THE LIBRARY 



THE UNIVERSITY 



OF CALIFORNIA 



LOS ANGELES 



NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM 




HISTORY 



THE REFORMATION 



SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



BY J, H, MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D, D,, 

PRESIDENT OF THE THEOLOOICAL SCHOOL OF GENEVA, AND VICE-PSSST 
DENT OF THE SOOIETE EVANGELIQTJE. 



TRANSLATED 

BY H. WHITE, 

. TRINITY COLLKOK, OAMBRIDOB; MA. AND FB. DR. 



THE TRANSLATION CAREFULLY REVISED BY DR. D'AUBIGNK, WHO HAS A1SO 
MADE VARIOUS ADDITIONS NOT HITHERTO PUBLISHED. 



VOL, III, 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 

1849. 



College 
Library 



PBEFACE TO VOLUME THIED. 




A SPIRIT of examination and inquiry is in our flays con- 
tinually urging the literary men of France, Switzerland, 
Germany, and England to search after the original 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 undertaken. Hitherto I have not 
been content simply with reading the works of contemporary 
historians: I have examined eye-witnesses, letters, and 
original narratives ; and have made use of some manuscripts, 
particularly that of Bullinger, which has been printed since 
the appearance of the Second Volume of this Work in 
France.* 

But the necessity of having recourse to unpublished docu- 
ments 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 con- 
sequence 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 bo seen 
that a manuscript in the Royal Library, hitherto I believe 
unknown, throws much light on the early stages of the Refor- 
* Bullinger's Chronik, Frauenfeld, 1838-1840. 



IV PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. 

mation ; and in the autumn of 1839 I consulted the manu- 
scripts in the library belonging to the consistory of the pastors 
of Neufchatel, a collection exceedingly rich with regard to thig 
period, as having inherited the manuscripts of Farel's library ; 
and through the kindness of the Chatelain 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 Reformation 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 Chris- 
tianisme, to all friends of history and the Reformation 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. Ladeveze, pastor 
at Meaux. But although religious wars and persecutions 
have destroyed many precious documents, 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 now-a-days 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 particulars are 
almost unknown, the events that form the subject of my 
Twelfth Book, occupying only four pages in the Histoire 
Ecclesiastique des Eglises reformfies au Royaume de France, 
by Theodore Beza ; and other historians have confined them- 
selves 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 chris- 



PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. V 

tian interest that is attached to them, the humble but 
heaven-descended movement that I have endeavoured to 
describe, has probably exerted a greater influence over the 
destinies 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, possibly, certain superior 
intellects to which conditions may be prescribed ;- but there 
are others whose weakness must give them, and to this 
number the author belongs. To publish a volume at one 
time, and then a second whenever 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 interposed ; severe afflictions have on two occasions 
interrupted the composition of this third volume, and 
gathered 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 kindness 
with which this Work has been received both in France and 
England, and especially in the latter country. The appro- 
bation of the Protestant Christians of Great Britain, the re- 
presentatives of evangelical principles and doctrines in the 
most distant parts of the world, is most highly valued by 
me ; and I feel a pleasure in telling them that it is a most 
precious encouragement to my labours. 

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



VI PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. 

who received tty Reformation. In the eighteenth 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, Portugal, and Spain, into 
inextricable difficulties ; and at the same time two Protes- 
tant nations arose and began to exercise aiv influence over 
Europe that had hitherto belonged 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 Branden- 
burg, in spite of the wrath of Clement XL, 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, a^so separated from Rome, 
has been growing up in her immense deserts. In this 
manner have evangelical principles exerted their influence 
over the countries that have embraced them, and righteous- 
ness hath exalted the nations (Prov. xiv. 34). Let the 
evangelical nations be Avell 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 endeavouring 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 off 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 govern- 
ments, turn again towards the papacy, it will be, in our belief, 
the signal of great disasters. Whoever attaches himself to 
the papacy will be compromised in its destruction. France 
has no prospect of strength or of greatness but by turning 



PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. VU 

towards the Gospel. May this great trutti be rightly un- 
derstood by the people and their leaders ! 

It is true that in our days popery is making a great 
stir. Although labouring under an incurable consumption, 
she would by a hectic flush and feverish activity persuade 
others and herself too that she is still in full vigour. This 
a theologian in Turin has endeavoured 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 candour to which we are 
little accustomed, and in a becoming style, with the exception, 
however, of the culpable facility with which the author in 
his twelfth chapter revives accusations against the reformers, 
the falsehood of which has been so authentically demon- 
strated and so fully acknowledged.* 

As a sequel to his Biography of Luther, M. Audin has 
recently published a Life of Calvin, written under the influ- 
ence of lamentable prejudices, and in which we can hardly 
recognise 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 precisely 
the human and very rational causes that so clearly explain 
its origin, to which the papacy has recourse to prove its 
divine institution. Thus Christian antiquity declares that 
the universal episcopacy was committed to all the bishops, 

" La Papaute considered dans son origine et dans son developpement 
n moyen ge, ou reponse aux allegations de M. Merle D'Aubigne dans 
son Histoire de la Reformation au seizieme siede, par 1'abbe C. Magmn, 
docteur en theologie. Geneve, chez Berthier-Guers, 1840. 



Viii PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. 

so that the bishops of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, 
Ephesus, Rome, Carthage, Lyons, Aries, Milan, Hippo, 
Csesarea, &c., 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 missionaries 
to the countries with which they were connected. This was 
done first of all by Jerusalem ; then by Antioch, Alexandria, 
and Ephesus 5 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 her- 
self above the others. These examples will suffice. 

Let us only remark further, that Rome possessed alone in 
the West the honour that had been shared in the East by 
Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Antioch, and in a 
much higher degree by Jerusalem ;* namely, that of having 
one apostle or many among its first teachers. Accordingly, 
the Latin Churches must naturally 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 acknowledge her ecclesiastical superiority. 
The famous General Council of Chalcedon ascribed to Con- 
stantinople, formerly the obscure Byzantium, the same pri- 
vileges (ra lea. irgtff&fa,} 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 ac- 
knowledge a master of whom it had never heard mention ; 
and, standing on the ancient footing of its catholicity, it 

* St. Epiphany says, that our Lord committed to James the Elder nt 
Jerusalem his throne on earth (TOV 3jvov alnu Ivl rtit y^s) : and speak- 
ing of the bishops assembled at Jerusalem, he declares that the whole 
world (iravra xafftet) ought to submit to their authority. Epiph. Haeres., 
70,10; 78,7. 



PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. K 

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 orthodox ; and when- 
ever you ask one of the Eastern Christians, whom Rome 
has gained by her numerous concessions, whether he is a 
catholic ? " No," replies he directly, " 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 wejl understand this way of viewing my sub- 
ject, but I cannot participate in it. In my opinion, the very 
essence of the Reformation 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 historical. It would be like a philosopher who, 
in describing a man, should detail with great accuracy and 
picturesque 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 work of 
which I here present another fragment to the Christian public ; 
and I should desire that it were still more copiously imbued 
with the spirit of the Reformation. The better I have suc- 
ceeded 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 an historian of the six- 
teenth 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 give them 

t Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff. London 1839, p. 226- 
VOL. m. 1* 



X PREFACE TO VOLUME THIRD. 

that law which I acknowledge myself: that, in seeking the 
glory of this precious instrument, their principal 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 honour 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 llmlui.re L'nioersrlle of Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigikf, 3 volfl 
folio, Amsterdam IfJJfi. U'Aubigne was then a refugee at tientvu, and 
in the preface to th.s work, which contains a lii.itory of the world and 
more especially of France and French Protestantism during hi* lifetime, 
he bequeaths to his children the tusk of completing the history he had 
partially traced out, and prescribes to them (in the passage quoted above) 
the spirit in which it should be performed. He little thought that two 
cent uries and a half would pass away before lus legacy would be accepted 
and the history of I'roicstaiuisiu completed. ( \utc by t/te Translator. J 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK IX. 

FIRST REFORMS. 1521 AND 1522. 

CHAPTER I. 

Progress of the Reformation New Period Usefulness of Luther's Cap- 
tivity in the Wartburg Agitation in Germany Melaucthon p.nL 
Lutlier Enthusiasm Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Luther in the Wartburg Object of his Captivity Anxiety Sickness 
Luther's Labours On Confession Reply to Latomus His daily 
Walks 8 

CHAPTER III. 

Commencement of the Reform Marriage of Feldkirchen The Marriage 
of Mouks Theses Tract against Monachism Luther no longer a 
Monk 16 

CHAPTER IY. 

Archbishop Albert The Idol of Halle Luther's Indignation Alarm of 
the Court Luther's Letter to the Archbishop Albert's Reply Joa- 
chim of Brandenburg 21 

CHAPTER V. 

Translation of the Bihle Wants of the Church Principles of the Re- 
formationTemptations of the Devil Luther's Works condemned by 
the Sorboane Melancthon's Reply Luther Visits Wittemberg W 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fresh Reforms Gabriel Zwilling on the Mass The University Me- 
laucth on's Propositions Tlie Elector Monastic Institutions attacked 
Emancipation of the Monks Disturbances Chapter of the Augus- 
tine Monks Carlstadt and the Mass First Celebration of the Lord's 
Supper Importance of the Mass in the Romish System Page 34 

CHAPTER VII. 

False Reform The New Prophets The Prophets at Wittemberg-- 
Melancthon The Elector Luther Carlstadt and the Images Dis- 
turbances Luther is called for He does not hesitate Dangers 46 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Departure from the Wartburg New Position Luther and Primitive 
Catholicism Meeting at the Black Bear Luther's Letter to the Elec- 
tor 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 Lu- 
ther End of the Struggle , 56 

CHAPTER IX. 

Translation of the New Testament Faith and Scripture Opposition 
Importance of this Publication Necessity for a systematic Arrange- 
ment Melancthon's Loci Communes Original Sin Salvation Free 
Will Effects of the Loci Communes.. 74 

CHAPTER X. 

Opposition Henry VIII. Wolsey The Queen Fisher Thomas 
More Luther's Books burnt Henry's Attack on Luther Presented 
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 .'. 83 

CHAPTER XL 

General Movement The Monks How the Reformation was carried on 
Unlearned Believer The Old and the New Doctors Printing and 
Literature Bookselling and Colportage ..96 

CHAPTER XII. 

Luther at Zwickau The Castle of Freyberg Worms Frankfort Uni- 
versal Movement Wittemberg the Centre of the Reformation Luther's 
Sentiments ...104 



CONTENTS. Xltt 



BOOK X. 

AGITATION, REVERSES, AND PROGRESS. 1522 1526. 

CHAPTER I. 

Political Element Want of Enthusiasm at Rome - Siege of Pampeluna 
Courage of Ignatius Transition Luther and Loyola Visions- 
Two Principles -. Page 111 

CHAPTER II. 

Victory of the Pope Death of Leo X. The Oratory of Divine Love 
Adrian VI. Plan of Reform Opposition 120 

CHAPTER III. 

Diet of Nuremberg Soliman's Invasion The Nuncio calls for Luther's 
Death The Nuremberg Preachers Promise of Reform Grievances 
of the Nation Decree of the Diet Fulminating Letter of the Pope 
Luther's Advice 125 

CHAPTER IV. 

Persecution Exertions of Duke George The Convent at Antwerp 
Miltenberg The Three Monks of Antwerp The Scaffold The Mar- 
tyrs of Brussels 135 

CHAPTER V. 

The New Pope, Clement VII. The Legate Campeggio Diet of Nurem- 
berg Demand of the Legate Reply of the Diet A Secular Council 
projected Alarm aud Exertions of the Pope Bavaria League of 
Ratisbon Severity and Reforms Political Schism Opposition 
Intrigues of Rome Decree of Burgos Rupture 142 

CHAPTER VI. 

Persecution Gaspard Tauber A Bookseller Cruelties in Wurtemberg 
Salzburg, and Bavaria Pomerania Henry of Zuphten 151 

CHAPTER VII. 

Divisions The Lord's Supper Two Extremes Hoen's Discovery- 
Carlstadt Luther Mysticism of the enthusiasts Carlstadt at Orla 
mund Luther's Mission Interview at Table The Conference of 
Orlamund Carlstadt banished.. . . 166 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Progres? Resistance against the Ratisbon Leaguers Meeting between 
1'lnlip of Hesse and Melancthon -The Landgrave converted to the 
Gospel The Palatinate LuueburgHolstein The Grand-Master at 
"Wittemberg ... Page 166 

CHAPTER IX. 

Reforms All Saints Church Fall of the Mass Learning Christian 
Schools Learning extended to the Laity The Arts Moral Religion 
Eotlietical Religion Music Poetry Painting 170 

CHAPTER X. 

Political Ferment Lnther against Rebellion Thomas Mnnzer Agita- 
tion The Black Forest -The twelve Articles Luther's Opinion 
HeJfeii.xteiu March of the Peasants -March of the Imperial Army- 
Defeat of the Peasants Cruelty of the Priuces 179 

CHAPTER XI. 

Mnnzer at Mnlhansen Appeal to the People March of the Princes- 
End of the Re-volt -Influence of the Reformers Sufferings Changes 
Two Results 192 

CHAPTER XII. 

Death of the Elector Frederick The Prince and the Reformer 
Roman-catholic Alliance Plans of Charles the Fifth Dangers 199 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Nuns of Nimptsch Luther's Sentiments The Convent dissolved 
Luther's Marriage Domestic Happiness .....'J03 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Landgrave The Elector Prussia- Reformation Secularization 
The Archbishop of Mentz Conference at Fried wait Diet Alliance of 
Torgau- Resistance of the Reformers -Alliance of Magdeburg The 
Catholics redouble their Exertions The Emperor's Marriage Threat- 
ening Letters The two Parties 210 



CONTENTS. XV 



BOOK XI. 

DIVISIONS. 
% SWITZERLAND GERMANY. 1523 1527. 

CHAPTER I. 

Unity in Diversity Primitive Fidelity and Liberty Formation of Ro- 
mish Unity Leo Juda, and the Monk Zwiugle's Theses The Dis- 
putation of January Page 220 

CHAPTER II. 

Papal Temptations Progress of the Reformation The Idol at Stadel- 
hofeu ijacrile^o Tlie Ornaments of the Saiuts 227 

CHAPTER III. 

The Disputation of October Zwingle on the Chnrch The Chnrch 
Commencement of Presbyterianism -Discussion on the Mass En- 
thusiasts The Language of Discretion Victory A Characteristic of 
the Swiss Reformation Moderation -Oswald Myconius at Zurich 
Revival of Literature Thomas Plater of the Valais 231 

CHAPTER IV. 

Diet of Lucerne Hottinger arrested His Death Deputation from thd 
Diet to Zurich Abolition of religious Processions Abolition of 
Images The Two Reformations Appeal to the People ...239 

CHAPTER V. 

New Opposition Abduction of (Exlin The Family of the Wirths The 
Populace at the Convent of Ittingen The Diet of Zug The Wirths 
apprehended and given up to the Diet Their Condemnation 246 

CHAPTER VI. 

Abolition of the Mass Zwingle's Dream Celebration of the Lord's Sup- 
per Fraternal Charity Original Sin The Oligarchs opposed to the 
Reform Various Attacks 254 

CHAPTER VII. 

Berne The Provost Wattevilk First Successes of the Reformed 
Doctrines Ilaller at the Convent Accusation and Deliverance The 
Monastery of Konigsfeldt Margaret Watteviile to Zwingle The 
Convent opened Two Champions Clara May and the Provost 
Watteviile 259 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Basle CEcolampadius He visits Augsburg Enters a Convent Re 
tires to Sickingen's Castle Returns to Basle Ulrich Hiitten Hia 
Plans Last Effort of Chivalry HUtten dies at Ufnau Page 267 

CHAPTER IX. 

Erasmus and Luther Vacillations of Erasmus Luther to Erasmus 
Erasmus's Treatise against Luther on Free Will Three Opinions- 
Effect upon Luther Luther on Free Will The Jansenists and the 
Reformers Homage to Erasmus His Anger The Three Days... .274 

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 Discussion 
at Zurich The Limits of the Reformation Punishment of the fa- 
natics. 286 

CHAPTER XL 

Progression and Immobility Zwingle and Luther Luther's Return to 
Scholasticism Respect for Tradition Occam Contrary Tendency in 
Zwingle Beginning of the Controversy CEcolampadius and the Swa- 
biaa Syngramma Strasburg mediates 294 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Tockenburg An Assembly of the People Reformation The 
Grisons Disputation at Ilantz Results Reformation at Zurich. ..305 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Oligarchs Bernese Mandate of 1526 in Favour of the Papacy- 
Discussion at Baden Regulations of the Discussion Riches and 
Poverty Eck and CEcolampadius Discussion Zwingle's Share in the 
Discussion Vaunts of the Romanists Abusive Language of a Monk 
Close of the Disputation , 310 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Consequences at Basle, Berne, Saint Gall, and other Places Diet at 
Zurich The small Cantons Threats against Berne Foreign Sup- 
port .' 318 



CONTENTS. XTil 

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 Page 324 

CHAPTER II. 

Louis XII. and the Assembly of Tours Francis and Margaret Learned 
Men Lefevre His Courses at the University Meeting between Le- 
fevre 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 Sanctification 
of Life 332 

CHAPTER III. 

Farel and the Saints The University Farel's Conversion Farel and 
l.uther Other Disciples Date of the Reform in France Spontane- 
ous Rise of the different Reforms Which was the first ? Lefevre'a 
'.'lace .;. 343 

CHAPTER IV. 

Character of Francis I Commencement of Modern Times Liberty 
and Obedience Margaret of Valois The Court Brijonnet, Count of 
Montbrun Lefevre commends him to the Bible Francis I. and " his 
Children" The Gospel brought to Margaret Conversion Adoration 
Margaret's Character , 349 

CHAPTER V. 

Enemies of the Reformation Louisa Duprat Concordat of Bologna 
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 Mag- 
dalens Luther condemned at Paris Address of the Sorbonne to the 
King Lefevre auits Paris for Meaux 358 



XVlll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Bri^onnet visits his Diocese Reform The Doctors persecuted in Paris 
Philiberta of Savoy Correspondence between Margaret and Bricon- 
net Page 367 

CHAPTER VII. 

Beginning of the Church at Meaux The Scriptures in French Tne 
Artisans and the Bishop Evangelical Harvest -The Epistles of St. 
Paul sent to the King - Lefevre and Roma The Monks before the 
Bishop The Monks before the Parliament Briyonuet gives way...376 

CHAPTER 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 Rescued by 
Francis I. Mazurier's Apostacy Fall and Remorse of Pavanne 
Metz Chatelain Peter Toussaint becomes attentive -Leclerc breaks 
the Images Leclerc's Condemnation and Torture Martyrdom of 
Chateiain Flight..... .; 389 

CHAPTER IX. 

Farl and his Brothers Farel expelled from Gap He preaches in the 
Fields The Knight Anemond of Coct The Minorite -Anemoud quits 
France Luther to the Duke of Savoy Farel quits France 408 

CHAPTER X. 

Catholicity of the Reformation Friendship between Farel and CEcolam- 
' padius - Farel and Erasmus Altercation Farel demands a Disputa- 
tion Theses Scripture and Faith Discussion 416 

CHAPTER XI. 

New Campaign Farel's Call to the Ministry An Outpost Lyons 
Sebville at Grenoble Conventicles Preaching at Lyons Maigret in 
Prison Margaret intimidated 423 

CHAPTER XII. 

The French at Basle Encouragement of the Swiss Fears of Discord- 
Translating and Printing at Basle -Bibles and Tracts dissemina'.ed 
in France 432 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Progress at Montbeliard Resistance and Commotion Toussaint leaves 
(Ecolampadius The Image of Saint Anthony -Death of Anemond 
Strasburg Lambert's Letter to Francis I. Successive Defeats. 

Page 433 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Francis made Prisoner at Pavia Reaction against the Reformation 
Margaret's Anxiety for her Brother Louisa consults the Sorbomie 
Commission against the Heretics Brivonnet brought to Trial -Appeal 
to the Parliament Fall Recantation Lefevre accused Condemna- 
tion and Flight Lefevre at Strasburg - Louis Berquin imprisoned 
Erasmus attacked Schuch at Nancy His Martyrdom Struggle with 
Ca roll -Sorrow of Pa vaune His Martyrdom A Christian Hermit 
Coiicourse at Notre Daine , .446 



CHAPTER XV. 

4 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 Calvius -Slanders 
The Reformation creates new Languages Persecution and Terror-- 
Toussaint put hi Prison The Persecution more furious Death of Da 
Blet, Moulin, and Papillon God saves the Church Margaret's Project 
Her Departure fur Spain 473 



BOOK IX. 

FIRS! REFORMS. 1521 AND 1522. 

CHAPTER I. 

