiones amplissimse. Ibid. 

tt AWp esorire et aljectus esse in domo Domini Ibid« 



35 



646 HISTORY OF THE EEFORllATlON. 



Christ.''* And this interesting and bold young maa 
subscribed his letters, "Peter Toussaint, unworthy to 
be called a Christian." 

Thus, in the absence of the king, new blows were 
continually aimed against the Reformation. Berquin, 
Toussaint, and many others, were in prison ; Schuch, 
Pavanne, and the hermit of Livry, had been put to 
death ; Farel, Lefevre, Roussel, and many other defend- 
ers of the holy doctrine, were in exile : the mouths of the 
mighty ones were dumb. The light of the gospel day 
was growing dim ; the storm was roaring incessantly, 
bending and shaking as if it would uproot the young 
tree that the hand of God had so recently planted in 
France. 

Nor was this all. The humble victims who had at 
ready fallen were to be succeeded by more illustrious 
martyrs. The enemies of the reform in France, having 
failed when they began with persons of rank, had sub* 
mitted to begin at the bottom, but with the hope of ris- 
ing gradually until they procured the condemnation and 
death of the most exalted personages. The inverse 
progress succeeded with them. Scarcely had the ashes 
with which the persecution had covered the Greve and 
the avenues of Notre Dame been dispersed by the wind, 
before fresh attacks were commenced. Messire Anthony 
Du Blet, that excellent man, the Lyons merchant, sunk 
under the persecutions of these enemies of the truth, m 
company with another disciple, Francis Moulin, of whose 
fate no details have been handed down.f They went 
further still ; they now took a higher aim : there was 
an illustrious person whom they could not reach, but 
whom they could strike in those who were dear to her. 
This was the duchess of Alen9on. Michael d'Arande^ 
chaplain to the king's sister, for whose sake Margaret 

• Hflec, haec gloria mea, quod habeor haereticus ab his quorani 
vitam et doctrinam video pugnare cum Christo. Touss. to Farel, 
Neuf. MS. t Periit Franciscus Molinus ac Dubletus. ErasiiL 

Epp. p. 1109. In this letter, addressed to Francis I. in July, 1626, 
Erasmus gives the names of all those who, during the king'8 cap 
tlrlf^, hod fallen victims to these Koman fanatioa- 



fERSECUTIOK MORE ViaOEOUS. 647 



had dismissed her other preachers, and who proclaimed 
the pure doctrine of the gospel in her presence, became 
the object of attack, and was threatened with imprison- 
ment and death.* About the same time Anthony Papil- 
Ion, for whom the princess had obtained the oflBce of 
chief master of requests to the dauphin, died suddenly, 
and the general report, even among the enemies, was 
that he had been poisoned.f 

Thus the persecution spread over the kingdom, and 
daily drew nearer to the person of Margaret. After the 
forces of the reform, concentrated at Meaux, at Lyons, 
and at Basle, had been dispersed, they brought down 
one after another those isolated combatants who here 
and there stood up for it. Yet a few more efforts, and 
the soil of France will be free from heresy. Underhand 
contrivances and secret practices took the place of 
clamor and the stake. They will make war in open 
day, but they will also carry it on in darkness. If far 
naticism employs the tribunal and the scaffold for the 
meaner sort, poison and the dagger are in reserve for 
the great. The doctors of a celebrated society have 
made too good a use of these means, and even kings 
have fallen under the dagger of the assassins. But jus- 
tice demands that we should remember, if Rome has had 
in every age its fanatical assassins, it has also had men 
like Vincent de Paul and Fenelon. These blows, struck 
in darkness and silence, were well adapted to spread 
terror on every side. 