Progress of thB Reformation New Period Usefulness of Luther's Cap- 
tivity in the Wartburg Agitation in Germany Melancthon and 
Luther Enthusiasm. 

FOR four years an old doctrine had been again proclaimed in 
the Church. The great tidings of salvation by grace, published 
in earlier times in Asia, Greece, and Italy, by Paul and his 
brethren, and after many ages re-discovered 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 Switzerland had re-echoed its powerful accents. The 
springs of truth, of liberty, and of life, had been re-opened 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. AH 
within was new, and yet everything without seemed to have 
remained the same. 

The constitution of the Church, its ritual, its discipline, 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 tran- 
substantiation ; monks and nuns entered the convents and 
took their eternal vows ; the pastors of the flocks lived 



2 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

without families ; religious brotherhoods met together: pilgrim- 
ages were undertaken; 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, hut 
it had not yet created a new body. The language 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 worship; and then might 
be seen coming down to the altar, and scrupulously perform- 
ing the pomps of this mystery. In every quarter the new 
Gos.pel 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 of 
the new preachers, devoutly practised the old observances, 
as if they were never to lay them aside. Everything 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 circulating unperceived below the surface, and was 
about to change the aspect of the world. 

It is perhaps to this prudent progress that the Reforma- 
tion is indebted for its triumphs. Every revolution should 
be accomplished in the mind before it is carried out exter- 
nally. 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 enthusiasm, should re- 
main devoutly attached to the abuses 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 
honour of which belongs to a higher Intelligence. He car- 
ried out a plan that he had not himself conceived. At a 
later" period he could recognise and discern these things: but 
he did not imagine them, and did not arrange them so. God 
led the way : it was Luther's duty to lbllo\v. 



A NEW F.KA. J 

If Luther had begun by an external reform ; if, as soon as 
he had spoken, he had attempted to abolish monastic vows, 
the mass, confession, and forms of worship, most assuredly 
he would have met with a vigorous resistance. Man 
requires time to accommodate himself to great revolutions. 
But Luther was by no means the violent, imprudent, 
daring innovator that some historians have described.* The 
people, seeing no change in their customary devol5oii3 } 
fearlessly abandoned themselves 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 so 
undermined the ancient edifice that it soon fell of itself, 
without human agency. Ideas do not act instantaneously ; 
they make their way in silence, like the waters that, filtering 
behind the rocks of the Alps, loosen them from the moun- 
tain on which they rest ; suddenly the work done in- secret 
reveals itself, and a single day is sufficient to lay bare the 
agency of many years, perhaps of many centuries. 

A new era was beginning for the Reformation. Already 
truth was restored in its doctrine ; now the doctrine 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 mightily shaken, were based customs that 
were already tottering 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, 
public worship, hierarchy, vows, constitution, domestic and 
public life, all are about to be modified. The ship, slowly 
and laboriously constructed, is about to quit the 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 give so great an 
* Hume and others. 



4 USEFULNESS Ol- LUTQE&8 CAPTIVITY. 

impulse to the Reformation, had prepared its progress by 
leading into profound retirement the instrument destined to 
effect it. The work seemed for a time buried with the work- 
man; 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 Reformation was destined to go 
forth to new conquests, and to spread erelong over the whole 
world. 

Hitherto the Reformation had been centred in the person 
of Luther. His appearance before the Diet of Worms was 
doubtless the sublimest day of his life. His character ap- 
peared 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 apotheosis for his servant ; and Luther was pre- 
served 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 century was 
taking place ; the truth, that for four years he had so power- 
fully proclaimed, continued in his absence to act upon Chris- 
tendom j and the work, of which he was but the feeble in- 
strument, henceforward bore the seal not of man, but of God 
himself. 

Germany was moved at Luther's captivity. The most 
contradictory rumours were circulated in the provinces. The 
reformer's absence excited men's minds more than his pre- 
sence 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 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 un- 
known orator would recount in a spirit-stirring narrative how 
the doctor had been carried off; he described the cruel horsemen 

* Hie invalescit opinio, me esse ab amicis captum e Francia missis. 

L. Epp. ii. 5. 



AGITATION IX GERMANY. 5 

tying their prisoner's hands, spurring their horses, and drag- 
ging him after them on foot, until his strength was exhausted, 
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 ! " Luther'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 struggles. 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 themselves secure of victory because one man was 
dead, and who had raised their heads with an insulting air of 
triumph, 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 ourselves," 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 calling for him." || One might have said that 
the pale ghost of the reformer, dragging his chains, was 
spreading terror around, and calling for vengeance. " Lu- 
ther's death," exclaimed some, " will cause torrents of blood 
to be shed."^f 

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 V. and 

* Et inter festinantes cursu equites ipsum pedestrem raptim tractam 
faisse ut sanguis e digitis erumperet. Cochloeus, p. 39. 

j- Fuit qui testatus sit, visum a se Lutheri cadaver transfossum 

Pallavicini, Hist. Cone. Trid. j. 122. 

J Molem Tulgi jmminentis ferre non possunt. L. Epp. ii. 13. 

Qui me libero insanierunt, nunc me captivo ita formidant ut incipiant 
nritigare. Ibid. 

H Nos vitam vix redempturos, nisi accensis candeljs undique emu ic- 
qoiramus. Ibid. 

*f Gerbelii Ep. in MS. Heckelianis. Lindner, Leb. Luth. p. 244. 
VOL. III. 2 



6 MELANCTHON AND LUTHER. 

the nuncios were publicly accused. The nation took up the 
cause of the poor monk, who, by the strength of his faith, 
had become their leader. 

At Wittemberg, his colleagues and friends, and especi- 
ally 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 substance 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 authority had filled him with enthusiasm. He had 
become a partner in his labours ; he had taken up the pen, 
and with that purity of style which he derived from the 
study of the ancients, he Jiad 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 heavenly ambrosia."* 
" The Word of God," exclaimed Luther, " is a sword, a war, 
a destruction ; it falls upon the children of Ephraim like a 
lioness in the forest." Thus, one saw in the Scriptures a 
power to console, and the other a violent opposition against 
the corruptions of the world. But both 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 schoolmen, for he knows their foolishness, and 
Christ the rock. The little Grecian surpasses me even in 
divinity ; he will be as serviceable to you as many Luthcrs." 
And he added that he was ready to abandon any opinion of 
which Philip did not approve. On his part, too, Melancthon, 
filled with admiration at Luther's knowledge of Scripture, 

* Mirabilia in iis roluptas, iramo ambrosia quaedam cjelestis. Corp. 
Rrf. i. 128. 



1IELANCTHOV8 SORROW. 7 

set him far above the fathers of the Church. He would 
make excuses for the jests with which Luther was re- 
proached, and compared him to an earthen vessel that con- 
tains 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 separ- 
ated. These two valiant soldiers can no longer march side 
by side to the deliverance of the Church. Luther has dis- 
appeared ; 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 beloved 
father lives," f exclaimed Philip in the joy of his soul ; " take 
courage and be firm." But it was not long before their de- 
jection returned. Luther was alive, but in prison. The 
edict of Worms, with its terrible proscriptions,^: was cir- 
culated by thousands throughout the 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 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 with 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 continually increasing eager- 
ness, and numerous pamphlets in favour of the reform were 

* Spiritum Martini nolim temere in hac causa interpellate. Ibid. i. 211. 
f Pater noster carissimus vivit. Corp. Ref. i. 389. 
J Dicitur parari proscriptio horrenda. Ibid. 

Dicuntur signatse chartre proscriptionis bis millo missse quoque ad 
Insbnick. Ibid. 



O ENTHUSIASM. 

daily inflicting some new blow on the papacy. The nuncios 
were distracted at seeing this edict, the fruit of so many in- 
trigues, producing 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 re- 
futed, 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 Wittemberg and the whole empire 
by a movement of enthusiasm. Even the Archbishop of 
Mentz, witnessing this outburst of popular sympathy, dared 
not give the Cordeliers permission to preach against the re- 
former. 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 the academy could hardly contain the crowd of 
hearers.* 



CHAPTER II. 

Luther in the Wartburg Object of his Captivity Anxiety Sickness 
Luther's Labours On Confession Reply to Latomus His daily 
Walks. 

MEANTIME the Knight George, for by that name Luther was 
called in the Wartburg, lived solitary and unknown. " If 
you were to see me," wrote he to Melancthon, " you would 
take me for a soldier, and even you would hardly recognise 
me."-{- Luther at first indulged in repose, enjoying a leisure 
which had not hitherto been allowed him. He wandered 

* Scholastic! quorum supra millia ibi tune fuerunt. Spalatini Annales, 
1521, October, 
t Equitem yideres ac ipse vix agnoscerea. L. Epp. ii. 11. 



OBJECT OF LUTHER S CAPTIVITY. 9 

freely through the fortress, but could not go beyond the walls.* 
All his wishes were attended to, and he had never been 
better treated.-}- 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 compared 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 regeneration arid life. The 
beginning of the Reformation was of necessity polemical; 
new times required new labours. 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 inces- 
santly called upon to fight fresh battles, he would not have 
accomplished a durable work in the Church. Thus by his 
captivity he escaped a danger which might possibly have 
ruined the Reformation, that of always attacking and de- 
stroying 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 promoters of the 

* Nunc sum hie otiosus, sicut inter captives liber. L. Epp. ii. 3, 12th 
May. 

t Quanquam et hilariter et libenter omnia mihi ministret. Ibid. 13, 
15th August. 

J Ego mirabilid captivus qui et Tolcns et nolens hie sedeo. Ibid. 4, 
12th May. 

Tu fac ut pro me ores : hac una re opus mihi est. Quicquid de ma 
fit in publico, nihil mooror ; ego in quiete tandem sedco. Ibid. 1 Oth June 
1521. 



10 PEACE ANGUISH. 

Reformation both in Germany and Switzerland, ran upon the 
shoal of spiritual pride and fanaticism. Luther was a man 
very subject to the infirmities of our nature, and he was un- 
able to escape altogether from these dangers. The hand of 
God, however, delivered 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 com- 
pelled 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. 

Luther's calmness was not of long duration. Seated in 
loneliness on the ramparts of the "VVartburg, he remained 
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, Lord, hast thou made all men 
in vain?" (Psalm Ixxxix. 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!" 

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

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

* Ego Me sedans tota die faciem Ecclcsiaa ante me constituo. L. 
Epp. ii. 1. 

f Verebar ego ne aciem deserere viderer. Ibid. 
J Mallem inter carbones vivos ardere, quam solus semivirus, atque 
utinam non mortuus putere. Ibid. 10. 
Cervicem esse objectandam publico furori. Ibid. 89. ' 
Nihil magis opto, qnam furoribus adversariorum occurrere, objecto 
Ibid. 1. 



HOPE SICKNESS. 11 

Gentler thoughts, however, brought a truce to such 
anxiety. Everything was- not storm and tempest for Luther ; 
from time to time his agitated mind found tranquillity and 
comfort. Next to the certainty of God's help, one thing 
consoled him in his sorrows ; it was the recollection of 
Melancthon. " If I perish," wrote he, " the Gospel will 
lose nothing:* you will succeed me as Elisha did Elijah, 
with a double portion of my spirit." But calling to mind 
Philip's timidity, he exclaimed with energy : " 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 their blows 
at you." f 

The thought of the final attack Home 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 surround the Wartburg and 
restore the prisoner to liberty. " 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 fol- 
lowers. And I I shall be restored to you.J God is 

awakening the hearts of many, and stirring up the nations. 
Only let our enemies clasp our affair in their arms and try 
to stifle 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. 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 

* Etiam si percam, nihil peribit Evangelio. L. Epp. ii. 10. 
f Nos soli adhuc stamus in acie : te quserent post me. Ibid. 2. 
J Quo citius id tentaverit, hoc citius et ipse et sui peribunt, et ego 
rcvertar. Ibid. 10. 
Auctum est malum, quo Wormatiro laborabam. Ibid. 17. 



12 SICKNESS HIS FRIENDS' ANXIETY. 

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 
martyrdom. Luther, alone upon his rock, endured in his 
strong frame a passion that the emancipation of the human 
race rendered necessary. " Seated by night in my chamber 
I uttered groans, like a woman in her travail ; torn, wounded, 

and bleeding "* then breaking off his complaints, touched 

with the thought that his sufferings are a blessing from God, 
he exclaimed with love : " Thanks be to Thee, Christ, 
that thou wilt not leave me without the precious marks of 
thy cross !" -j- But soon, growing angry with himself, he 
cried out : " Madman and hard-hearted that I am ! Woe is 
mel I pray seldom, I seldom wrestle with the Lord, I 
groan not for the Church of God !| 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 state, and accustomed to expect everything 
from the affection of his brethren, he exclaimed in the deso- 
lation of his heart : " 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 V. 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 soul which is its fairest ornament ! Oh ! 
what a man !" exclaimed he, as if already standing on the 
side of his grave ; " we never appreciated him rightly !" 

* Sedeo dolens, sicut puerpera, lacer et saucius et crueutus. L. Epp. ii. 
50, 9th Sept. 

t Gratias Christo, qui me sine reliquiis sanctse crucis nou derelinquit. 
Ibid. 

J Nihil gemens pro ecclesia Dei. Ibid. 22, 13th July. 

Utinam hac vili anima inca ipsius vitam cmere qaeam. Corp. Ref. 
L 415, 6th July. 



LUTHER'S LABOURS CONFESSION. 13 

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 con- 
tinue 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."* And 
yet this was but a part of his labours. 

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 doubt that he was 
alive. A multitude of writings, composed in the Wartburg, 
succeeded each other rapidly, and the beloved voice of the re- 
former was everywhere hailed with enthusiasm. Luther pub- 
lished simultaneously works 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 in- 
structed, exhorted, reproved, and thundered from his moun- 
tain-retreat ; and his amazed adversaries asked one another 
if there was not something supernatural, some mystery, in 
this prodigious activity. " He could never have taken any 
rest," says Cochlfeus.-J- 

But there was no other mystery than the imprudence ol 
the partisans of Rome. They hastened to take advantage 
of the edict of Worms, to strike a decisive blow at the Re- 
formation ; and Luther, condemned, under the ban of the 
empire, and a prisoner in the Wartburg, undertook to defend 
the sound doctrine, as if he were still victorious and at 
liberty. It was especially at the tribunal of penance that 
the priests endeavoured to rivet the chains of their docile 
parishioners ; and accordingly the confessional was the ob- 
ject of Luther's first attack. " They bring forward," said 
he, " these words of St. James : Confess your faults to 
one another. Singular confessor 1 his name is One Another. 

* Sine intermissione scribo. L. Epp. ii. 6, 16. 
f Cum Pjdesccre non posset. Cochl. Act. Luth. p. 39. 
o* < 



14 REPLY TO LATOMUS LUTHER S PROMENADES. 

Whence it would folknv that the confessors should also con- 
fess themselves to their penitents ; that each Christian should 
be, in his turn, pope, bishop, priest ; and that the pope him- 
self should confess to all !"* 

Luther had scarcely finished this tract when he began an- 
other. A theologian of Louvain, by name Latomus, 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 pontiffs, impious sophists, and to say to 
them : Gracious lord ! Excellent master ! Then, when you 
have so done, you may put any one you please to death 5 
you may even convulse the world, and you will be none 
the less a man of moderation Away with such modera- 
tion ! I would rather be frank and deceive no one. The shell 
may be hard, but the kernel is soft and tender." -j- 

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 ven- 
tured, not without fear, to gather some of the fruit.| 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 
prudence. 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 

* Und der Pabst mliase ihm beichten. L. Opp. xvii. 701. 

f- Cortex meus esse potest durior, sed nucleus meus mollis et dulcis 
cst. Ibid. Lat. ii. 213. 

Zu zeiten gehet er iu die Erdbeer am Schlossberg. Mathes. 
p. 33. 



A HUNTING-PARTY. 15 

comrades alighted at the convent of Reinhardsbrunn, where 
Luther had slept a few months before on his road to "Worms.* 
Suddenly one of the lay-brothers uttered a cry of surprise. 
Luther was recognised. His attendant perceived it, and 
dragged him hastily away ; and already they were gallop- 
ing far from the cloister before the astonished brother had 
recovered from his amazement. 

The military. life of the doctor had at intervals something 
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 animated ; the dogs sprang for- 
ward, driving the game from 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 heart with sorrow. f " 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 pur- 
suit of poor souls ?" J A young hare was taken : delighted 
at the prospect of liberating it, he Avrapped it carefully in his 
cloak, and set it down in the midst 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 : " pope ! and thou, too, Satan ! 
it is thus ye endeavour to destroy even those souls that have 
been saved from death !" 

* Vol. IT. p. 226. 

f- Theologisabar etiam ibi inter retia et canes tantum misericordiaa 

et doloris miscuit mysterium. L. Epp. ii. 43. 

J Quid enim ista imago, nisi Diabolum significat per insidias euas et 
impios magistros canes suos Ibid. 

Sic saevit Papa et Satan ut servatas etiam animas perdant. Ibid. 44 



16 COMMENCEMENT OF THE KEFORM. 



CHAPTER III. 

Commencement of the Reform Marriage of Feldkirchen The Marriage 
of Monks Theses Tract against Monachism Luther no longer a 
Monk. 

WHILE the doctor of Wittcmberg, thus dead to the world, 
was seeking relaxation in these sports in the neighbourhood 
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 actions. 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 institutions. He married. 

The Germans are fond of social life and domestic joys ; 
and hence, of all the papal ordinances, compulsory celibacy 
was that which produced the saddest consequences. 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 scandalous disorders, and had drawn 
contempt and hatred on the whole body ; while those who 
had submitted to Hildebrand's law were inwardly exasperated 
against the Church, because, while conferring on its superior 
dignitaries 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 example, " can 
impose any commandment on the Church that endangers 
body and soul. The obligation of keeping God's law compels 

* Vol. I. p. 219. 



THE MARRIAGE OF MONKS. 17 

me to violate the traditions of men."* The re-establishment 
of marriage in the sixteenth century was a homage paid to 
the moral law. The ecclesiastical authority became alarmed, 
and immediately 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, although 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 struggles of which his whole 
life was composed ; for every reform must first be won by 
a spiritual struggle. Melancthon and Carlstadt, the one a 
layman, the other a priest, thought that the liberty of con- 
tracting 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 Carlstadt's theses on celibacy : " Gracious God !" ex- 
claimed he, " our Wittembergers then will give wives even 

to the monks!" This thought surprised and confounded 

him ; his heart was troubled. He rejected for himself the 
liberty that he claimed for others. " Ah !" said he indig- 
nantly, " they will not force me at least to take a wife."-j- 
This expression is doubtless unknown to those who assert 
that Luther preached the Reformation that 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 

* Coegit me ergo ut human as traditiones violarem, necessitas servandi 
juris divini. Corp. Ref. i. 441. 

t At mihi non obtrudent uxorem. L. Epp. ii. 40. 



18 STRUGGLE WITH MONACHISM. 

in a mixture of error and truth, until error had fallen and 
truth remained alone. 

.There was, indeed, a great difference between the two 
questions. The marriage of priests was not the destruction 
of the priesthood; on the contrary, this of itself might re- 
store 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 Melanc- 
thon, " are of divine appointment, and consequently are 
free as regards human commandments. But of their own 
free will the monks adopted celibacy ; they are not therefore 
at liberty to withdraw from the yoke they voluntarily im- 
posed 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 standing. 
Monachism, that had once carried life into so many deserts, 
and which, passing through so many centuries, was now fill- 
ing 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, deliver us, establish us, by Thy mercy, in the liberty that 
belongs to us ; for of a surety we are thy people !" {- 

He had not long to wait for deliverance ; an important 
revolution was effected in the reformer's mind ; and again it 

* Me enim vehementer movet, quod sacerdotum ordo, a Deo institntus, 
est liber, non autem monachorum qui sua sponte statum eligerunt. L. 
Epp. ii. 34. 

( Dominus Jesus erudiat et liberet uos, per misericordiam suam, in 
libertatem nostram. To Melancthon, on Celibacy, Gth August 1521. Ibid. 
40. 



VICTORY THESES. 19 

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 himself, also wrought 
the downfall of the monks in Luther's mind and throughout 
Christendom. Luther saw that monachism was in violent 
opposition to the doctrine of salvation hy grace, and that a 
monastic life was founded entirely on the pretended merits 
of man. Feeling convinced, from that hour, that Christ's 
glory was interested in this question, he heard a voice in- 
cessantly 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 be- 
come 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 declara- 
tion of war against a monastic life : 

" Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. xiv. 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 being 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 convents 
as places of education ; but erelong his attacks against these 

L. Opp. (W.) xxii. 1466. V ' 

f Es ist nicht mehr denn eine einige Geistlichkeit, die da heilig ist, and 
hcilig macht L. Opp. xvii. 718. 



20 LUTHEK REJECTS MONACHISM. 

establishments became more violent. The immorality and 
shameful practices that prevailed in the cloisters recurred 
forcibly to his thoughts. " I am resolved," wrote he to 
Spalatin on the llth of November, " to deliver the young 
from the hellish fires of celibacy."* 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 neces- 
sary : God has been beforehand with you, and has Himself 
delivered me by his power. What matters 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 

cannot 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." -j- 

The transformation had already been effected in Luther 
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 struggle : 
at first Luther had taken the side of monachisrn ; 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. 

* Adolescentes liberare ex isto inferno ccelibatus. L. Opp. ii. 95. 
t Dass unser Blut mocht schreien, und dringen aein Gericbt, dass soin 
bald ein Ende wiirde. L. Epp. ii. 105. 



ARCHBISHOP ALBEKX. 21 



+i , CHAPTER IV. 

Archbishop Albert The Idol of Halle Luther's Indignation Alarm of 
the Court Luther's Letter to the Archbishop Albert's Reply Joa- 
chim 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 power- 
fully 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 quietly to resume their ancient practices, that 
had been for a moment disturbed by the monk of Wittem- 
berg. Albert, 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 admirably to obtain this result. 
Accordingly, the decree against Luther had scarcely issued 
from the imperial chancery, before Albert, who was then re- 
siding with his court at Halle, summoned the vendors of 
indulgences, who were still alarmed at the words of the re- 
former, and endeavoured 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 prisoner ; 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 merchandise was displayed for sale, and 
again the churches of Halle re-echoed with the speeches of 
the mountebanks. 

But Luther was still alive, and his voice was powerful 
enough to pass beyond the walls and gratings behind which 



22 THE IDOL OF DALLE. 

he had been hidden. Nothing could have roused his indig- 
nation to a higher pitch. What ! the most violent battles 
have been fought; he has confronted every danger; the 
truth remained victorious, and yet they dare trample it 

under foot, as if it had been vanquished! That voiee 

shall again be heard, which has once already pu.t an end to 
this criminal traffic. " I shall enjoy 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 about the 
mystery with which some sought to envelop his residence in 
the Wartburg. He was like Elijah in the desert forging 
fresh thunderbolts against the impious Ahab. On the first 
of November he finished his treatise Against the Ncic 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 Auer- 
bach) to Wittemberg to avert the storm. " Luther must 
moderate his impetuosity," said they to Melancthon, who re- 
ceived them cordially. But Melancthon, although mild him- 
self, was not one of those who imagine that wisdom con- 
sists in perpetual concession, tergiversation, 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 endeavoured through him to act upon the court. 
The news of Luther's intention was already known there, 
and produced great amazement. "What!" said the cour- 
tiers : " rekindle the fire that we have had so much trouble 
to extinguish ! Luther can only be saved by being for- 
gotten, and yet he is rising up against the first prince in the 
empire!" -"I will not 'suffer Luther to write against the 
Archbishop of Mentz, and thus disturb the public tranquil- 
lity," said'the elector.}: 

Luther was annoyed when these words were repeated to 

*\ 

" Non continebor quin idolum Moguntinum invadam, cum suo lupa- 
uari Hallensi. L. Epp. ii. 59, 7th October. 
f Huic seculoopns esse acerrimo sale. Covp. Ref. i. 4G3. 
J Non passurura principem, scrili in Moguiitinum. L. Epp. ii. 94. 



LUTHER'S INDIGNATION. 23 

him. Is it not enough to imprison his body, but they 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 ? 
Accordingly when the captive in the Wartburg had read the 
chaplain's letter, informing him of the prince's sentiments, 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 yourself, the elector, nay, the whole world for ever! * 
If I have resisted the pope, who is the creator of your car- 
dinal, why should I give way before his creature ? It is very 
fine, forsooth, to hear you say that we must not disturb the 
public tranquillity, while you allow the everlasting peace 

of God to be disturbed! Spalatin, it shall not be so! 

Prince, it shall not be so !f I send you a book^.1 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 government to 
lay aside its apparent ignorance of Luther's fate, and punish 
a prisoner who dared attack the greatest prince in the empire 
and the Church. If Luther persevered 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 timi- 
dity, he wrote to the chaplain : " The Lord lives and reigns, 
that Lord in whom you court-folks do not believe, unless he 
so 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. 
ii. 94. 

t Non sic, Spalatine; non sic, princeps. Ibid. 
J Ut acerbiora radat. Ibid. 110. 



24 LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP. 

It is the whole body of Romish bishops that Luther thus 
brings to the bar in the person of the German primate. 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 in 
Halle the idol that swallows the money and the souls of poor 
Christians. You think, perhaps, that I am disabled, 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 car- 
dinals. 

*' 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 conflagration. 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 labour 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 lives : 
let none doubt it.* He will know how to withstand a car- 
dinal 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 conduct yourself in 
accordance with this advice ; I shall wait a fortnight for an 
early and favourable reply. Given in my wilderness, the 
Sunday after St. Catherine's day, (15th November) 1521. 

" From your electoral highness's devoted and obedient 
servant, MARTIN LUTHER." 



* Derselbig Gott lobct noch, da zweifel nur uicmand an L. Epp. 

J. 113. 



ALBERT'S REPLY. 25 

This letter was sent to Wittemberg, and from Wittemberg 
to Halle, where the cardinal-elector was then residing ; for 
no one dared 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 
endeavoured to prepare the way for a favourable termina- 
tion of this difficult business. 

It is impossible to describe the feelings of the youthful and 
weak archbishop on receiving the reformer's letter. 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 Bran- 
denburg, the primate of the German Church? Capito 
besought the archbishop to satisfy the monk. Alarm, pride, 
and the voice of conscience which he could not stifle,' strug- 
gled fearfully in Albert's bosom. At last dread of the book, 
and perhaps remorse also, prevailed ; he humbled him- 
self: 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 aston- 
ishing 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 has long ceased to 
exist. I desire, with God's help, to conduct 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, sinning 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 more than desirous of showing you all kindness and 
favour, for love of Christ. I know how to receive a Chris- 
tian and fraternal rebuke. 

" With my own hand. ALBERT." 



26 WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 

Such was the language addressed to the excommunicated 
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 sup- 
pose it originated in the better feelings of his heart. How- 
ever that may be, it shows the immeasurable superiority of 
God's servants over all the great ones of the earth. While 
Luther alone, a prisoner and condemned, derived invin- 
cible courage from his faith, the archbishop, elector and 
cardinal, environed with all the power and favours of the 
world, trembled on his throne. This contrast appears con- 
tinually, and is the key to the strange enigma offered by the 
history of the Eeformation. The Christian is not called 
upon to count his forces, and to number his means of vic- 
tory. The only thing he should be anxious about is to 
know whether the cause he upholds 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 extreme 
severity to extreme weakness ; they had already .done the 
same at Worms ; and these sudden transitions are of conti- 
nual occurrence in the battle that error wages against truth. 
Every cause destined to fall is attacked with an internal un- 
easiness which makes it tottering and, uncertain, and drives 
it by turns from one pole to the other. Steadiness of pur- 
pose 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 L, elector of Branden- 
burg, gave an example of that strength of character which 



JOACHIM OF BKANDENBUEG. 27 

is so rare, particularly in our own times. Immovable 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 Reformation. At Worms he 
had insisted that Luther should not be heard, and that he 
ought to be punished as a heretic, in despite of his safe-con- 
duct. 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 distinction between Joachim and his other 
adversaries, he said : " We may still pray for the Elector of 
Brandenburg."* 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. -j- 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 Reformation. 

Luther did not read Cardinal Albert's letter without a 
suspicion that it was dictated by hypocrisy, and in accord- 
ance 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.:): 

* Helwing, Gesh. der Brandeb. ii. 605. 

f- Hoc enim proprium est illorura hominum (ex March. Brandeburg), 
ut quam semel in religions sententiam approbaverint, non facile cleserant. 
Leutingeri Opp. i. 41. 

Larvam cardinalatus et pompam episcopalem ablegire. L. R$p, 
ii. 132. 



28 TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 



CHAPTER V. 

Translation of the Bible Wants of the Church Principles of the Re- 
formation Temptations of the Devil Luther's Works condemned by 
the Sorbonne Melancthon's Reply Luther Visits Wittemberg. 

x . 

WHILE Luther was thus struggling against error, as if he 
were still in the midst of the battle, he was also labouring 
in his retirement of the Wartburg, as if he had no concern 
in what w r as going on in the world. The hour had come in 
which the Reformation, from being a mere theological ques- 
tion, w r as to become the life of the people ; and yet the great 
engine by which this progress was to be effected was not yet 
in being. This powerful and mighty instrument, destined to 
hurl its thunderbolts from every side against the proud edi- 
fice of Rome, throw down its walls, cast off the enormous 
weight of the Papacy under which the Church lay stifled, 
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 refor- 
mer's captivity. 

The farther the Church was removed from the time when 
Jesus, the true Light of the world, was on the 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 was at that time hidden 
from the people. Several unsuccessful attempts at transla- 
tion from the Vulgate had been made in 1477, 1490, and in 
1518 ; they were almost unintelligible, and from their high 
price beyond the reach of the people. It had even been pro- 
hibited to give the German Church the Bible in the vulgar 
tongue.* Besides which, the number of those who were 
able to read did not become considerable until there existed 

* Codex Diplom. Bcclesiae Magunt. iv. 460. 



WANTS OF THE CHURCH. 29 

in the German language a book of lively and universal 
interest. 

Luther was called to present his nation with the Scrip- 
tures of God. That same God who had conducted St. John 
to Patmos, there to write his revelation, had confined Luther 
in the Wartburg, there to translate His Word. This great 
task, which it would have been difficult for him to have 
undertaken in the midst of the cares and occupations of 
Wittemberg, was to establish the new building on the primi- 
tive rock, and, after the lapse of so many ages, lead Christiana 
back from the subtleties of the schoolmen to the pure foun- 
tain-head of redemption 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 agitated conscience and his 
monastic ideas had long induced him to seek in his own 
merits and holiness. The doctrine of the Church, the scho- 
lastic theology, knew nothing of the consolations that pro- 
ceed 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 eman- 
cipated from the dogmatical authority of the Church, from 
its hierarchy and traditions, from the opinions of the school- 
men, the power of prejudice, and from every human ordin- 
ance. Those strong and numerous bonds which for centuries 
had enchained and stifled Christendom, were 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 submission to God, 
which he had learned in the Holy Scriptures, 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 wanted to unlock the massive 
gates of that arsenal of God's Word 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 
VOL. m. 3 



30 LUTHER'S DESIRE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORM. 

Holy Scripture ; the seven penitential Psalms had been his 
first task.* John the Baptist, Christ himself, and the Re- 
formation 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 
roice of th people was considered by Luther as the voice of 
God himself. He resolved to reply to 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 posses- 
sion of those spiritual 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!"-|- 
Admirable 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 realize. 
" Scripture without any comment," said he again, " is the 
sun whence all teachers receive their light." 

5u.ch are the principles of Christianity and of the Reforma- 
tion. 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 with this absolute au- 
thority of God, or any human righteousness with this perfect 
righteousness of Christ, we vitiate both the foundations ot 
Christianity. These are the two fundamental heresies of 
Rome, and which, although doubtless in a smaller degree, 
some teachers were desirous of introducing into the bosom 
of the Reformation. 

* Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 147. 

t Et solus bio liber omnium lingua, maun, oculis, auribus, corJibus 
Tersaretur. L. Epp. ii. 116. 
t The Bible Society. 



THE BIBLE IN THE STEAD OF MAN. 31 

Luther opened the Greek originals of the evangelists and 
apostles, and undertook the difficult task oi making these 
divine teachers speak his mother tongue. Important crisis 
in the history of the Reformation ! from that time the Re- 
formation 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 heaj 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 exertions 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 superstitions of the Middle Ages had still 
some 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 heretics : 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. Al- 
though the authenticity of many of the stories on this subject 
contained in the Table-talk and elsewhere is more than doubt- 
ful, history must still record this failing in the reformer. 
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 re- 
former's powers seemed broken and his glory tarnished. He 
was thrown aside ; Satan was victorious in his turn, and in 
the anguish of his soul Luther imagined he saw his giant 

* Michelet, in his Memoires de Luther, devotes more than thirty pages 
to the various accounts of these Satanic visitations. 



32 TEMPTATIONS OF THE DEVIL. 

form standing before him, lifting his finger in threatening 
attitude, exulting with a bitter and hellish sneer, and gnash- 
ing his teeth in fearful rage. One day especially, it is said, 
as Luther was engaged on his translation of the New Testa- 
ment, he fancied he beheld Satan, filled with horror at his 
work, tormenting him, and prowling round him like a lion 
about to spring upon his prey. Luther, alarmed and in- 
censed, snatched up his inkstand and flung it at the head of 
his enemy. The figure disappeared, and the missile was 
dashed in pieces against the wall.* 

Luther's sojourn in the Wartburg began to be insupport- 
able to him. He felt indignant at the timidity of his pro- 
tectors. Sometimes he would remain a whole day plunged 
in deep and silent meditation, and awakened from it only to 
exclaim, " Oh, that I were at Wittemberg!" 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 quitted 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 pro- 
ceeded, had given its verdict against the Reformation. 

The following are some of the propositions condemned 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 damnable and deadly sin before God." 
He had said in another place, " Burning heretics is contrary 
to the will of the Holy Ghost." 

To these three propositions, and to many others besides, 

* The keeper of the Wartburg still carefully directs the traveller's 
attention to the spots made by Luther's inkstand, 
t Machete er sich heimlich aus seiner Patmo auf. L. Opp. xviii. 238. 



MELANCTHON'S REPLY TO THE SORBONNE. 33 

which they quoted, the theological faculty of Paris replied, 
" Heresy ! let him be accursed !"* 

But a young man, twenty-four years of age, of short sta- 
ture, 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.-}- Ac- 
cordingly, in his Apology, Melancthon did not confine him- 
self 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 faggot repress his foolishness ! And who is 
Montanist ? 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 
ofGod?"J 

To 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 hier- 
archical authority of the Church or the interior inspirations of 
mysticism far above the positive 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 ob- 
scured 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 Lutherana. 
Corp. Ref. i. 366-388. 

+ Damnaruut triumviri Beda, Quercus, et Christophorus. Nominal sunt 
horum monstrorum etiam vulgo nunc nota Belua, Slercus, Christotomus. 
Zwinglii Epp. i. 176. 

J Corp. Ref. i. 396. 

Scias me positurum animam citius quam fidem. Ibid. 

H Evangelium obscuratum cst, fides extincta Ex Christianismo, 

contra omnem sensum spiritus, facta est quaedam philosophica vivendi 
ratio. Ibid. 400. 



34 VISIT TO WITTEMBERG. 

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 equipment 
to the university. He was greatly distressed by various re- 
ports which reached him on the road of a spirit of impatience 
and independence that was showing itself among some of his 
adherents.* At length he arrived at Wittemberg without being 
recognised, and stopped at AmsdorfFs house. Immediately 
all his friends were secretly called together ; -j- and Melancthon 
among the first, who had so often said, " I would rather die 
than lose him."| 'They came! What a meeting! what 
joy ! The captive of the Wartburg tasted in their society 
all the sweetness of Christian friendship. He learnt the 
spread of the Reformation, the hopes of his brethren ; and, 
delighted at what he saw and heard, offered up a prayer, 
returned thanks to God, and then with brief delay returned 
to the Wartburg. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fresh Reforms Gabriel Zwilling on the Mass The University Me- 
lancthon's Propositions The Elector Monastic Institutions attacked 
Emancipation of the Monks Disturbances Chapter of the Augus- 
tine Monks Carlstadt and the Mass First Celebration of the Lord's 

Supper Importance of the Mass in the Romish System. 



LUTHER'S joy was well founded. The work of the Reforma- 
tion then made a great stride. Feldkirchen, always in the 
van, had led the assault ; now the main body was in motion, 
and ihat power which carried the Reformation from the 
doctrine it had purified into the worship, life, and constitu- 

* Per viam vexatus rumore vario de nostrorum quorundam importuni- 
tate. L. Epp. h 109. 

t Liess in der Stille seine Freunde fodern. L. Opp. xviii. 238. 

J Quo si mihi carendum est, mortem fortius tulero. Corp. Ref. i. 
453, 435. 

Omnia vehementer placent qua? video et audio. L. Epp. ii. 109 



FRESH REFORMS GABRIEL ZWILLING. 35 

tion of the Church, now manifested 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 everything 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 king- 
dom 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 Hun- 
gary. Charles, thus attacked on all sides, was forced to 
forget the monk of Worms and his religious innovatigns. 

About the same time, the .vessel of the Reformation, 
which, driven hi 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 Wittemberg 
that the Reformation broke out. We ought not to feel sur- 
prise at this : it is true the reformer was there no longer j 
but no human power could drive out the spirit that had 
animated him. 

For some time the Church in which Luther had so often 
preached re-echoed with strange doctrines. Gabriel Zwil- 
ling, 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 Reformation which that renowned 
doctor had prepared. " Jesus Christ," said the preacher, 
" instituted the sacrament of the altar in remembrance of his 
death, and not to make it an object of adoration. To wor- 
ship 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 

* Einem 2 oder 3 befehlen Mess zu halten und die andern 12 von dencn, 
das Sacrament sub utraque specie, mit empfahen. Corp. Ref. i. 460. 



36 THE PRICK THE UNIVERSITY. 

language was listened to approvingly by the other brethren, 
and particularly by those who came from the Low Coun- 
tries.* They were disciples of the Gospel, and why should 
they not conform in everything 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 soldiers 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 move- 
ment of the Augustines was one of those caprices of insub- 
ordination so frequently occurring in monasteries. But it 
was in reality the Spirit of God itself which was then 
agitating all Christendom. A solitary cry, uttered in the 
bosom of a convent, found its echo in a thousand voices ; 
and that which men would have desired to confine within 
the walls of a cloister, went forth and took a bodily form in 
the very midst of the city. 

Rumours of the dissensions among tha friars soon spread 
through the town. The citizens and students of the uni- 
versity took part, some with, some against the mass. The 
elector's court was troubled. Frederick in surprise sent his 
chancellor Pontanus to Wittemberg with orders to reduce the 
monks to obedience, by putting them, if necessary, on bread 
and water ;| and on the 12th of October, at seven in the 
morning, a deputation from the professors, of which Melanc- 
thon formed a part, visited the convent, exhorting the 
brothers to attempt no innovations, or at least to wait a 

* Der meiste Theil jener Parthei Niederlander seyn, Corp. Ref. i. 4"6. 

f Sed et ego amplius non faciam missam privatam in seternum. L. 
Epp. ii. 36. 

J Wollen die Monche nicht Mess halten, sie werden's bald in der 
Kuchen und Keller empfinden. Corp. Ref. i. 461. 

8 Mit dem Mess halten keine Neuerung macben. Ibid. 



MELANCTHON'S PROPOSITION. 37 

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 hesitation, they formed a 
courageous resolution. 

On the 20th of October, the university made their report 
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 re- 
buke us as he did the people of Capernaum." 

Thus it is no longer a few obscure monks who are speak- 
ing ; 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. 

Melancthon, with that boldness which he carried into 
learning, published fifty-five propositions calculated to en- 
lighten men's minds. 

" Just as," " looking at a cross said he, is not performing 
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 Lord's Supper is not performing 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 in- 
vented by men simply remind us of what they signify; 
while the signs given us by God, not only remind us of the 
fhings themselves, but assure our hearts of the will of 
God.* 

Signa ab hominibus reperta admouent tantum ; signa a Deo tradita, 
3* 



38 THE ELECTOR. 

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

" As the sight of a cross 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, Melancthon 
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 opinion 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 Reformation was advancing with hasty 
steps, and threatened to carry everything along with it. 
Frederick made every exertion to arrest its progress. His 
authority, the influence of his character, the reasons that 
appeared to him the most convincing, were all set in opera- 
tion. " 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, un- 
decided 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 accomplished 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-stir- 

prsetcrquam quod admonent, certificant etiam cor de voluntate Dei 
Corp. Ref. i. 478. 

' 



MONACIIISM ATTACKED. 39 

ring sermons in the church of the Augustines. Mona- 
chism was now the object of his reiterated blows; if the 
mass was the stronghold of the Roman doctrines, the monas- 
tic orders were the support of her hierarchy. These, then, 
were the two first positions that must be carried. 

" No one," said Gabriel, according to the prior's report, 
" no dweller in the convents keeps the commandments 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 obedience, 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 expelled by force. Break 
open, pull down, utterly destroy the monasteries (says he), so 
that not a single trace of them may remain ; and that not 
one of those stones that have contributed to shelter so much 
sloth and superstition may be found in the spot they so long 
occupied." f 

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, endeavoured 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.J One of them, who understood 
* Kein Monch werde in der Kappe selig. Corp. Ref. i. 433. 
f Dass man nicbt oben Stuck yon eiuem Kloster da sey gestanden, 
merken moge. Ibid. 483. 