To this perfidious policy and fanatical persecution 
from within, were added the fatal reverses from with- 
out. A veil of mourning hung over the whole nation. 
There was not a family, particularly among the nobles, 
whose tears did not flow for the loss of a father, a hus- 
band, or a son left on the fields of Italy, | or whose 
hearts did not tremble for the liberty and even the life 
of one of its members. The great reverses that had 
fallen upon the nation diffused a leaven of hatred against 

* Periclitatus est Michael Arantius. Erasm. Epp. p. 1109. 
t Periit Papilio non sine gravi suspicioae vcneni. Ibid, 
t Gaillard, Francois I., vol 2. 255 



548 HISTOBY OF THE BEFOEHATION. 



the heretics. People and parliament, church and throne, 
joined hand in hand. 

Was it not enough for the duchess of Alen5on that 
the defeat of Pavia should have deprived her of her husr 
band, and made her brother a prisoner ? Must the torch 
of the gospel, in whose mild light she so rejoiced, be 
extinguished perhaps for ever ? In May, 1525, she had 
felt increase of sorrow. Charles of Lannoy had received 
orders to take his pri-soner into Spain. Margaret had 
recourse to the consolations of faith, and having found 
^ them, immediately communicated them to her brother. 
"My lord,'' she wrote, "the farther you are removed 
from us, the stronger is my hope of your deliverance : 
for when the reason of man is troubled and fails, then 
the Lord performs his mighty works. And now, if he 
makes you partaker of the pains he has borne for you, 
I beseech you, my lord, to believe that it is only to try 
how much you love him, and to aflFord you space to learn 
how he loves you ; for he will have your whole heart, 
as he through love hath given his own. After having 
united you to himself by tribulation, he will deliver 
you to his glory and your consolation by the merits of 
his victorious resurrection, in order that by you his 
name may be known and sanctified not only in your 
kingdom, but in all Christendom, until the conversion of 
the unbelievers. Oh, how blessed will be your brief 
captivity, by which God will deliver so many souls from 
unbelief and eternal condemnation 1"* Francis 1. de- 
ceived the hopes of his pious sister. 

The news from Spain soon increased the general sor- 
row. Mortification and illness endangered the life of 
the haughty Francis. If the king remains a prisoner, 
if he dies, if his mother's regency is prolonged for many 
years, will not the Reformation be crushed for ever 1 
** But when all seems lost," said the young scholaf of 
Noyon at a later period, "God saves his church in a 
marvellous way."f The church of France, which was 

* Letters de la Reine de Navarre a Francois I., p. 32. 
t Nam habet Deus modum, quo electos buos mirabillter tsasUy 
di«t, obi omnia perdita videiitur Calvin, In Ep. ad Rom. 11 :2 



MARGARET'S PROJECT. 



as if in the travail of birth, was to have an interval of 
ease before her pains returned; and to this end God 
made nse of a weak woman, who never openly declared 
in favor of the Reformation. At that time she thought 
more of saving the king and the kingdom, than of deliv- 
ering obscure Christians, who nevertheless rested great 
hopes in her.* But under the splendor of worldly aflairs 
God often conceals the mysterious ways by which he 
governs his people. A noble project arose in the mind 
of the duchess of Alen9on. To cross the sea or the Pyr- 
enees, and rescue Francis from the power of Charles V., 
was now the object of her life. 

Margaret of Valois announced her intention, which 
was suggested by her mother, and all France hailed it 
with shouts of gratitude. Her great genius, thw repu- 
tation she had acquired, the love she felt for her brother, 
and that of Francis towards her, were a great counter- 
poise in the eyes of Louisa and Duprat to her attach- 
ment to the new doctrine. All eyes were turned upon 
her, as the only person capable of extricating the king- 
dom from its perilous position. Let Margaret visit Spain, 
let her speak to the powerful emperor and to his minis- 
ters, and let her employ that admirable genius which 
Providence has bestowed on her for the deliverance of 
her brother and her king. 

Yet very different sentiments filled the hearts of the 
nobles and of the people, as they saw the duchess of 
Alen^on going into the midst of the enemy's councils, 
and among the fierce soldiery of the Catholic king. 