J Etliche unter den Biirgern, etliche unter den Studenten, says the 
prior in bis complaint to the Elector. Ibid. 



40 FERMENT IN WITTEMBERG. 

the business 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 Erfurth 
had been the germ of the Reformation, the departure of 
these thirteen monks from the convent of the Augustines 
at Wittemberg was the signal of its entering 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 no longer. Thirteen high-minded 
and bold men returned into the midst of the world, to render 
themselves profitable 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 enslave- 
ment and error, was destined to fall at the dawning of liberty 
and truth. 

This daring step excited universal ferment in Wittemberg. 
Admiration was felt towards those men who thus came to 
take their part in the general labours, and they were re- 
ceived as brethren. At the same time a few outcries were 
heard against those who persisted in remaining lazily sheltered 
behind the walls of their monastery. The monks who re- 
mained faithful to their prior 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 university, 
and produced a sudden explosion. Among the students 
and citizens of Wittemberg were found some of those turbu- 
lent men whom the least excitement arouses and hurries 
into criminal disorders. They were exasperated at the idea 
of the low masses, which even the superstitious prior had sus- 
pended, still being said in the parish church ; and on Tues- 
day the 3d of December, 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 



DISTURBANCES AUGUSTINE CHAPTER. 41 

were annoyed, and met to punish the authors of these mis- 
deeds. 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 they 
refrained from violence, they ridiculed the monks, so that 
the latter dared not say mass except in the choir. Towards 
evening the fathers were told to be upon their 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 protect them ; a guard of soldiers 
was sent, but the enemy did not appear. The university 
caused the students who had taken part in these disturb- 
ances to be arrested. It was discovered that some were 
from Erfurth, where they had become notorious for their in- 
subordination.* The penalties of the university were in- 
flicted upon them. 

And yet the necessity was felt of inquiring carefully into the 
lawfulness of monastic vows. A chapter of Augustine 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 mon- 
astery 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 mendi- 
cancy and the saying of masses for money ; they also decreed 
that the best instructed among them should devote them- 
selves to the teaching of the Word of God, and that the 
rest should support their brethren by the work of their own 
hands.t 

* In summa es sollen die Aufruhr etliche Studentcn von Erffurth er- 
weckt haben. Corp. Ref. i. 490. 

t Corp. Ref. i. 456. The editors assign this decree to the month of 
October before the friars had quitted the convent at Wittemberg. 



iy CAKLSTADT AND THE MASS. 

Thus the question of vows appeared settled ; but that of 
the mass was undecided. The elector still resisted the tor- 
rent, and protected an institution which he saw standing in 
all Christendom. The orders of so indulgent a prince could 
not long restrain the public feeling. Carlstadt's head in 
particular was turning in the midst of the general ferment. 
Zealous, upright, and bold, ready, like Luther, to sacrifice 
everything for the truth, he was inferior to the reformer in 
wisdom and moderation ; he was not entirely exempt from 
vain-glory, and with a disposition inclined to examine 
matters to the bottom, he was defective in judgment and 
in clearness of ideas. Luther had dragged him from the 
mire of scholasticism, and directed him to the study of Scrip- 
ture ; but Carlstadt had not acknowledged with his friend the 
all-sufficiency of the Word of God. Accordingly he was 
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 church, everywhere in 
Wittemberg, this little dark-featured man, who had never 
excelled in eloquence, might be heard proclaiming with 
great fervour 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 interfere. Woe be to him who lags be- 
hind, 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 or- 
dained 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 Christendom, 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 disputa- 
tions, and let us apply the effectual remedy to so many evils. 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 43 

We need a second Elijah to throw down the altars of 
Baal." 

The re-establishment of the Lord's Supper, in this moment 
of ferment and enthusiasm, unquestionably could not pre- 
sent the solemnity and holiness of its first institution 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 per- 
haps passionate men, it was nevertheless his hand that re- 
' vived in the Church the feast of his love. 

In the previous October, Carlstadt had already celebrated 
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 from the pulpit that on the day of 
our Lord's circumcision (the first day of the year) he would 
distribute the eucharist in both kinds (bread 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 in 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 German, and then turning to- 
wards 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."j 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 ever- 
lasting Covenant." 

Antagonist 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 emotion. Others, 
attracted chiefly by the novelty, drew nigh with a certain 

* Und die anderen Schirymstege alle aussen lassen. Corp-Ref. i. 512. 
t Wer mit Siinden beschwert und nach der Gnade Gottes hungrig und 
durstig. Ibid. 540. 



44 IMPORTANCE OF THE MASS 

sense of agitation and impatience. Five communicants 
alone had presented themselves in the confessional : the 
rest simply took part in the public confession 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.* 

No one opposed Carlstadt ; these reforms had already ob- 
tained general assent. The archdeacon administered the Lord's 
Supper again on New Year's day, and on the Sunday fol- 
lowing, 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 salva- 
tion of his hearers : " Mighty lord," replied he, " there is no 
form of death that can majte me withdraw from Scripture. 

The Word has come upon me with such promptitude 

Woe be to me if I preach it not !"-J- Shortly after, Carlstadt 
married. 

In the month of January 1522, the council and university 
of Wittemberg regulated the celebration of the Lord's Sup- 
per 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 was 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 commissioned to take care of the poor, and summon 
open sinners before the university and the council. J 

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 transubstantia- 
tion had been peremptorily established. From that period 
everything in the Church had taken a new direction; all 
things tended to the glory of man and the worship of the 

* Wenn man communicirt hat, so singt man : Agnus Dei carmen. 
Corp. Ref. i. 540. 

t Mir ist das Wort fast in grosser Geschwindigkeit eingefallen. Ibid. 
545. 

J Keinen wffenbaren Sunder zu dulden Ibid. 540. 

By the Council of Lateran, in 1215. 



IN THE ROMISH SYSTEM. 45 

priest. The Holy Sacrament had been adored ; festivals had 
been instituted in honour of the subliraest of miracles ; the 
adoration of Mary hud acquired a high importance; the 
priest who, on his consecration, 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 pro- 
claimed 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 ever- 
lasting kingdom. But if it lowered the Saviour, it exalted 
the priest, whom it invested with the unparalleled power of 
reproducing in his hand, and at his will, the Sovereign Crea- 
tor. From that time the Church seemed to exist not to 
preach the Gospel, but simply to reproduce Christ bodily, -j- 
The Roman pontiff, 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 arch- 
deacon of Wittemberg was therefore one of a very extended 
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 ad- 
vance. 

* Sacerdos constituitur medius inter Deum et populum. Th. Aquin. 
Summa, iii. 22. 

f Perfectio hnjus sacramenti non est in usu fidelium, sed in consecra- 
tione matcriae. Ibid. Quest. 80. 



40 FALSE KEFORM. 



CHAPTER VII. 

False Reform The New Prophets The Prophets at Wittemberg- 
Melancthon The Elector Luther Carlstadt and the Images Dis- 
turbances Luther is called for He does not hesitate Dangers. 

PREJUDICED men might have seen nothing in the work that 
was going on but the effects of an empty enthusiasm. The 
very facts were to prove the contrary, and demonstrate that 
there is a wide gulf between a Reformation based on. the 
Word of God and a fanatical excitement. 

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 tes- 
timony 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 without presenting a similar phe- 
nomenon. In the small town of Zwickau it was first mani- 
fested. 

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 desir- 
ing sanctification of heart, and who asserted that they were 
called to complete the Reformation so 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 sufficient 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 wt? should do, and what we 
should preach." Thus did these fanatics, like the adherents 
of Rome, attack the fundamental principle on which the 



THE NEW PROPHETS THEIR PREACHING. 47 

entire Reformation is founded the all-sufficiency of the "Word 
of God. 

A simple clothier, Nicholas Storch by name, announced 
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 studies ; for he had received direct 
from God (said he) the gift of interpreting the Holy Scrip- 
tures. Another weaver, Mark Thomas, added to their num- 
ber ; 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 disci- 
ples. All loudly declared, as a sect in our days has done, 
that apostles and prophets were at length restored to the 
Church of God.f 

The new prophets, pretending to walk in the footsteps 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 Germany ; all the priests will be put 
to death, even those who are married. No ungodly man, no 
sinner will remain alive ; and after the earth has been puri- 
fied by blood, God will then set up a kingdom ; Storch will 
be pu,t in possession of the supreme authority, and commit 
the government of the nations to the saints.J 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!" Then declaring that infant baptism was 
valueless, the new prophets called upon all men to come and 
receive from their hands the true baptism, as a sign of their 
introduction into the new Church of God. 

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

f Breviter, de sese predicant viros esse prophet icos et apostolicos. 
Corp. Rf. i. 514. The author alludes to tho followers of Irving Ta. 

Ut rerum potiatur et instauret sacra et respublicas tradat sanctia 
viris tenendas. Camerar. Vita. Mel. p. 45. 



48 THE NEW PROPHETS. 

This language made a deep impression on the people. 
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 scarcely had this old delusion, which had already ap- 
peared in. the days of Montanism and in the Middle Ages, 
found followers, when it met with a powerful antagonist in 
the Reformation. Nicholas Hausmann, of whom Luther 
gave this powerful testimony, " What we preach, he prac- 
tises,"* was pastor of Zwickau. This good man did not 
allow himself to be misled by the pretensions of the false 
prophets. He cheeked the innovations that Storch and his 
followers desired to introduce, and his two deacons acted in 
unison Avith him. The fanatics, 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 ;-J- the civil, 
authority interfered, and cast the ringleaders into prison.^ 
Exasperated by this proceeding, and eager to vindicate them- 
selves and to obtain redress, Storch, Mark Thomas, and 
Stubner repaired to Wittemberg. 

They arrived there "on the 27th of December 1521. 
Storch led the way with the gait and bearing of a trooper.|| 
Mark Thomas and Stubner followed him. The disorder then 
prevailing in Wittemberg was favourable to their designs. 
The youths of the academy and the citizens, already pro- 
foundly agitated and in a state of excitement, were a soil 
well fitted to receive these new prophets. 

Thinking themselves sure of support, they immediately 
called on the professors of the university, in order to obtain 

* Quod nos docemus, ille facit. 

t Eiuen Priester der das Venerabile getragen mit Steinen geworfen. 
Seek. p. 482, 

Sunt et illic in vincula conjecti. Mel. Corp. Ref. i. 513. 

Hue advolaruiit tres viri, duo laniftces, literarnm rudes, literatus 
tertius est. Ibid. 

I) lucedens more et habitu milituin istorum quos Lansknecht dicimus. 
L. Epp. ii. 245. 



THE NEW PROPHETS AT WITTEMBERG. 49 

their sanction. " We are sent by God to instruct the people," 
said they. " We have held familiar conversations with the 
Lord ; we know what will happen ;* in. a word, we are apostles 
and prophets, and appeal to Dr Luther." This strange lan- 
guage astonished the professors. 

" Who has commissioned you to preach ?" asked Melanc- 
thon 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 quenching 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 Wittem- 
berg. Stubner remained. Animated by an eager spirit of pro- 
selytism, 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 Melancthon's, who kept a school 
in which he used to instruct 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 reason, and he thought that it was 
deserving examination ; " for" said he, " we must neither 
admit nor reject any thing lightly."-j- 

Such is the spirit of the Reformation. Melancthon's hesi- 
tation and anxiety are a proof of the uprightness of his heart, 
more honourable to him, perhaps, than any systematic op- 
position would have been. 

The elector himself, whom Melancthon styled " the lamp 

* Esse sibi cum Deo familiaria coll&quia, videre futura Mel. Eleo- 

tori, 27th Dec. 1521. Corp. Ref. i. 514. 

f Censebat enim neque admittendum neque rejiciendum quicquam to- 
mere. Camer. Vita Mel. p. 49. 



50 LUTHER ON THE NEW PROPHETS. 

of Israel,"* hesitated. Prophets and apostles in the elec- 
torate of Saxony as in Jerusalem of old ! " This is a great 
matter," said he ; " and as a layman, I cannot understand i*. 
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, hy his councillors, 
that they had sufficient trouble in hand at Wittemberg; 
that in all probability these pretensions of the Zwickau pro- 
phets 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 everything in the cause of truth.-]- 

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 pro- 
ceeded was unknown. He saw immediately that God had 
permitted these afflicting events to humble his servants, and 
to excite them by trials to strive more earnestly after sancti- 
fication. 

" 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 
urgent than to secure for others the liberty that he claimed 
for himself. He had not two weights and two measures. 
" Beware of throwing them into prison," wrote he to Spala- 
tin v " Let not the prince dip his hand in the blood of these 
new prophets." \ Luther went far beyond his age, and even 

* Elector! lucernse Israel. Camer. Vita Mel. p. 513. 

f Dariiber auch leiden was S. C. G. leiden sollt. Ibid. p. 537. 

J Ne prinoeps manus cruentet in prophetis. L. Epp. ii. 135. 






CARLSTADT AND THE IMAGES. 51 

beyond many other reformers, on the subject of religious 
liberty. 

Circumstances were becoming every day more serious in 
Wittemberg.* 

Carlstadt rejected many of the doctrines of the new pro- 
phets, and particularly their sentiments pn baptism ; but 
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 accelerated his 
movements in the direction of violent reforms. "We must 
fall upon every ungodly practice, and overthrow them all 
in a day," said he.f He brought together all the passages 
of Scripture against images, and inveighed with increasing 
energy against the idolatry of Rome. " They fall down 
they crawl before these idols," exclaimed he ; " they burn 
tapers before them, and make them offerings...... Let us 

arise and tear them from the altars !" 

These words were not uttered in vain before the people. 
They entered the churches, carried away the images, broke 
them in pieces, and burnt them.:j: 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 invention of the devil, he was set 
down as a worshipper of Baal. " We must form a Church," 
cried they, " composed of saints only !" 

The citizens of Wittemberg laid before the council certain 
articles which it was forced to accept. Many of the articles 
were conformable to evangelical morals. They required 
more particularly that all houses of public amusement 
should be closed. 

* Ubi fiebant omnia in dies difficiliora. Gamer. Vita Mel. p. 49. 
f- Irruendum et demoliendum statim. Ibid. 

$ Die Bilder zu sturmen und aus den Kirchen zu werfen. M&ta. 
p. 31. 



52 VANDALISM MOURNFUL CONSEQUENCES. 

But Carlstadt soon went still farther: he began to despise 
learning; and the old professor was heard from his 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 schoolroom 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 mechanic, therefore, was as good as all the 

doctors in the world, and perhaps better, to preach the Gospel. 

Thus arose doctrines in direct opposition to the Reforma- 
tion, which had been prepared by the revival of letters. It 
wag with the weapon of theological learning that Luther 
had attacked Rome; and the enthusiasts of Wittemberg, 
like the fanatical monks with whom Erasmus and Reuchlin 
had contended, presumed to trample all human learning 
under foot. If this vandalism succeeded in holding its 
ground, the hopes of the world were lost ; and another ir- 
ruption of barbarians would extinguish the light that God 
had kindled in Christendom. 

The results of these strange discourses soon showed them- 
selves. Men's minds were prejudiced, agitated, diverted 
from the Gospel ; the university became disorganized ; the 
demoralized students broke the bonds of discipline and dis- 
persed; and the governments of Germany recalled their sub- 
jects.* Thus the men who desired to reform and vivify every 
thing, were on the point of ruining alLf One struggle more 
(exclaimed the friends of Rome, who on all sides were re- 
gaining their confidence), one last struggle, and all will be 
ours! 

Promptly to check the excesses of these fanatics was the 
only means of saving the Reformation. But who could do 
it ? Melancthon ? He was too young, too weak, too much 
agitated himself by these strange apparitions. The elector ? 
He was the most pacific man of his age. To build castles 

* Etliche Fiirsten ihre Bewandten abgefordert. Corp. Ref. i. 560. 
+ Perdita et funditus diruta. Camer. Vit. Mel. p. 52. 



A REMEDY WANTED LUTIiER CALLED FOR. 53 

at Altenburg, Weimar, Lochau, and Coburg; to adorn 
churches with the beautiful pictures of Lucas Cranach ; to 
improve the singing in the chapels; to advance the pros- 
perity of his university; to promote the happiness of his sub- 
jects ; to stop in the midst of the children whom he met play- 
ing in the streets, 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 Fred- 
erick make up his mind to this ? 

The disease continued to spread, and no one stood for- 
ward to check it. Luther was far from Wittemberg. Con- 
fusion and ruin had taken hold of the city. The Reforma- 
tion 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 cry at 
Wittemberg. The citizens called for him earnestly ; the 
professors desired his advice ; the prophets themselves ap- 
pealed 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 comparison 
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 
brought peace to his troubled heart becomes the occasion of 
fatal disturbances to the Church. 

" If I knew," he had once said, " that my doctrine injured 
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."-j- And now a whole city, and 
that city Wittemberg, is falling into disorder! True, his 
doctrine has no share in this ; but from every quarter of 
Germany voices are heard accusing 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 

* Lutherum revonavimus ex heremo suo magnis de causis. Corp. 
Kef. i., 566. 

f- Mochte ich ehe zehn Tode leydon. Wieder Emser. L. Opp. xviii, C13. 
VOL. ni. 4 



54 LUTHER DOES NOT HESITATE. 

great work of the Reformation?" said he to himself. Impossi- 
ble ! 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 anything im- 
pure 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 conversed with them. " Ask these prophets," 
wrote he to Melancthon, "whether they have felt those 
spiritual torments, those creations of God, that death and 

hell which accompany a real regeneration -J- And if 

they speak to you only of agreeable things, of tranquil im- 
pressions, 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 glory, he 
was compelled to suffer death; and in like manner the be- 
liever 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 : .4s 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 hell 

No ! The Divine Majesty (as they pretend) does not speak 
directly, so that men may see it ; for no man can see my face 
and live." 

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

" Ich krieche zu seiner Gnadcn. L. Opp. xviii. 615; 
} Quaeraa num experti sint spiritnales illas angnstias et nativitates 
dmnas, mortes inferaosque. L. Epp. u. 2)5. 



LUTHER'S DANGER. 55 

ceitfulness of the human heart had placed in his path ; he is 
bowed down by grief 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 dangers. 
The enemies of the Reformation fancied themselves on the 
very eve of destroying it. George of Saxony, equally indis- 
posed towards Rome and Wittemberg, had written, as early as 
the IGth 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 teach- 
ing ! Entreat your brother the elector either to punish the 
ungodly authors of these innovations, 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 seve- 
rity. In effect, on the 21st of January, this body passed an 
edict, in which it complained bitterly that the priests said 
mass without being robed in their sacerdotal garments, con- 
secrated the sacrament in German, administered it without 
having received the requisite confession from the communi- 
cants, placed it in the hands of laymen,-}- and were not even 
careful to ascertain that those who stood forward to receive 
it were fasting. 

Accordingly the imperial government desired the bishops 
to seek out and punish severely all the innovators within 
their respective dioceses. The latter hastened to comply 
with these orders. 

Such was the moment selected by Luther for his reappear- 
ance on the stage. He saw the danger ; he foreboded incal- 

* Mit Sehweinen und Schellen in Koth geworfen. Weimar. Ann. 

Seek. p. 482. 
t In ihre laische Hande reiche. L. Opp. xviii. 285. 



56 DEPARTURE FROM THE WARTBURG. 

culable disasters. " Erelong," said he, " there will be a dis- 
turbance 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 
us stand up as a wall to preserve our nation in this dreadful 
day of God's anger." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Departure from the "Wartburg New Position Luther and Primitive 
Catholicism Meeting at the Black Bear Luther's Letter to the Elec- 
tor 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 Lu- 
ther End of the Struggle. 

SUCH were Luther's thoughts ; but he beheld a still more 
imminent danger. At Wittemberg, the conflagration, far 
from dying away, became fiercer every day. From the 
heights of the Wartburg, Luther could perceive in the ho- 
rizon the frightful gleams, the signal of devastation, shooting 
at intervals through the air. Is not. lie 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 him not to leave the Wartburg, and to pre- 
pare his justification 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 
doso."f 

Accordingly, he rose on the 3d of March with the deter- 
mination 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. Ho 

* Germaniam in sanguine nature. L. Epp. ii. 157. 
t Ita enim res postulat ipsa. Ibid. 135. 



NEW POSITION LUTHER AND PRIMITIVE CATHOLICITY. 57 

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 forward rejoicing : for in the name of the Lord he is 
returning among his fellow-men.* 

Time had moved on. Luther was quitting the Wartburg 
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 new adversaries. He had 
entered it as an innovator, and as an impugner of the ancient 
hierarchy ; he left it as a conservative and champion of the 
faith of Christians. 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 destroying, there was also a time for 
building up. Beneath those ruins with which his strong 
arm had strewn the plain, beneath those crumpled letters of 
indulgence, those broken tiaras and tattered cowls, beneath 
so many Roman abuses and errors that lay in eonfusion upon 
the field of battle, he discerned and discovered the primitive 
Catholic Church, reappearing still the same, and coming forth 
as from a long period of trial, with its unchangeable doctrines 
and heavenly accents. He could distinguish it from Rome, 
welcoming and embracing it with joy. Luther effected no- 
thing new in the world, as he has been falsely charged ; he 
did not raise a building for the future that had no connexion 
with the past ; he uncovered, he opened to the light of day 
the ancient foundations, on which thorns and thistles 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 

" So machte er sich mit unglaublicher Frcudigkeit des Geistcs, im 
Nahmen Gottes auf den Weg. Seek. p. 458. 



58 MEETING AT THE BLACK BEAR. 

entirely new work. Luther was no longer exclusively the 
man of one doctrine, that of justification, although he al- 
ways assigned it the highest place ; he became the man of 
the whole Christian theology; and while he still believed 
that the Church was essentially the congregation of saints, 
he was careful not to despise the visible Church, and acknow- 
ledged the assembly ^of the elect as the kingdom, of God. 
Thus was a great change effected, at this time, 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 Wart- 
burg divides the history of the Reformation into two periods. 
Luther was riding slowly on the road to Wittemberg : it 
was already the second day of his journey, and Shrove Tues- 
day. Towards evening a terrible storm burst forth, and the 
roads were 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 celebrity of Wittemberg attracted them to that uni- 
versity. Travelling on foot, fatigued, and wet through, John 
Kessler 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 travellers arrived, 
they could find no room at any of the inns. At last they 
were directed to the Black Sear, outside the city gates. De- 
jected and harassed, they repaired thither slowly. The land- 
lord received them kindly.* They took their seats near the 
open door of the public room, ashamed 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 

* Sec the narrative of Kessler, with all its details, , and in the simple 
language of the times, in Bernet, Johann Kessler, p. 27. Hahnhard 
Erzahlungen,iii. ?0fl,and Marhcinocke Gesch. dcr Ref. ii. 321, 2d edition. 



MEETING AT THE BLACK BEAK. 59 

book, which he appeared to be reading with great atten- 
tion.* At tlie noise made by the entrance of these two 
young men, he raised his head, saluted them affably, and 
invited them to come and sit at his table; then present- 
ing 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 Wittem- 
berg, yoti will there meet with a fellow-countryman, Doctor 
Schurff." Encouraged by this kind reception, they added : 
" Sir, could you inform us where Martin Luther is at pre- 
sent ?" " 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 Scriptures." " If God 
spare our lives," observed one of tlic young men, " we will 
not return home without having seen and heard Doctor 
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, we 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 Rotterdam still there? what is he doing?" 
They replied to his questions, and there was another pause. 
The two Swiss kneAV not what to think. " Is it not strange," 
thought they, " that this knight talks to us of Schurff, Me- 
laucthon, and Erasmus, and on the necessity of learning 
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 here- 
tic." " 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 

* In einem rothem Schlopli, in blosscn Hosen und Warams Hahii- 

hard Erzahlungen, iii. 300, and Marhciuecke Gesch. der Ref. ii. 321, 
2d edition. 



60 MEETING AT THE BLACK BEAK. 

moment of their arrival. The knight had closed it, and 
placed it by his side. At last Kessler's companion ventured 
to take it up. To the great astonishment of the tv/o 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." " You will attain your wish," said 
the stranger, " if you will only take the trouble to learn it." 

A few minutes after, Kessler heard the landlord calling 
him; the poor Swiss youth feared something had gone 
wrong ; but the host whispered to him : " I perceive that 
you have a great desire to see and hear Luther ; well ! it is 
he who is sealed 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 into the room and took his seat at the table, burn- 
ing to repeat to his comrade 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," re- 
plied his comrade ; " you did not hear him distinctly." 
" It may be so," returned Kessler ; " the host said : It is 
Hiitten ; the two names are pretty much alike, and I mis- 
took 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 commentary on some of the 
Gospels and Epistles by Doctor Luther," replied the mer- 
chant ; " it is just published." " I shall procure it shortly," 
said the knight. 

At this moment the host came to announce that supper 
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 



MEETING AT THE BLACK BEAK. 61 

him to serve them with something apart. " Come along, 
my friends," replied the landlord of the Black Bear ; " take 
your place at table beside this gentleman ; I will charge you 
moderate!)'." " 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," said 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, taking 
a large glass of beer, rose and said solemnly, after the 
manner 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 arose, flung a military cloak over his shoulders, 
and extending his hand to the students, said to them: 
" When you reach Wittemberg, salute Doctor Schurff 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 recognised him, might seize 
him. But at the time when he was engaged in an under- 
taking that exposed him to every risk, he was calm and 
serene, and conversed cheerfully with those whom he met on 
the road. 

It was not that he deceived himself: he saw the future 
big with storms. " Satan," said he, " is enraged, and all 
around are plotting death and hell.* Nevertheless, I go 

* Furit Satanas ; et fremunt yicini undique, nescio quot mortibus et 
infer nis. L. Epp. ii. 153. 

4* 



62 LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR. 

forward, and throw myself in the way of the emperor and of 
the pope, having no protector save God 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, Luther 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 Hotel and wrote the 
following letter : 

" Grace and peace from God our Father, and from our 
Lord JesuS Christ ! 

" Most serene Elector, gracious Lord ! The events that 
have taken place at Wittemberg, to the great reproach 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 dis- 
cussion, 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 otherwise. 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 entered 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 times more furious than 
he is. What does he think of in attacking me? Does 
he take Christ my Lord for a man of straw?* Lord, 

" Er halt meinen Herrn Christum fiir ein Mann aus Stroh geflochten. 
L. Epp. ii. 139. 



LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR. 63 

be pleased to avert the terrible judgment which is impend- 
ing over him ! 

" Be it known to your highness that I am going to Wit- 
temberg under a protection far higher than that of princes 
and electors. I think not of soliciting your highness's 
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 np sword that can further this cause. God 
alone must do everything 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 highness has 
already done totf much, and ought to do nothing at all. 
God will not and cannot endure either your cares and la- 
bours 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 districts. 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's states. Everything 
shall be done without trouble or danger to yourself. 

" 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- Wed- 
nesday 1522. 

" Your electoral highness's 

" Very humble servant, 

" MARTIN LUTHER." 

* Und ja nicht wehren......so sie rnich fahen oder todteii will. L. Epp. 

ii. 140. 



64 RETURN TO WITTEMBERO LUTHER S FRIENDS. 

It was thus Luther drew nigh to Wittemberg. He wrote 
to his prince, but not to excuse himself. An imperturbable 
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 remark in the margin of 
this letter : " This is a wonderful writing of the third and 
lastElias!"* 

Luther re-entered Wittemberg on Friday the 7th March, 
having been five days on the way from Eisenach. Doctors, 
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 Loekau with his court, felt great 
emotion as he read the reformer's letter. He was desirous 
of vindicating him before the diet : " Let him address me a 
letter," wrote the prince to Schurff, " explaining the motives 
of his return to Wittemberg, and let him say also that he 
returned without my permission." Luther consented. 

" I am ready to incur the displeasure of your highness 
and the anger of the whole world," wrote he to the prince. 
" Are not the Wittembergers my sheep? Has God not 
intrusted them to me ? And ought I not, if necessary, to 
expose myself to death for their sakes ? Besides, I fear tc 
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 are very different from those 
of Nuremberg."f This letter was written on the very day 
of Luther's arrival at Wittemberg. 

The following day, being the eve of the first Sunday in 
Lent, Luther visited Jerome Schurff. Melancthon, Jonas, 
Amsdorff, and Augustin Schurff, Jerome's brother, were there 
assembled. Luther eagerly questioned them, and they were 
informing him of all that had taken place, when two foreign 
students were announced, desiring to speak with Dr. Jerome. 
On entering this assembly of doctors, the two young men of 
St. Gall were at first abashed ; but they soon recovered 

* Der wahre, dritte und lezte Elias L. Opp. (L.) zviii. 271. 

f L. Epp. ii. 143. Luther was forced to alter this expression at the 
doctor's request. 



LUTHER'S TASK INTREPIDITY. 66 

themselves on discovering the knight of the Black Bear 
among them. The latter immediately went up to them, 
greeted them as old acquaintances, and smiled as he pointed 
to one of the doctors : " This is Philip Melancthon, whom 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 joy he felt at meeting his friends once more. 
Unquestionably the character in which he was now to ap- 
pear was obscure ; he was about to raise his voice in a small 
town of Saxony, and yet his undertaking had all the im- 
portance 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 possible 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 threatened 
to overthrow the rising edifice of the Reformation, and to 
scatter its ruins far and wide : such was the task for which 
Luther had returned to Wittemberg. But would his influ- 
ence 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 retire of 
their own accord, Christ will know how to compel 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 
* Domini enim sumus yitse et mortis. L. Epp. ii. 150. 



6 SERMON AT WITTEMEEEG. 

restrained by a superior power, refused to employ the anathe- 
mas and thunders of the Word, and became an humble 
pastor, a gentle shepherd of souls. u It is with the Word 
that we must fight, 77 said he ; u by the Word must we over- 
throw and destroy what has been set up by violence. I will 
not make use of force against the superstitious and unbeliev- 
ing. Let him who believelh draw nigh ! let him who be- 
lieveth not keep afar off! no one must be constrained. 
Liberty is the very essence of faith,"* 

The next day was Sunday. On that day the doctor, 
whom for nearly a year the lofty ramparts of the Wartburg 
have concealed from every eye, will reappear before the 
people in the pulpit of the church. It was rumoured 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 
which the people were misled. They are going to see the 
hero of Worms. The people crowded together, 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 Jup into the pulpit : there he stands in the presence 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 simple, noble, yet full of strength and gentleness : one 
might have supposed him to be a tender father returning to 
his children, inquiring into their conduct, 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 alone, 
it is of little consequence whether it he sheathed or not; but 
if he is in the midst of a crowd, he should act so as to wound 
nobody. 

" What does a mother do to her infant ? At first she 

* Kom nim ad fidem el id ea qcse fidei sant, ctf ns cogerdns est. L. 

Kpp ii. 151. 



CHARITY TUE WORD. 67 

gives it milk, then some very light food. If she were to 
begin by giving it meat and wine, what would be the con- 
sequence? 

" 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 charity, 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 behoved 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 spake 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 wis- 
dom and of peace. Carlstadt and the prophets of Zwickau, 
so great and powerful for a few weeks, and who had tyran- 
nized over and agitated Wittemberg, had shrunk into pigmies 
beside the captive of the Wartburg. 

. " The mass," continued he, " is a bad thing; God is op- 
posed to it ; it ought to be abolished ; and I 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 why so, you will ask ? Because I do 
not hold men's hearts in my hand, as the potter holds the 
clay. We have a right to speak ; we have not the right to 
act. Let us preach : the rest belongs unto God. Were I to 
employ force, what should I gain ? Grimace, formality; ape- 

ings, human ordinances, and hypocrisy But there would 

be no sincerity of heart, nor fahli, nor charity. Where these 



68 HOW THE REFORMATION WAS EFFECTED. 

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 for 
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 skould you 
have gone to work as you did ? Paul, arriving 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 Paul's having 
touched them. 

41 I will preach, discuss, and write ; but I will constrain 
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 forward God's Word ; 
I preached and wrote this was all I did. And yet while I 
was asleep, or seated familiarly at table with Amsdorff and 
Melancthon, drinking and gossiping 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 nothing : the Word alone did all. If I had wished to 
appeal to force, thewhole of Germany would perhaps have been 
deluged with blood. But what would have been the result? 
Ruin and desolation both to body and soul. I 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 the Gospel through the world? 
Seated with folded arms behind the fire of hell, Satan says, 

* Ich vrollte uicht einea BirnstJel drauf geben. L. Opp. (L.) xviii. 225. 



SATAN THE LOKD'S SUPPER. 69 

with malignant looks 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 shud- 
ders and faints with fear." 

Luther went into the pulpit again on Tuesday ; and his 
powerful voice resounded once more through the agitated 
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 Wit- 
temberg 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 partook 
thoughtlessly of Christ's Supper. " It is not the outward 
manducation that maketh a Christian," said he, " but the 
inward and spiritual eating that worketh by faith, and with- 
out 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 atonement ; 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 defender ; with him, I brave sin, death, hell, and 
devils ; they can do me no harm, nor disturb a single hair of 
my head. This spiritual bread is the consolation of the 
afflicted, health to the sick, life to the dying, food to the 
hungry, riches to the poor. He who does not 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 wu shall not so 
presumptuously approach the holy sacrament." 

The crowd ceased not to fill the temple; people flocked 
from the neighbouring towns to hcnr the new Elijah. Among 



70 DISCBETION AXD COUKAGE. 

others, Capito spent two days at Wittemberg, and heard two 
of the doctor's sermons. Never had Luther and Cardinal 
Albert's chaplain been so well agreed. Melancthon, the 
magistrates, the professors, and all the inhabitants, were de- 
lighted.* Schurff, charmed at the result of so gloomy an 
affair, hastened to communicate it to the elector. On Friday 
the 15th March, the flay on which Luther delivered his sixth 
sermon, he wrote : " Oh, 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 clear as the sun that the Spirit of God 
is in him, and that by His special providence he returned to 
Y\ T ittemberg."-|- 

In truth, these sermons are models of popular eloquence, 
but not of that which in the times of Demosthenes, or even 
of Savonarola, fired men's hearts. The task of the Wittem- 
berg 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 unbridled passions ; and in 
this he succeeded. In his eight discourses, the reformer did 
not allow one offensive word to escape him against the ori- 
ginators of these disorders, not one unpleasant allusion. But 
the greater his moderation, the greater also was his strength ; 
'the more caution he used towards these deluded men, the 
more powerful was his vindication of offended truth. How 
could the people of Wittemberg resist his powerful eloquence ? 
Men usually ascribe to timidity, fear, and compromise, those 
speeches that advocate moderation. Here there was nothing 
of the sort. Luther appeared before .the inhabitants of Wit- 
temberg, braving the excommunication of the pope and the 
proscription of the emperor. He had returned in despite of 
the prohibition of the elector, 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 brayed the scaffold had a right to exhort to submission. 



* Grosse Freudo und Frohlocken unter Gclahrten und UngeTahrten. 
L. Opp. xviii. 266. > 
_-T Aus soudcrlieher Schickung des Allmiichtigon Ibid ..- ' 



DIDYMUS CARLSTADT THE PROPHETS. 71 

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 Wittemberg jeturncd 
quietly to their dwellings. 

Gabriel Didymus, who had shown himself the most en- 
thusiastic 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.-}- 

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.^ In his eyes this was checking the reform itself. 
Hence his air was always dejected, gloomy, and dissatisfied. 
Yet he sacrificed his self-love for the sake of peace ; he re- 
strained his desires of vengeance, and became reconciled, 
outwardly at least, with his colleague, and shortly after re- 
sumed his lectures in the university. 

The chief prophets were not at Wittemberg when Luther 
returned. Nicholas Storch was wandering through the 
country ; Mark Stubner had quitted Melancthon's hospitable 
roof. Perhaps their prophetic spirit had disappeared, and 
they had had neither voice nor answer^} so soon as they 
learnt that the new Elijah was directing his steps towards 
this new Carmel. < The old schoolmaster 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 

* Imo, inquit, angeli, non hominis vocem mihi audisse videor. Gamer. 
p. 12. 

( In alium virum mutatus est. L. Epp. ii. 156. 

J Ego Carlstadium offendi, quod ordinationes suas cessayi. Ibid. 
177. 

Philippi et Carlstadii lectiones, ut sunt optima. Ibid. 284. 

i! 1 Kiugs xviii. I'd. f -, , 



72 CONFERENCE BETWEEN LtiTHER AND THE PROPHETS. 

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 ap- 
pear," cried Cellarius, " let him grant us a conference, let 
him only permit us to set forth our doctrine, and then we 

shall see " 

Luther cared little to meet such men as these ; he knew 
them to be of violent, impatient, and haughty disposition, 
who could not endure even kind admonition, and who re- 
quired that every one should submit at the first word, as to 
a supreme authority.-}- Such are enthusiasts in every age. 

1 And yet, as they desired an inteiview, the doctor could not 
refuse it. Besides, it might be of use to the weak ones of 
the flock were he to unmask 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, and 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 observed : " St. Paul 
declares that the proofs of his apostleship were made known 
by miracles; prove yours in like manner." "We will do so," 
answered the prophets.]! " 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 re- 
former, and said to him with an air of inspiration, " Martin 

Luther! I will declare what is now passing in thy soul 

Thou art beginning to believe that my doctrine is true." 
Luther, after a brief pause, exclaimed : " God chastise thee, 

* Rursum ad ipsum confluere ... Camer. p. 52. 

f Vehementer superbus ot impatiens crcdi vult plena auctoritatc, 

ad primam vocera ... L. Epp. ii. 179. 

J Audivit Lutherus placide. Camer. p. 52. 

Cum et solum pedibus et propositam mensulam manibus feriret 
Ibid. 

y Quid polliccutos do mirabilibus affectioiiibus Ibid. p. 53. 



END OF THE CONTEST IMPORTANCE AND RESULTS. 73 

Satan!" At these words all the prophets were as if dis- 
tracted. " The Spirit, the Spirit !" cried they. Luther, adopt- 
ing that cool tone of contempt and cutting and homely lan- 
guage so familiar to him, said, " I slap your spirit on the 
snout."* Their clamours now increased ; Cellarius, in par- 
ticular, 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 from the bosom of the renovated Church the 
enthusiasm and disorder by Avhich it had been invaded. If 
with one hand the Reformation threw down the dusty de- 
cretals 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 unrestrained, 
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 Wittem- 
berg. Luther still continued to reside in the convent and 
wear his monastic dress ; but every one was free to do other- 
wise. In communicating at the Lord's table, a general ab- 
solution 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 Scrip- 
ture. | This was not indifference; on the contrary, religion 
was thus restored to what constitutes its very essence ; the 

* Ihren Geist haue er Uber die Schnauze. L. Opp. Altenburg. Ausg. iii. 
137. 
' f Spumabat et fremebat et furebat. L. Epp. ii. 179. 

J Ganz klare und griindliche Schrift. 

-- , .ii .I'.-'/ vxf-* 



74 TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

sentiment of religion withdrew from the accessory forms in 
which it had well nigh perished, and transferred itself to its 
true basis. Thus the Reformation was saved, and its teach~ 
ing enabled to continue its development in the bosom of the 
Church in charity and truth. '.". '-, 



CHAPTER IX. 

Translation of the New Testament Faith and Scripture Opposition 
Importance of this Publication Necessity for a systematic Arrange- 
ment Melancthon's Loci Communes Original Sin Salvation Free 
Will Effects of the Loci Communes. 

TRANQUILLITY was hardly established when the reformei 
turned to his clear 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 familiar 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 trans- 
lating 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." 

* Verum omnia mine elimare ccepimus, Philippus et ego. L. Epp. 
ii. 176. 
t See Vol. II. p. 71. 



EFFECTS OF THE TRANSLATION EDITIONS. 75 

The printing of the New Testament was carried on with 
unexampled zeal.* 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 labour, and 
ten thousand sheets, says Luther, were printed daily .-]- 

At length, on the 21st of September 1522, appeared the 
complete edition of three thousand copies, in two folio 
volumes, with this simple title : THE NEW TESTAMENT 
GERMAN WITTEMBERG. It bore no name of man. Every 
German might henceforward procure the Word of God at a 
moderate price4 

The new translation, written in the very tone of the holy 
writings, in a language yet in its youthful vigour, 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 approbation to this wonderful work, and some 
indiscreet friends of the reformer, impressed by the beauty of 
the translation, imagined they could recognise in it a second in- 
spiration. This version served more than all Luther'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 pro- 
digious. In a short time every copy was sold. A second 
edition appeared in the month of December; and in 1533 
seventeen editions had been printed at Wittemberg, thirteen 
at Augsburg, twelve at Basle, one at Erfurth, one at 
Grimma, one at Leipsic, and thirteen at Strasburg. Such 
were the powerful levers that uplifted and transformed the 
Church and the world. 

While the first edition of the New Testament was going 

* Ingenti labore et studio. L. Epp. ii. 236. 

f- Ante Michaelis non absolvetur, quanquam singulis diebus decies 

miilia chartarum sub tribus prelis excudant Ibid. 

J A florin and a half, about half a crown. 
Gesch. d. deutsch. Bibel Uebcrsetz. 



76 SCRIPTURE AND FAITH. 

through the press, Luther undertook a translation of the Old. 
This labour, begun in 1522, was continued without inter- 
ruption. He published this translation in parts as they were 
finished, the more speedily to gratify public impatience, and 
to enable the poor to procure the book. 