All admired the courage and devotion of this young 
woman, but did not share it. The friends of the prin- 
cess had fears on her behalf, which were but too near 
being realized. The evangelical Christians were full of 
hope. The captivity of Francis L had brought unheard- 
of severities on the friends of the reform ; his liberation, 
they thought, might bring them to an end. To open the 
gates of Spain to the king, would be to close those of 
the prisons into which the servants of the word of God 
oad been thrown. Margaret encouraged herself in a 

• Beneficio illastrisnmaB Ducii Alftn^ onise. Toussaint to FartL 



550 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 



project towards which all her soul felt attracted by so 
many diflFerent motives : 

Heaven's height cannot my passage stay. 
Nor powers of hell can bar my way, 
My Saviour holds the keys of both. 

Her woman's heart was strengthened by that faith which 
overcomes the world, and her resolution was irrevocable. 
Every preparation was made for this important and dan- 
gerous journey. 

The archbishop of Embrun, afterwards cardinal of 
Tournon, and the president Selves, were already at Ma- 
drid, treating for the king's deliverance. They were 
placed under Margaret's orders, as was also the bishop 
of Tarbes, afterwards cardinal of Grammont ; full pow- 
ers being given to the princess alone. At the same time 
Montmorency, afterwards so hostile to the reform, was 
sent in all haste to Spain to procure a safe-conduct for 
the king's sister.* The emperor objected at first, and 
said that it was the duty of his ministers alone to ar- 
range this aflfair. "One hour's conference," exclaimed 
Selves, "between your majesty, the king my master, and 
the duchess of Alen9on, would forward the treaty more 
than a month's discussion between diplomatists."f 

Margaret, impatient to arrive in consequence of the 
king's illness, set ofiF without a safe-conduct, accompa- 
nied by a splendid train. J She quitted the court, moving 
towards the Mediterranean ; but while she was on the 
road, Montmorency returned with letters from Charles 
guaranteeing her liberty for three months only. That 
matters not ; she will not be stopped. The eagerness 
for this journey was such that the duchess had been 
compelled to ask the king whom she should select to 
accompany her. "Your good servants have so great a 
desire to see you, that each one prays to be allowed to 
go with me," she wrote to her brother. 

• M^moires de Du Bellay, p. 124. f Histoire de France, 

par Gamier, tome 24. | Pour taster au vlf la voalunt^ de Ve» 
lea empereur .... madame Marguerite, duchesse d'Alcn^on, tr^t> 
notablement accompaignee de plusieurs ambassadears. . • • Lai 
gestes de Francois de Yalois, par E. I>olet, 1540, 



MISSION AKD SAFE-CONDtTCt 661 



Margaret had scarcely reached the shores of the 
Mediterranean, when the fears of those about her on the 
insufficiency of the safe-conduct, but especially the bad 
weather and the tempest, made her halt. "The seamen 
themselves," wrote she to Montmorency, "are alarmed.'* 
On the 2irth of August she made up her mind. "The 
bearer," she wrote to the king on the very day, " the 
bearer will tell you how the heavens, the sea, and the 
opinions of men have retarded my departure. But He 
alone to whom all things pay obedience, hath given such 

favorable weather that every difficulty is solved I 

will not delay either on account of my own security or 
of the sea, which is unsettled at this season, to hasten 
towards the place where I may see you ; for fear of 
death, imprisonment, and every sort of evil are now so 
habitual to me, that I hold lightly my life, health, glory, 
and honor, thinking by this means to share your fortune, 
which I would desire to bear alone."* Nothing there- 
fore could detain this princess at Aigues-Mortes,f and 
in this port Margaret embarked on board the ship pre- 
pared for her. Led by Providence into Spain, rather for 
the deliverance of humble and oppressed Christians, than 
to free the mighty king of France from his captivity, she 
confided herself to the waves of that sea which had 
borne her brother a captive after the disastrous battle 
of Pavia. 

* Lettres de la reine de Navarre a Francois I., pp. 39, 40. 

t Jam in itinere erat Margarita, Francisci soror . . . . e fossil 
Marianis solvens. Barcinonem primum, deinde Csesar-Augaatam 
appaierat Belcarios, Berum Gallic. Comm. p. 666. 



/ 