From Scripture and faith, two sources which in reality 
are but one, the li'fe of the Gospel has "flowed, and is still 
spreading over the world. These two principles combated 
two fundamental errors. Faith was opposed to the Pelagian 
tendency of Roman-catholicism ; Scripture, 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 Christendom. But this doctrine 
could not fail to impel Christendom to the study of Scripture. 
In truth, if faith in Christ is everything 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 everything to the believer. What matters to him the 
outward link that connects him with an outward church en- 
slaved by the opinions of men? Thus, as the doctrine of 

the Bible had impelled Luther's contemporaries 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 philosophical principle, or in consequence of doubt, 
or from the necessity of inquiry, that they returned to Scrip- 
ture ; 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 pre- 
ferred the traditions and observances of men. A violent 
persecution was waged against this work of the reformer's. 
At the news of Luther's publication, Rome trembled. The 
pen which had transcribed the sacred oracles was really 



OPPOSITION THE NEW TESTAMENT BURNT. 77 

that which Frederick had seen in his dream, and which, 
reaching to the Seven Hills, had shaken the tiara of the 
papacy.* The monk in his 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 subjects 
to deposit every copy of Luther's New Testament in the 
hands of the magistrates. Bavaria, Brandenburg, Austria, 
and all the states devoted to Rome, published similar 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 religion of Jesus Christ, at the 
moment when the dominion was escaping from the priests 
and their idols. But who can check the triumphant pro- 
gress of the Gospel ? " Even after my prohibition," wrote 
Duke George, " many thousand copies were sold and read 
in my states." 

God even made use of those hands to circulate his Word 
that were endeavouring to destroy it. The Romanist theo- 
logians, 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 pub- 
lishers. There was no hindrance to its being read. Rome 
as yet knew not that wherever the Word of God is estab- 
lished, 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 Branden- 
burg in particular, thus made great progress in the know- 
ledge of the truth. 

The publication of the New Testament in the vulgar 
tongue is an important epoch in the Reformation. If 

Vol." I. p. 265. 

f Qui et alicubi in nnum congest! rogum publice combust! aunt. 
VOL. in. 5 



78 IMPORTANCE OF THIS PUBLICATION. 

Feldkirchen's marriage was the first step in the progress of 
the Reformation from doQtrine into social life ; if the aboli- 
tion of monastic vows was the second ; if the re-establish- 
ment of the Lord's Supper was the third, the publication 
of the New Testament was perhaps the most important of 
all. It worked an entire change in society : 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 Christen- 
dom, Christendom itself was changed. Then arose other 
habits, other manners, other conversations, and another 
life. "With the publication of the New Testament, the Re- 
formation 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 attacks that had been 
made against Rome. The simplest men, provided they 
knew how to read, women, mechanics (our informant is a 
contemporary and violent opponent of the Reformation) 
eagerly studied the New Testament.* They carried it about 
with them ; soon they knew it by heart, and the pages of 
this book loudly proclaimed the perfect unison of Luther's 
Reformation 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. Acer- 
tain truth had been put forward in one writing; a certain error 
attacked in another. On one vast plain lay scattered ahd con- 
fused the ruins of the old edifice and the materials of the new : 
but the new edifice was wanting. The publication of the New 
Testament undoubtedly satisfied this want. The Reforma- 
tion could say, as it gave this book : Here is my system ! 
But as every man is at liberty to assert that his system is 

Ut sutores, mulieres, et quilibet idiot sc avidissime legerent. 

Cochloeus, p. 50. 



MELANCTHON'S COMMON-PLACES. 79 

that of the Bible, the Reformation was called to arrange 
what it had found in Scripture. And this Melancthon now 
did in its name. 

He had walked with regular but confident steps in 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 haughty presumption 
equally opposed to the Holy Scriptures and to good sense. 
" To contend against these doctrines," he had said, " we re- 
quire more than one Hercules."* Thus had Melancthon 
reached the same point as Luther, although by a calmer and 
more scientific process. The time had come in which he 
was to confess his faith in his turn. 

In 1521, during Luther's captivity, Melancthon's celebrated 
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 develop- 
ments 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 vitality of understand- 
ing, a strength of conviction, and a simplicity of statement, 
forming a striking contrast with the subtle and pedantic 
systems of the schools. The most 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 ;-J- and while he avowed his dissent from the author 

* Adversus quas non uno nobis, ut ita dicam, Hercule opus est. Corp. 
Ref. i. 137. 

f Video dogmatum aciem pulchre iustructam adrersus tyrannidem 
pharisaicam. Er. Epp. p. 949. 



80 ORIGINAL SIN. 

on several points, he added, that although 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 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 disconnected 
sounds that his' hand, in the deep emotion of his soul, had 
drawn from the harp of the prophets and apostles, were here 
blended together in one enchanting harmony. Those scat- 
tered stones, which he had laboriously hewn from the quarries 
of Scripture, were now combined into a majestic edifice. 
Hence he never ceased recommending the study of this work 
to the youths who came to Wittemberg in search of know- 
ledge : " If you desire to become theologians," he would say, 
"read Melancthon." -j- 

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 in- 
strument is reason. 

The Christian divine, diving into the heart of man, ex- 
plains its laws and mysterious attractions, as another 
philosopher in after-years explained the laws and attraction" 
of bodies. " Original sin," said he, " is an inclination born 
with us, a certain impulse which is agreeable to us, a 
certain force leading us to sin, and which has been com- 
municated by Adam to all his posterity. As in fire there is 
a native energy impelling it to mount upward, as there is in 
the loadstone a natural quality by which iron is attracted ; 
so also there is in man a primitive force that inclines him to 
evil. I grant that in Socrates, Xenocrates, and Zeno were 
found temperance, firmness, and chastity ; these shadows of 

* La Somme de Theologie, par Philippe Melancthon, Geneve, 1551. 
Jchan Calvin aux Lecteurs. 

t Librum invictum (said he on another occasion) non solum inamor- 
talitate sed et canone ecclesiastico dignum. De SCFTO Arbitrio. 



SALVATION FKEE WILL. 81 

virtues were found in impure hearts and originated in self- 
love. This is why we should regard them not as real 
virtues, but as vices."* This language may seem harsh ; but 
not so if we apprehend Melancthon's meaning aright. No ono 
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 commands, does it not 
from love to God, but from love of self, can God accept 
him for daring to substitute himself in the place of His in- 
finite 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;-f- 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 Common-places is especially re- 
markable for the manner in which the theologian of Ger- 
many speaks of free will. He saw more clearly perhaps 
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 Information. Man's justification be- 
fore 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 

* Loci Communes Tbeoiogici, Basle, i521, j>. 35. This edition is very 
rare. For the subsequent revisions consult that of Erlaugen, 1828, 
founded on that of Basle, 1561. 

\r Vult te intueri Filium Dei sedeutem ad dextram Patns, mediatorem 
interpellantem pro nobis. Ibid. 



82 EFFECT OF THE COMMON-PLACES. 

mistaken in so important a matter. But he went too far. 
Instead of confining himself within the limits of the religious 
question, he entered upon metaphysics. He established a 
fatalism which might tend to represent God as the author 
of evil, a doctrine which has no foundation in Scripture. 
" 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. The schoolmen 
had so dried up the doctrine as to leave no traces of vitality 
in it. The task of the Reformation was therefore to reani- 
mate this lifeless doctrine. In the subsequent editions, 
Melancthon felt the necessity of expounding these doctrines 
with greater clearness!*{- But such was not precisely the 
case in 1521. "To know Christ," said he, "is to know 
his blessings.} Paul, in his epistle tq the Romans, desiring 
to give a summary of the Christian doctrines, does not philo- 
sophize on the mystery of the Trinity, on the mode of incar- 
nation, on active or passive creation ; of what then does he 
speak ? of the law, of sin, of grace. On this our know- 
ledge of Christ depends." 

The publication of this body of theology was of inestim- 
able value to the cause of truth. Calumnies were refuted ; 
prejudices swept away. In the churches, palaces, and uni- 
versities, Melancthon's genius found admirers, who esteemed 
the graces of his character. Even those who knew not the 
author were attracted to his creed by his book. The rough- 
ness and occasional violence 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, 

* Quandoquidem omnia qua; eveniunt, nccessario eveniunt juxta divi- 
nam prsedestiuationem, nulla cst voluntatis nostra libertas. Loc. Com. 
Theol. Basle, 1521, p. 35. 

f See the edition of 1561, reprinted in 1829, p. 14-44, the several chap- 
ters : De tribus personis ; De divinitate Filii ; De duabus naturia 
in Christo ; - Testimonia quod Filius sit persona ; Testimonia refutantia 
Arianos ; De discernendis proprietatibus hiimana; et divinae naturae 
Christ! ; De Spiritu Sancto, &c. &c. 

J Hoc est Christum cognoscere, bencficia ojus cognoscere. Ibid. 



EFFECT OF THE COMIION-I'LAUES. 83 

with great elegance of style, exquisite taste, admirable per- 
spicuity, and perfect order. The work was sought after and 
read with avidity, and studied with ardour. Such gentle- 
ness and moderation won all hearts. Such nobility and 
force commanded their respect ; and the superior classes of 
society, hitherto undecided, were gained over 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!"* 

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



CHAPTER X. 

Opposition Henry VIII. Wolsey The Queen Fisher Thomas 
More Luther's Books burnt Henry's Attack on Luther Presented 
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 contributing by 
these gentle strains a powerful support to Luther, men of 
authority, enemies to the reformer, were turning violently 
against him. He had escaped from the Wartburg and re- 
appeared 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 Wittemberg 
when a rumour, increased by the thousand tongues of fame, 
* Heu ! infelicem hoc novo partu Gcrmaniam ! Cochloeus. 



84 HENRY THE EIGHTH WOLSEY. 

brought intelligence that one of the greatest kings of Chris- 
tendom had risen against him. Henry VIII., 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 re-establish 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 authority and 
empire." -f- His countenance expressed the vivacity of his 
mind ; vehement, presuming to make everything give way 
to the violence of his passions, and thirsting for glory, 
he at first concealed his faults under a certain impetuosity 
that is peculiar to youth, and flatterers were not wanting 
to encourage them. He would often visit, in company 
with his courtiers, the house of his chaplain, Thomas Wol- 
sey, the son of an Ipswich butcher. Endowed with great 
skill, of overweening ambition, and of unbounded audacity 
this man, protected by the Bishop of Winchester, chancellor 
of the kingdom, had rapidly advanced in his master's favour, 
and allured him to his residence by the attractions of plea- 
sures 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.J In these dissolute meetings, the chaplain sur- 
passed the licentiousness of the young courtiers who attended 
Henry VIII. Forgetful of the decorum befitting a minister 
of the Church, he would sing, dance, laugh, play the fool, 

* Jactant libellum regis Anglise ; sed tevm ilium suspicor sub pelle 
tectum : an allusion to Lee, the king's chaplain, and a pun on the word 
leo, a lion. L. Epp. ii. 213. 

t Collier, Eccl. Hist, of Great Britain, fol. ii. 1. 

J Domi suse voluptatum omnium sacrarium fecit, quo regem freque/i- 
ter ducebat. Polyd. Virgilius, Angl. Hist., Basle, 1570, fol. p. 633. 
Polydoro appears to have suffered from Wolsey's pride, and rather in- 
clined to exaggerate the minister's faults. 



HENRY'S COURT QUEEN CATHERINE. 85 

fence, and indulge in obscene conversation.* By these 
means he succeeded in obtaining the first place in the king's 
councils, and, as sole minister, all the princes of Christendom 
were forced to purchase his favour. 

Henry lived in the midst of balls, banquets, and joust- 
ing, and madly squandered the treasures his father had 
slowly accumulated. Magnificent tournaments succeeded 
each other without interval. In these sports the king, who 
was distinguished above all the combatants by his manly 
beauty, played the chief part.f If the 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 honour. The vanity of the youthful prince was in- 
flated by these easy triumphs, and there was no success in 
the world to which he 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 
espoused for reasons of state Catherine of Aragon, his senior 
by eight years : she was his brother Arthur's widow, and aunt 
to Charles V. While her husband followed 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 garments around 

" Cum illis adolescentibus una psallebat, saltabat, sermones leporis 
plenos habebat, ridebat, jocabatur, &c. Polyd. Virgilius, Angl. Hist. 
Basle, 1570, fol. p. 633. 

t Eximia corporis forma prseditus, in qua etiam regiae majestatis 
augusta qusedam species elucehat. Sanderns de Schismate Anglicauo, 
p. 4. This work of Sanders, papal nuncio in Ireland, should be read very 
cautiously ; for it abounds in false and calumnious assertions, as has been 
remarked by Cardinal Quirini and the Roman -catholic Doctor Lingard. 
See the History of England by the latter, voL vi. 173. 

Surgebat media nocte ut nocturuis religiosorum precibus interesaet. 
Ibid. 5. 

5* 



86 FISHER AND MORE. 

her,* 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 Catherine 
in the court of Henry VIII. John Fisher, bishop of Ro- 
chester, then nearly seventy years of age, as distinguished 
for learning as for the austerity of his manners, was the 
object of universal veneration. He had been the oldest 
councillor of Henry VII., 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 
grandson. The king, in the midst of his irregularities, long 
continued to revere the aged bishop as a father. 

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 had endeavoured to 
quench the passions of youth by wearing a shirt of haircloth, 
and by self-scourging. On one occasion, being summoned 
by Henry VIII. while he was attending mass, he replied, 
that God's service was before the king's. "Wolsey introduced 
him to Henry, 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 Can- 
terbury. Thomas Aquinasf, 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 became in- 
dignant against him, and hardly was the decree of the Diet of 
Worms known in England, before he ordered the pontiff's bull 

* Sub regie vestitu Divi Francisci habitu utcbatur. Sanders, p. S. 
t Legebat Btudiose libros divi Thomse Aquinatis. Pol. Virg. p. 634. 



LUTHER'S BOOKS BURNT. 87 

against the reformer's works to be put in execution.* On 
the 12th of May 1521, Thomas Wolsey, who, together with 
the office of chancellor of England, combined those of car- 
dinal and legate of Rome, went in solemn procession to St. 
Paul's. This man, whose pride had attained the highest 
pitch, thought himself 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 the table at his meals.f On this 
occasion he displayed great magnificence. His household, 
consisting of 800 persons, among whom were barons, knights, 
and sons of the most distinguished families, who hoped by 
serving him to obtain public office, surrounded this haughty 
prelate. Silk and gold glittered not only on his garments 
(he was the first ecclesiastic who ventured to dress so sump- 
tuously),:): but even on the housings and harness of the 
horses. Before walked a tall priest bearing a silver column 
terminated by a cross ; behind him, another ecclesiastic of 
similar height carried the archiepiscopal crosier of York ; a 
nobleman at his side held the cardinal's hat. Lords, pre- 
lates, ambassadors from the pope and emperor, accompanied 
him, followed by a long line of mules bearing chests covered 
with the richest and most brilliant hangings. It was this 
magnificent procession that was carrying to the burning pile 
the writings of the poor monk of Wittemberg. When they 
reached the cathedral, the insolent priest placed his cardinal's 
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 im- 
pious 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 Refor- 
mation. 

Henry would not stop here. This prince, whose hand was 

* Primum libros Lutheranos, quorum magnus jam numerus pervenerat 
in maims suorum Anglorum, comburendos curavit. Pol. Virg. p. 664. 

+ Uti sella aurea, uti pulvino aureo, uti velo aureo ad mensam. Ibid, 

Primus episcoporum et cardiualium, vestitum exteriorem scricum 
sibi indnit. Ibid. p. 633. 

Galerum cardinalium, orduris insignem, sublime a ministro proefere 
bat super altare collocabat. Ibid. p. 645. 



88 HENRY'S BOOK AGAINST LUTHEK. 

ever upraised against his adversaries, his wives, or his 
favourites, wrote to the elector-palatine : " It is the devil, 
who, by Luther's means, has kindled this immense con- 
flagration. If Luther will not be converted, let him and his 
writings be burnt together !"* 

This was not enough. Having been convinced that the 
progress of heresy was owing to the extreme ignorance 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 were reserved for 
his pen. But another passion, vanity, ever greatest in 
the smallest minds, spurred the king onward. He was hu- 
miliated at having no title to oppose 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 mtye 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 Thomas 
Aquinas, Peter Lombard, Alexander Hales, and Bonaventure 
into his service ; and the world beheld the publication 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 conquer by the weapons of truth him who 
combats with those of error ; but also an earthly breast- 
plate, that if he shows himself obstinate in his malice, the 
hand of the executioner may constrain him to be silent, and 

* Knapp's Nachlese, ii. 458. 

t Meque adversus venenata jacula hostis earn oppugnantes objioerem 
Assertio septem sacramentorum adv. M. Luther urn, in prologo. 

J Omnis Christ! servus, omnis setas, omnis sexus, omuls ordo consul- 
Rat. Ibid. 



HENRY'S CONTEMPTUOUS AND ABUSIVE LANGUAGE. 89 

that once at least lie may be useful to the world, by the 
terrible example of his death."* 

Henry VIII. 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 childbirth ; after a 
travail without precedent, he produces nothing but wind.-{- 
Remove the daring envelope of the insolent verbiage with 
which he clothes his absurdities, as an ape is clothed in 

purple, and what remains? ....a wretched and empty 

sophism." 

The king defends, successively, the mass, penance, co^Iir- 
mation, marriage, orders, and extreme unction ; he is not 
sparing of abusive language towards his opponent ; 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 'twere with his sceptre," says an historian.^ 

And yet it must be confessed that his work was not bad, 
considering the author and his age. The style is not alto- 
gether without force ; but the public of the day did not con- 
fine 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 suu 
ever saw," cried some. " We can only compare it," re- 
echoed others, " to the works of Augustine. He is a Con- 
stantine, a Charlemagne!" " He is more," said others, " he 
is a second Solomon!" 

These flatteries soon extended beyond the limits of Eng- 
land. Henry desired John Clarke, dean of Windsor, his 
ambassador at Rome, to present his book to the sovereign 
pontiff. Leo X. received the envoy in full consistory. 
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 combat his adherents 
with the sword." Leo, touched with this promise, replied, 

* Et qui nocuit Terbo malitiae, supplicii prosit exemplo. Assertio sep- 
tem sacramentorum adv. M. Lutherum, hi prologo. 

+ Mirum est quanto nixu parturieiis, quam nihil peperit, nisi merum 
venture. Ibid. J Collyer, Eccl. Hist. p. 17. 

Burnet, Hist. Rcf. of England, i. SO. 



90 



EFFECT ON LUTHER. 



that the king's book could not have been written without 
the aid of the Holy Ghost, and conferred upon Henry the 
title of Defender of the Faith, which is still borne by the 
sovereigns of England. 

The reception which this volume met with at Home con- 
tributed greatly to increase the number of its readers. In 
a few months many thousand copies issued from different 
presses.* " The whole Christian world," says Cochloeus, 
" was filled with admiration and joy." -j- 

Such extravagant panegyrics augmented the insufferable 
vanity of this chief of the Tudors. He himself seemed to 
have no doubt that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost.J 
From that time he would suffer no contradiction. His 
papacy was no longer at Rome, but at Greenwich ; infalli- 
bility reposed on his shoulders : at a subsequent period this 
contributed greatly to the Reformation of England. 

Luther read Henry's book with a smile mingled with 
disdain, impatience, and indignation. The falsehood and the 
abuse it contained, but especially the air of contempt and 
compassion which the king assumed, irritated the Wittem- 
berg 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 Refor- 
mation and the reformer as already overthrown and van- 
quished, increased his indignation. Besides, 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 appeared 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 prevented his replying ; but nothing could stop 

* Jntra paucos menses, liber cjus a multis chalcographis in multa millia 
multiplicatus. Cochkeus, p. 44. 

t Ut totum orbem christianum et gaudio et admiratione repleverit. 
Ibid. 

He was brought to fancy it was written with some degree of inspira- 
tion. Burnet, Preface. 



LUTHER'S VIOLENCE AND ENERGY. 91 

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 
turn mine upon them. I will provoke Satan until he falls 
down lifeless and exhausted.* If this heretic does not re- 
cant, says Henry VIII. the new Thomas, he must be burnt 
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.f Well then, be 
it so ! Let these hogs advance 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 ; burnt, 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 into 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 ! Christ, Christ ! And my adversaries 
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. ii. 5). 
And the apostle by this thunderclap from heaven overthrows 
and disperses, as the wind scatters the dust, all the hob- 
goblins of this Henry. Frightened and confounded, these 

* Mea in ipsoa exercebo cornua, irritaturus Satanam, donee effusis 
viribus et conatibus corruat in se ipso. L. Epp. ii. 236. 

t Ignis et furor insulsissimorum asinorum et Thomisticorum por- 
corum. Contra Henricum Regem, Opp. Lat. ii. 331. This language 
reminds us of the Irish agitator. There is, however, greater force and 
nobility in the orator of the 16th than in him of the 19th century. See 
Revue Britannique for November 1835. Le RlffM (FO'Connel. " Soaped 
ewine of civilized society," &c. p. 30. 



92 THE WORD OF GOD AKD KOT THE WORD OF MAN. 

Thomists, Papists, and Henrys fall prostrate before the 
thunder of these words."* 

He then refutes the king's book in detail, and overturns 
his arguments one after the other, with a perspicuity, spirit, 
and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and history of the 
Church, but also with an assurance, disdain, and sometimes 
violence, that ought not to surprise us. 

Having reached the end of his confutation, Luther again 
becomes indignant that his opponent should derive his argu- 
ments 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 ob- 
liged to recognise. 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 thousand of these churches which Henry 
defends, should rise up against me. It is a small matter 
that I should despise 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 irnpu- 
dent falsehoods." J 

" Papists !" exclaimed he in conclusion, " will ye never 
cease from your idle attacks ? Do what you please. Never- 
theless, 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 excused, if we judge it by the rule- to which he himself 
appealed, by the Word of God. It cannot even be justi- 
fied by alleging either the grossness of the age (for Melanc- 

* Confusi et prostrati jacent a facie verborum istius tonitrui. Contra 
Heuricum reg. Opp. Lat. ii. 336. 

t Hie sto, hie sedeo, hie mauco, hie glorior, hie triumphor, hie insulto 
papistis Ibid. 342. 

Nee magnum si ego regem terra contcjuno. Ibid. 344, verso. 

L. Opp. Leips. xviii. 209. 



LUTHER'S ERROR FISHER'S REPLY. 93 

then knew how to observe decorum in his writings), or the 
energy of his character, for if this energy had any influence 
over his language, passion 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 
violence did not appear so strange as it would now-a-days. 
The learned were then an estate, as well as the princes. By 
becoming a writer, Henry had attacked Luther. Luther 
replied according to the established law in the republic of 
letters, that we must consider the truth of what is said, and 
not the quality of him that 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 VIII. 
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 scaf- 
folds that he might conform with the precepts of the chan- 
cellor 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 fieretics 
before they grow big. Now Luther is become a big fox, so 
old, so cunning, and so sly, that he is very difficult to catch. 

What do I say? a fox? He is a mad dog, a ravening 

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 contend 

" Craiem dixissem rabiclum, imo lupum rapacissimum, aut sjEvissimara 
q'landam ursam. Cochkexis, p. 60. 



94 REPLY OF THOMAS MORE. 

with the monk of Wittemberg. Although a layman, his 
zeal against the Reformation amounted to fanaticism, if it 
did not even urge him to shed blood. When young nobles 
undertake the defence of the papacy, their violence often 
exceeds even that of the ecclesiastics. " Eeverend brother, 
father, tippler, Luther, runagate 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 most illustrious men of his age. He then pro- 
ceeds to explain the manner in which Luther had composed 
his book against Henry VIII. : " He called his companions 
together, and desired them to go each his own way and 
pick up all sorts of abuse and scurrility. One frequented 
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 im- 
purities, 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 swallows his own filthf he will find 

one who will seriously discuss with him. But if he pro- 
ceeds as he has begun, joking, teasing, fooling, calumniat- 
ing, vomiting sewers and cesspoolsj let others do what 

they please ; as for me, I should prefer leaving the little 
friar to his own fury and filth." More would have done 
better 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 attachment to 
More. He would often visit him in his humble dwelling 

* Reverendus frater, pater, potator, Lutherus. Cochlceus, p. 61. 

f Si suas resorbeat et sua relingat stercora. Ibid. p. 62. 

J Sentinas, cloacas, latrinas, stercora. Ibid. p. 63. 

Cum suis et stercoribus relinquere. Ibid. p. 63. Cochloous 

is delighted at quoting these passages, selecting what according to his 
taste are the finest parts in More's reply. M. Nisard, on the contrary, 
confesses in his article on More, whom ho defends with great warmth 
and erudition, that in this writing " the impurities dictated toy the 
anger of the Catholic are such that all attempt at translation is impos- 
aible." Revue des deux Mondes, v. 592." 



HENRY TO THE ELECTOR AND DUKES OF SAXONY. 95 

at Chelsea. After dinner, the king, leaning on his favourite's 
shoulder, would walk in the garden, while Mistress More and 
her children, concealed behind a window, 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 and 
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 G reen- 
wich 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 Church 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 sovereigns, 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.* -j " 

" What is this doctrine which he calls evangelical, if it be 
not Wickliffe's ? Now, most honoured uncles, I know what 
your ancestors have done to destroy it. In Bohemia 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 becoming 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 ergiest er, gleich wie eiue Schlang vom Himmel geworfen L. 
Opp. xviii. 212. The original is in Latin : Velut e coelo dejectus serpens, 
rirus effundit in terras. 

t Und durch sein schadlich Anblasen das hollische Feuer ausspruhe. 
Ibid. 213. 



96 GENERAL MOVEMENT, 

" For this reason, most worthy princes, I feel obliged to 
exhort you and even to entreat you in the name of all that is 
most sacred, promptly to extinguish the cursed sect of 
Luther: put no one to death, if that can be avoided; but 
if this heretical obstinacy continues, then shed blood without 
hesitation, in order that the abominable heresy may dis- 
appear from under heaven."* 

The elector and hisbrotherreferredthe king to the approach- 
ing council. Thus Henry VIII. was far from attaining his 
end. " So great a name mixed up in the dispute," said Paul 
Sarpi, " served to render it more curious, and to conciliate 
general favour towards Luther, as usually happens in com- 
bats and tournaments, where the spectators have always a 
leaning to the weaker party, and take delight in exaggerating 
the merit of his actions." f 



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 Colportage. 

A OUEAT movement 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 now beginning to separate ; 
and the partisans of a monk, whose only defence was his 
tongue, now took their stand fearlessly in the face of the 
servants of Charles V. and Leo 3. Luther had scarcely 
left the walls of the Wartburg, the pope had excommuni- 
cated all his adherents, the imperial diet had just con- 
demned his doctrine, the princes were endeavouring to 

" Oder aber auch mit Blut vergiessen. L. Opp.xviii. 213. 
t Hist. Council of Trent, pp. 15, 16. 



THE MONKS. 97 

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 organi- 
zation, no bond of union, nothing in short that concentrated 
their common power, was already frightening the vast, 
ancient, 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 effort. Every day 
showed some new progress. Individuals, villages, towns, 
whole cities, joined in this new confession 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, im- 
prisonment, and the burning pile, everywhere prevailed over 
their persecutors. 

The monastic orders that Rome had spread over Christen- 
dom, like a net intended to catch souls and keep them 
prisoners, were the first to break their bonds, and rapidly to 
propagate 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, evan- 
gelical light had dawned in like manner. Sometimes they 
were old men, who, like Staupitz, had preserved the sound 
doctrines of truth in the midst of deluded Christendom, and 
who now besought 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 con- 
vents at Nuremberg, Osnabruck, Dillingen, Ratisbon, Stras- 
burg, and Antwerp, with those in Hesse and Wurtemberg, 
turned towards Jesus Christ, anjd by their courage excited 
the wrath of Rome. 



98 EMANCIPATION OF THE MONKS. 

But this movement was not confined to the Augustines 
only. High-spirited men imitated them in the monasteries 
of other orders, and notwithstanding the clamours of the 
monks, who would not abandon their carnal observances, not- 
withstanding 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 many painful inquiries, such 
despair and doubt, and such inward struggle. In the majo- 
rity 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 Franciscan, Stephen Kempe, 
preached the Gospel at Hamburg, 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 first 
led away in the path of reform. At Halberstadt, Neuen- 
werk, Halle, and Sagan, the priors set the example 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.-{- 

Indeed throughout all Germany the monks were seen lay- 
ing down their frocks and cowls at the gates of the monas- 
teries. 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, clamour, and 
hatred which pursued them even in their slumbers ; the ma- 
jority 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 

* Der ubrigen Prediger Feindschafil, Neid, Nachstellungen, Praticken, 
and Schrccken. Seckendorff, p. 559. 
t Seckendorff, p. 81 1 ; Stentzel, Script. Her. Siles. i. 457. 



HOW THE REFORMATION SPREAD AMONG THE PEOPLE. 99 

passage in the Bible. The sloth, grossness, ignorance, and 
degradation that constituted the very nature of the mendi- 
cant 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 work- 
man. His box and frock were sent back to the monastery.* 

The monks were not the only persons who rallied round 
the standard of the Gospel ; priests in still greater number 
began to preach the new doctrines. But preachers were not 
required for its propagation.; it frequently acted on men's 
minds, and aroused them from their deep slumber without 
any one having spoken. 

Luther's writings were read in cities, towns, and even vil- 
lages ; at night by the fireside the schoolmaster would often 
read them aloud to an attentive audience. Some 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 Scrip- 
ture, 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 ; f he announced that Christ had made full 
atonement for the sins of his people; he demonstrated 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 preaching a harmony with Scripture and a hidden 
force that won all hearts, and subdued even the most rebel- 

* Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, ii. 70. 

f Eaque omnia prompte, alacriter, eloquenter. Cochlceug, p. 52. 



100 VARIOUS WAYS OP PROPAGATION. 

lious. At the peril of their goods, and of their life if need be, 
they ranged themselves on the side of the Gospel, and for- 
sook the lifeless and fanatical orators of the papacy.* Some- 
times the people, incensed at being so long misled, compelled 
them to retire ; more frequently the priests, deserted by their 
flocks, without tithes or offerings, departed voluntarily and in 
sadness to seek a livelihood elsewhere.-}- . And while the 
supporters of the ancient hierarchy returned from these 
places sorrowful and dejected, and sometimes bidding fare- 
well to their old flocks in the language of anathema, the 
people, transported with joy by peace and liberty, surrounded 
the new preachers with their applause, and, thirsting for the 
Word of God, carried them in triumph into the church and 
into the pulpit. J 

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. The persecution often compelled the partisans of 
the Reformation to leave their homes : they reached some 
spot where it was as yet unknown; 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.|| 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 Wit- 
temberg, and against whom the clergy of the parish had 

* Populo odibiles catholici concionatores. Cochlceus, p. 52. 

+ Ad extremam redacti inopiam, aliunde sibi victum quserere cogeren- 
tur. Ibid. p. 53. 

% Triumphantibus novis prsedicatoribus qui sequacem populum verbo 
novi Evangelii sui ducebant. Ibid. 

Multi, omissa re domestica, in speciem veri Evangelii, parentes et 
amicos relinquebant. Ibid. 

|| Ubi vero aliquos nacti fuissent amicos in ea civitato Ibid. 54. 



UNLEARNED BELIEVERS. , 101 

closed the church doors, preached to an immense 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 heathen. 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 
evangelical Christians were denominated the Lime-tree 
Brethren. 

While the priests were exhibiting a sordid covetousness 
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 from the pulpit, that 
Rome had formerly sent the Germans 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.-}- And the noble thought of the 
equality of all 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 Testa- 
ment in their hands, undertake to justify the doctrine 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 studying sacred literature. The latter 
were therefore compelled to come forward; the conference 
began ; but erelong, 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 Cochlceus, " 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 

* Mira eis erat liberalitas. Cochloens, p. 53. 
t Earn usque diem nunquam Germane prsedicatam. Ibid. 
$ Omnes sequales et fratres in Christo. Ibid. 

A laicis Lutheranis, plures Scripturse locos, quam a monachis t 
presbyteris. Ibid. p. 54. 

VOL. III. 6 



102 OLD AND NEW DOCTORS. 

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 having resolved to compel a disciple of 
Melancthon to retract, a woman, named Argula de Staufen, 
undertook his defence, and challenged the doctors to a public 
disputation. Women and children, artisans and soldiers, 
knew more of the Bible than the doctors of the schools or 
the priests of the altars. 

Christendom was divided into two hostile bodies, and their 
aspects were strikingly contrasted. Opposed to the old cham- 
pions of the hierarchy, who had neglected the study of lan- 
guages and the cultivation of literature (as one of their own 
body informs us), were generous-minded youths, devoted to 
study, investigating Scripture, and familiarizing themselves 
with the masterpieces of antiquity.-f- Possessing an active 
mind, an elevated soul, and intrepid heart, these young men 
soon acquired such knowledge, that for a long period none 
could compete with them. It was not only the vitality of their 
faith which rendered them superior to their contemporaries, 
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 Cochloeus himself 
terms them.J 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 

* Reputabantur catholic! ab illis ignari Scripturarum. Cochloeus, p. 54. 
f Totam vero juventutem, eloquentise litteris, linguarumque studio 

deditam in partem suam traxit. Ibid. 

J Veteris farinae. 



LITERATURE AND THE PRINTING-PRESS. 103 

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 ascetic meditations. 
Works of piety succeeded bigoted observances and penances. 
The pulpit prevailed over the ceremonies of the altar ; and 
the ancient and sovereign authority of God's Word was at 
length restored in the Church. 

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

The impulse which the Reformation gave to popular 
literature in Germany was immense. Whilst in the year 
1513 only thirty-five publications had appeared, and thirty- 
seven in 1517, the number of books increased with astonish- 
ing rapidity after the appearance of Luther's theses. In 
1518 we find seventy-one different works ; in 1519, one hun- 
dred and eleven ; in 1520, two hundred and eight ; in 1521, 
two hundred and eleven; in 1522, three hundred and forty- 
seven ; and in 1523, four hundred and ninety-eight And 

where were all these published ? For the most part at Wit- 
temberg. And who were their authors ? Generally Luther 
and his friends. In 1522 one hundred and thirty of the re- 
former's writings were published ; and in the year following, 
one hundred and eighty-three. In this same year only twenty 
Roman-catholic publications appeared.* The literature of 
Germany thus saw the light in the midst of struggles, and 
contemporaneously with her religion. Already it appeared 
learned, profound, full of daring and life, as later times have 
seen it. The national spirit showed itself for the first time 
without mixture, and at the very moment of its birth re- 
ceived the baptism of fire from Christian enthusiasm. 

What Luther and his friends composed, others circulated. 
Monks, convinced of the unlawfulness of monastic obliga- 
tions, desirous of exchanging a long life of slothfulness for 
one of active exertion, but too ignorant to proclaim the Word 
of God, travelled through the provinces, visiting hamlets and 
* Panzer's Annalen der Deutsch. Litt. ; Rankc's Dcutsch. Gesch. ii.75. 



104 COLPOBT4GE. 

cottages, where they sold the books of Luther and his 
friends. Germany soon swarmed* with these bold celpor- 
teurs.-f- Printers and booksellers eagerly welcomed every 
writing in defence of the Reformation ; but they rejected the 
books of the opposite party, as generally full of ignorance 
and barbarism. J If any one of them ventured to sell a book 
in favour of the papacy, and offered it for sale in the fairs at 
Frankfort or elsewhere, merchants, purchasers, and men of 
letters 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 re- 
ceived secret intimation concealed the books that it was in- 
tended 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 passing ; Luther's writings were translated 
into French, Spanish, English, and Italian, and circulated 
among these nations. 



CHAPTER XII. 

.,"->'. " *;.' Y ' '".';; v \-.-*-.v' w -'.''Wr-i: v V"-+ * r >' -'^ ^7^''^, 
Luther at Zwickau The Castle of Freyberg Worms Frankfort Uni- 
versal Movement Wittemberg the Centre of the Reformation Luther's 
Sentiments. 

IP the most puny instruments Inflicted such terrible blows 
on Rome, what was it when the voice of the monk of Wit- 

* Apostatarum, monasteriis relictis, infinitus jam erat numerus, in 
speciem bibliopolarum. Cochlceus, p. 54. 

+ We have ventured to employ the words colporteur and colportage to 
express the trade and title of those itinerant booksellers. Besides the 
inadequacy of our English equivalent, these words appear to be making 
their way into our vocabulary. (.Translator) 

J Catholicorum, velut indocta et veteris barbarici trivialia scripta, 
contemnebant. Cochlceus, p. 54. 

In publicis mercatibus Francofordijc et alibi, vcxabantur ac ride- 
bantur. Ibid. 



LUTHER AT ZWICKAU. 105 

temberg was heard ? Shortly after the discomfiture of the 
new prophets, Luther, in a layman's attire, traversed the 
territories of Duke George in a waggon. His gown was 
hidden, and the reformer seemed to be a plain citizen of the 
country. If he had been recognised, if he had fallen into the 
hands of the exasperated duke, perhaps 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, Annaberg, and the surrounding places, 
than the people crowded 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 dilating 
with fervour on the election of grace f 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 croAvd which was 
about to fall prostrate at the feet of Jesus. Her wild yells 
interrupted the preacher. " It was the devil," said Secken- 
dorff, " who had taken the form of an old woman in order to 
excite a disturbance." -J- But it was all in vain ; the reformer's 
words silenced the wicked spirit ; these thousands of hearers 
caught his enthusiasm ; glances of admiration were ex- 
changed ; hands were warmly grasped, and erelong the 
tongue-tied monks, unable to avert the storm, found it 
necessary to leave Zwickau. 

In the castle of Freyberg dwelt Henry, brother of Duke* 
George. His wife, a princess of Mecklenburg, had the pre- 
ceding 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 

* Von dem Rathhaus unter einem Zulauf von 25,000 Menschen. Seek 
p. 539. 
t Der Teufel indem cr sich in Gestalt cines alten Weibes. Ibid. 



106 THE CASTLE OF FEEYBER<J. 

times, had gone to the Holy Land, anil made a pilgrimage 
to St. lago of Compostella. He would often say : " At 
Compostella I placed a hundred golden florins on the altar 
of the saint, and said to him : 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 Luther, 
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 
learnt that the Gospel was preached at Freyberg, than he 
entreated his brother 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 husband ; 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 destinies were hovering over that 
child ; and from that cradle, where a Christian mother had so 
often poured forth her sorrows, God was one day to bring 
forth the liberator 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 place, filled by an immense 
crowd, a preacher ascended a rudely constructed pulpit, and 
proclaimed the Gospel with persuasive accents. If the 
authorities showed a disposition to interfere, the hearers dis- 
persed in a moment, and stealthily carried away the pulpit ; 
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 temporary 
* Lass du dir's die Buben nehmen Seek. D. 430. 



WORMS FRANKFORT. 107 

pulpit was every day carried from one place to another, and 
served to encourage the people, still agitated by the emotions 
of the great drapa lately performed in their city.* 

At Frankfort on the Maine, one of the principal free cities 
of the empire, all was in commotion. A courageous evange- 
list, Ibach, preached salvation by Jesus Christ. The clergy, 
among whom was Cochloeus, so notorious by his writings 
and his< opposition, irritated against this audacious colleague, 
denounced him to the Archbishop of Mentz. The council 
undertook his defence, although with timidity, but to no 
purpose, for the clergy discharged the evangelical minister, 
and compelled him to leave the town. Rome triumphed ; 
everything seemed lost ; the poor believers fancied themselves 
for ever deprived of the Word; but a,t the very moment 
when the citizens appeared inclined to yield to these tyran- 
nical priests, many nobles declared for the Gospel. Max of 
Molnheim, Harmuth of Cronberg, George of Stockholm, and 
Emeric of RehTenstein, whose estates lay near Frankfort, 
wrote to the council : " We are constrained 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 !" 

The people, who listened gladly to the Reformation, 
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, Mun- 
ster, Wesel, Miltenberg, Mentz, Deux Fonts, and Strasburg, 
listened to the Gospel; on the south, Hof, Schlesstadt, 
Bamberg, Esslingen, Halle in Swabia, Heilbrunn, Augsburg, 

* So lieesen sie cine Canzel machen, die man Ton eiuem Ortzum andera. 
....Seek. p. 436. 



108 WITTEMBERG- CENTRE OF KEFORM. 

Ulm, and many other places, received it with joy. In the 
cast, the duchy of Liegnitz, Prussia, and Pomerania opened 
their gates to it ; and in the north, Brunswick, Halberstadt, 
Gosslar, Zell, Friesland, Bremen, Hamburg, Holstein, and 
even Denmark, with other neighbouring countries, were 
moved at the sounds of this new doctrine. 

The Elector Frederick had declared that he would allow 
the bishops to preach freely in his slates, but that he would 
deliver no one into their hands. Accordingly, the evangelical 
teachers, persecuted in other countries, soon took refuge in 
Saxony. Ibach of Frankfort, Eberiin of Ulm, Kauxdorf of 
Magdeburg, Valentine Mustoeus, whom the canons of Hal- 
berstadt had horribly mutilated,* and other faithful ministers, 
coming from all parts of Germany, fled to Wittemberg, as 
the only asylum 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 
own experience and the knowledge they had acquired. It i 
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, became more and 
more the work of the nation, of Europe, 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 apparent 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 
influence in Christendom which had hitherto belonged to the 
ancient university of Paris. The crowds that flocked 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, they carried back with them to 

* Aliquot ministri Canonicorum, capiunt D. Valentiiium Mnstamm et 
vinctum manibus pedibusque, injccto in ejus os freno, deferunt per trabea 
in inferiores coenobii partes, ibique in cello, ecrevisiaria eum castrant. 
Hamelmaun, Historia renati Evangclii, p. 380. 



LUTHER'S SENTIMENTS. 109 

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 confidence 
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 nothing 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 assur- 
ance of a victory that could not be torn from him. " Our 
enemies threaten us with death," said he to Harmuth of 
Cronberg; "if they had as much wisdom as foolishness, 
they would, on the contrary, threaten us with life. What an 
absurdity and insult to presume to threaten death to Christ 
and Christians, who are themselves lords and conquerors of 

death!* It is as if I would seek to frighten a man by 

saddling his horse and helping him to mount. Do they not 
know that Christ is risen from the dead ? In their eyes He 
is still lying in the sepulchre ; nay more in hell. But 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 believe, 
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. f 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 endeavour to explain this 
great movement by mere human circumstances. Men of 
letters, it is true, sharpened their wits and discharged 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 

* Herren und Siegmanncr des Todes. L. Epp. ii. 164. 
t Teh kcnne auch selbst nicht den Luther. Ibid. 168. 
6" 



110 THE MAINSPRING. 

" the nightingale of Wittemberg," a herald of the spring that 
was everywhere bursting forth.* 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 supported 
the sloth of the monks ; no doubt marriage and liberty, gifts 
that proceed direct from God, might have favoured 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 for 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 con- 
fined, and returning in life and vigour into a world that had 
forgotten its ancient power. The hand that made the 
world was turned towards it again ; and the Gospel, re- 
appearing 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 surface, rises calm and majestic along its 
shores, so that no human power is able to resist its progress. 

* Wittemberger Nachtigall, a poem by Han3 Sachs, 1523. 



BOOK X. 

AGITATION, REVERSES, AND PROGRESS. 1522 1526. 

CHAPTER I. 

Political Element Want of Enthusiasm at Rome Siege of Pampeluna 
Courage of Ignatius Transition Luther and Loyola Visions 
Two Principles. 

THE Reformation, which at first had existed in the hearts of 
a feAv 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 interior to the exterior. 
We are about to see this great revolution 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 resistance had 
been offered to her audacious pretensions, particularly in 
Germany and France, Rome eventually had the upperhand, 
and princes, docile agents of her terrible decrees, had been 
seen fighting to secure her dominion against private be- 
lievers obedient to their rule, and profusely shedding in her 
behalf the blood of their people's children. 

No injury could be inflicted on this vast ecclesiastical 
state, of which the pope was the head, without affecting the 
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 counterpoise 
to the power of the emperors.* 

Pfeffel Droit publ. de 1'Allemagne, 590. Robertson, Charles V 
tii. 114. Ranke, Deutsche Gesch. 



112 POLITICAL ELEMENT. 

The Elector Frederick had insisted on this latter point at 
the election of Maximilian's successor; and the youthful 
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, im- 
portant political modifications were introduced by the leaders 
of the nation, it was to be feared that the commonalty 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 society 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 Re- 
formation, and it seemed on the point of falling beneath the 
blows of two such powerful enemies. Policy, ambition, and 
interest compelled Charles V. 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 devoted- 
ness. 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 treaties, 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 conquests. The enemy that had 
been doomed to destruction in the cathedral of Worms, re- 
appeared full of confidence and strength ; the contest must be 
severe ; and blood must flow. 

Yet some of the most imminent dangers that threatened 
the Reformation seemed at this time to be disappearing. 



ANXIETIES OP THE EMPEROR. 113 

Shortly before the publication of the edict of Worms, the 
youthful Charles, standing one day at a window of his palace 
with his confessor, had said, it is true, as he laid his hand on 
his heart: " I swear to hang up at 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.-}- Dissatisfied with Germany, he 
left the banks of the Rhine, repaired to the Netherlands, 
and availed himself of his residence there to afford 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- 
da-fe ; 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 engrossed 
all his attention. 

In effect, Francis I., impatient to try his strength with 
his rival, had thrown down the gauntlet. Under the pre- 
tence of restoring the children of Jean d'Albret, king of 
Navarre, to their patrimony, he had begun a bloody strug- 
gle, destined to last all his life, by invading that king- 
dom with an army under the command of Lesparre, whose 
rapid conquests were only checked by the fortress of Pam- 
peluna. 

On these strong walls an enthusiasm was kindled, destined 
afterwards to oppose the enthusiasm of the reformer, and to 
breathe into the papacy a new spirit of energy, devotedness, 

* Sancte juro eum ex hac fenestra meo jussu suspensum iri. Pallav 

i. 130. 

t Essendo tomato dalla Dieta che sua Maesta haveva fatta in Wor- 
matia, escluso d'ogni conclusion buona d'ajuti e di favori che si fussi pro- 
posto d'ottenere in essa. Instructions to Cardinal Farnese. MS. in the 
Corsini library, published by Ranke. 

Ipso Cajsare, ore subridenti, spectaculo plausit, Pallav. i. 130. 



114 SIEGE OP PAMPELUNA TNIGO. 

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 con- 
tinually breaking out in Africa, with distant and adventurous 
expeditions beyond the seas, fostered in the Castilian youths 
that enthusiastic and unaffected valour of which Amadis 
formed the ideal model. 

Among the defenders of Pampeluna was a young gentle- 
man, Inigo Lopez of Recalda, the youngest of a family of 
thirteen childrem 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 steed,f to expose himself to the brilliant dangers of the 
tournament, to engage in hazardous exploits, to sHare in the 
envenomed struggles of faction,! and to display as much de- 
votion for Saint Peter as for his lady-love such was the life 
of this young chevalier. 

The governor of Navarre having gone into Spain to pro- 
cure succours, had left the defence of Pampeluna to Inigo and 
a few nobles, The latter, perceiving the superiority of the 
French troops, resolved to withdraw. Inigo conjured them 
to make a stand against Lesparre ; finding them resolute in 
their intention, he looked at them with indignation, accus- 
ing them of cowardice and perfidy; he then flung himself 
alone into the citadel, determined to hold it at the peril of 
his life. 

The French, who werer enthusiastically received into 
Pampeluna, having proposed a capitulation to the com- 
mander of the fortress: "Let us suffer everything," said 

* Cum osset in corporis ornatu clegantissimus. Maffei Vita Loyolae, 
1586, p. 3. 

f Equorumquc et armorum usu prsccelleret. Ibid. 

J Partim in factionum rixarumque periculis, partim in amatoria ve- 
sania tempus consumeret. Ibid. 

Ardentibus oculis, detcstatus ignaviam perfidiamque, spectantibus 
omnibus, in arcem solus introit. Ibid. p. 6. 



HIS WOUNDS HIS STUDIES. 115 

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. 
Inigo's courage and exhortations inspirited the Spaniards ; 
they repelled the assailants with arrows, swords, and battle- 
axes ; Inigo fought at their head : standing 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 groan4 

Confined to a wearisome inactivity, he found it necessary 
to employ his active imaginatipn. 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 reading, 
in his state of solitude and sickness, produced an extra- 
ordinary impression on his mind. The noisy life of tourna- 
ments and battles, which had hitherto exclusively occupied 
his thoughts, appeared to recede, to fade and vanish from his 
sight ; and at the same time a more glorious career seemed 
opening before his astonished eyes. The humble actions of 
the saints and their heroic sufferings appeared far more 
worthy of praise than all the high feats of arms and chivalry. 

* Tarn acri ac vehement! oratione commilitonibus dissuasit. Maffei 
Vita Lovolso, 1586, p. 6. 

f Ut e vestigio semianimis alienata mente corruerit. Ibid. p. 7. 

J Nullum aliud indicium dedit doloris, njsi ut coactos in pugnum digi- 
tos valde constringeret. Ibid. p. 8. 



] 16 TRANSFORMATION ARMED VIGILS. 

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, ap- 
peared together, the one with its pleasures, the other with 
its austerities ; and these two worlds contended in deadly 
struggle within his bosom. " What if I were to act like St. 
Francis or St. Dominick?" said he.* Then the image of 
the lady to whom 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." -J- Such thoughts as these filled him with distress 
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 departed alonej in "great secrecy,f 
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 morti- 
fications and pious works, after tfte example of the whole 
army of saints, he confessed for three days together, gave 
his rich attire to a beggar, put on sackcloth, and girt him- 
self with a rope. Then, remembering 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 up- 
right, but always in prayer and with the pilgrim's staff in his 
hand, he repeated all the devout practices that the illustrious 
Amadis had observed before him. " It was thus," says his 
biographer, the Jesuit Maffei, " that while Satan was arming 
Luther against all laws human and divine, and while that 

* Quid si ego hoc agerem quod fecit beatus Franciscus, quid si hoc 
quod beatus Dominicus 1 Acta Sanct. vii. 634. 

t Non era condessa, ni duquessa, mas era su estado mas alto. Ibid. 

Ibi duce amicisquo ita salutatis, ut arcana consiliorum suorum quam 
accuratissime tegeret. Maffei, p. 16. 

Pretiosa vestimenta quibus crat ornatus, pannoso cuidam largitus, 
sacco sese alacer induit ac func pnscinxit. Ibid. p. 20. 



COMPUNCTIONS OF CONSCIENCE. 117 

infamous heresiarch appeared at Worms, and impiously de- 
clared war against the apostolic see, Christ, by a call from 
his heavenly providence, was awakening this new champion, 
and binding him, and those who were to follow in his steps, 
to the service of the Roman pontiff, and opposing him to the 
licentiousness and fury of heretical depravity."* 

Loyola, although still lame in one of his legs, dragged 
himself by winding and lonely paths to Manresa, where he 
entered a Dominican convent, in order to devote himself in 
this secluded spot to the severest mortifications. Like 
Luther, he daily begged his bread from door to door.-]- 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 would have been impossible to recognise 
the young and brilliant knight of Pampeluna. 

Yet the hour had come when religious ideas, which 
hitherto had been to Inigo a mere chivalrous amusement, 
were to be evolved in him with greater depth, and make 
him sensible of a power to which he was as yet a stranger. 
Suddenly, without anything to give him warning, the joy he 
had felt disappeared.^ In vain he had recourse to prayer 
and singing hymns ; he could find no rest. His imagina- 
tion had ceased to call up pleasing illusions ; he was left 
alone with his conscience. A state so new to him was be- 
yond his comprehension, and he fearfully asked himself 
whether God, after all the sacrifices he had made, was still 
angry with him. Night and day gloomy terrors agitated his 
soul; he shed bitter tears; with loud cries he called for the 

peace of mind which he had lost but all was in vain.|[ 

He then recommenced the long confession he had made at 
Montserrat. " Perhaps," thought he, " I have forgotten 
something." But this confession only increased his anguish, 

* Furori ac libidiui haereticse pravitatis opponeret. Maffei, p. 21. 

f- Victum osteatim precibus, infimis emendicare quotidie. Ibid. p. 23. 

J Tune subito, nulla precedents siguificatior.e, prorsus exui nudarique 
se omni gaudio sentirct. Ibid. p. 27. 

Nee jam in precibus, neque in psalmis ullam inyeniret delectati- 

onem aut requiem. Ibid. 

U Vanis agitari terroribus, dies noctesque fletibus junge're. Ibid. p. 28. 



118 ANGUISH LUTHER AND LOYOLA. 

for it reminded him of all his errors. He wandered about 
gloomy and dejected ; his conscience accused 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. Finding 
no consolation in confession or in the various ordinances of 
the Church,* 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 re- 
nounced, f but immediately recoiled with affright. 

Was there, at that time, any difference between the monk 
of Manresa and the monk of Erfurth ? Unquestionably, 
in secondary points : but the state of their souls was the 
same. Both were deeply sensible of the multitude 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 appeared 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 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.J Luther turned towards Christ; Loyola only fell 
back upon himself. 

* Ut nulla jam res mitigare dolorem posse videretur. Maff. p. 29. 

f 1 Et saculi commodis repeteudis magno quodam impetu cogitaverit. 
tbid. p. 30. 

Sine ulla dubitatione constituit prEeteritse vitao labes perpetua ob- 
livione conteiere. Ibid. p. 31. 



DECISIVE MOMENT VISIONS. 119 

Visions came erelong to confirm Inigo in the conviction at 
which he had arrived. His own resolves had become a sub- 
stitute for the grace of the Lord ; his own imaginings sup- 
plied 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 of 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 peni- 
tent of Manresa, predicted visitations from Jesus. Such was 
the Christianity to which Loyola, like the prophets of Zwickau, 
had recourse. Inigo did not seek truth in the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; but imagined in their place immediate communication 
with the world of spirits^ He soon liyed entirely in ecstasies 
and contemplation. 

One day, as he was going to the church of St. Paul, out- 
side the city, he walked along the banks of the Llobregat, 
and sat down absorbed in meditation. His eyes were fixed 
on the river, which rolled its deep waters silently 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.* He 
rose, and as he stood on .the brink of the river, he appeared 
to have become another man ; he then knelt down at the 
foot of a tross 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. Sitting 
one day on the steps of St. Dominick's church at Manresa, 
he was singing a hymn to the Holy Virgin, when on a sud- 
den his soul was wrapt in ecstasy ; he remained motionless, 
absorbed in contemplation ; the mystery of the most Holy 
Trinity was revealed to his sight under magnificent symbols ;-j- 
he shed tears, filled the church with his sobs, and all day 
long continued speaking of this ineffable vision. 

* Quae TIX demum sclent homines intelligeiitia compreliendere. Maff. 
p. 32. 
f En figuras de tres teclas. 



120 THE TWO PRINCIPLES. 

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," s-ay his apolo- 
gists, " even had these mysteries never been revealed in 
Scripture,* he would have believed them, for God had ap- 
peared to him."-j- 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 vigour 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. 



CHAPTER II. 

Victory of the Pope Death of Leo X. The Oratory of Divine Love- 
Adrian VI. Plan of Reform Opposition. 

WHILE these events were taking place in Spain, Rome herself 
appeared to be assuming a more serious character. The 
great patron of music, hunting, and festivities disappeared 
from the pontifical throne, and was succeeded 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 effigy and 

* Quod etsi nulla scriptura, mysteria ilia fidei doceret. Acta Sanct. 
f QUEO Deo sibi apcriente cognoverant. Maff. p. 34. 
J Vol. I. p. 203. 



DEATH OF LEO X. 121 

writings of the reformer to the flames.* It was the second 
. or third time that Rome had indulged in this innocent plea- 
sure. At the same time Leo X., wishing to testify hia 
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 thus 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 without surplice, and, 
what was considered still more scandalous, wearing boots. -J- 
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 favourite villa at 
Malliana, where he spent his time in the midst of festivities. 
Musicians, improvisatori, and all .the artists whose talents 
could enliven this delightful abode, were gathered round the 
pontiff. He was residing there when he received intelligence 
of the capture of Milan. A great agitation immediately 
ensued in the villa. The courtiers and officers could not re- 
strain their exultation, the Swiss discharged their carbines, 
and Leo, in excess of joy, walked up and down his room all 
night, from time to time looking out of the window at the 
rejoicings of the soldiers and of the people. He returned to 
Rome, fatigued but intoxicated with success. He had 
scarcely arrived at the Vatican when he felt suddenly indis- 
posed. " 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 

* Comburi jussit alteram vultus in ejus statua, alteram animi ejus in 
libris. Pallav. i. 128. 

( Paris de Grassis, his master of the ceremonies, has this entry in his 
diary. " Thursday, 10th Jan., after breakfast, the pope went to Toscancllo 
and its neighbourhood. He went without his stole, and, worse than that, 
without his rochet, and \voise than all, wore boots. Diar. inedit. 



122 ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE ADRIAN VI. 

result of his enormous expenses. " You gained your ponti- 
ficate 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 honoured 
the pope who excommunicated the Reformation, and whose 
name serves to designate one of the gieat 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 begin- 
ning 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. 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 de- 
voted to his service. The Cardinal de Medici, afterwards 
Clement VII., seeing that he had no chance at present of 
obtaining the tiara, exclaimed: "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 Adrian VI. He had been professor at 
Louvain, and afterwards tutor to Charles V., by whose in- 
fluence 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." f The cardinals, tired out and taken by 
surprise, elected this foreigner ; but as soon as they came to 
their senses (says a chronicler), they almost died of fright. 
The thought that the austere Netherlander would not accept 
* Si unirono in un oratorio, chiamato del divino amore, circa sessanta 
<li loro. Caracciolo, Vita da Paolo IV. MS. Ranke. 

f Doctores Lovanicnscs accepisse consilium a tarn couspicuo alumno. 
Pallav. p. 136. 



ADMAN'S CHARACTER. 123 

the tiara gave them some little consolation at first; but 
this hope was not of long duration. Pasquin represented 
the pontiff-elect under the character of a schoolmaster, and 
the cardinals as little boys under the rod. Tbe citizens were 
so exasperated that the members of the conclave thought 
themselves fortunate to have escaped being thrown into the 
river.* 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 Em- 
peror gave the increase," was the inscription on the hangings 
suspended 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 manifested by 
the people of Rome, Adrian VI. repaired to that city in the 
month of August 1522, and was well received. It was re- 
ported that he had more than five thousand benefices in his 
gift, and 'every man reckoned on having his share. For 
many years the papal throne had not been filled by such a 
pontiff. Just, active, learned, pious, sincere, and of irre- 
proachable morals, he permitted himself to be blinded neither 
by favour 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 in matters of 
faith, in defending heresy by his opinions or decretals."f This 
is indeed a remarkable assertion for a pope to make ; and 
if the ultra-montanists reply that Adrian was mistaken 
on this point, by this very circumstance they affirm what 
they deny, viz. the fallibility of the popes. 

Adrian arrived at the Vatican with his old housekeeper, 
whom he charged to continue providing frugally for his mo- 
derate 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 !" 

* Sleidan, Hist, de la Ref. i. 124. 

t Certum est quod (Pontifex) potuit errare in iis quse tangunt fidem, 
hscresim per suam determinationem aut decrctalem asscrendo. Comm. 
in lib. 4. Sententiaruin Quest, de Sacr. Confirm. Rorccc, 1522 folio. 



124 ADRIAN'S REFORMS OPPOSED. 

" I would rather serve God," said he, " in my deanery of 
Louvain, than be pope at Rome." Alarmed at the dangers 
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 de- 
sire 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 to- 
wards a reformation. But there was no longer room for tem- 
porizing : it was necessary to act. 

Faithful to his plan, Adrian set about banishing from the 
city all perjurers, profane persons, and usurers ; a task by 
no means easy, since they formed a considerable portion of 
the inhabitants. 

At first the Romans ridiculed him ; soon they 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 cardinal 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 into the path he 
was desirous of quitting. The old and crafty Cardinal 
Soderini of Volterra, the familiar friend of Alexander VI., 
Julius II., and Leo X.,-J- often let fall hints well adapted to 
prepare the worthy Adrian for that character, 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 of Rome, and yet the popes 

* Sarpi, Hist. Council of Trent, p. 20. 

f Per longa esperienza delle cose del mundo, molto prudente e accorto. 
Nardi. Hist. Fior. lib. vii. 



DIET OF NUREMBERG. 



have never changed them." " It has never been by re- 
forms," 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 liberty to do what is right!"* 



, ; , CHAPTER III. 

Diet of Nuremberg Soliman's Invasion The Nuncio calls for Luther's 
Death The Nuremberg Preachers Promise of Reform Grievances 
of the Nation Decree of the Diet Fulminating Letter of the Pope- 
Luther's Advice. 

ON the 23d 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 favourable 
reply to this request, and the visitation took place. The 
bishops and their doctors preached violently against the 
Reformation, exhorting, threatening, and entreating ; but 
their arguments see%ied useless ; and when, desirous of 
having recourse to more effectual weapons, they called upon 
the secular authority to carry out their decrees, the elector'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 Arch- 
duke Ferdinand, would do what Frederick had refused. This 
young prince, who presided during part of the sittings of the 
diet, gradually acquiring more firmness, might in his ^eal 
rashly draw the sword which his more prudent and politic 

* Sarpi, Hist. Council of Trent, p. 21. 
VOL. III. 7 



126 SOLIMAN INVADES HUNGARY A NEW STORM. 

brother wisely left in the scabbard. In fact, he had already 
begun a cruel persecution of the partisans of the Reforma- 
tion in his hereditary states of Austria. But God on several 
occasions made use of the same instrument for the deliver- 
ance of reviving Christianity that he had employed in the 
destruction of corrupt Christianity. The crescent appeared 
in the terrified provinces of Hungary. On the 9th of Au- 
gust, after a six weeks' siege, Belgrade, the bulwark of this 
kingdom and of the empire, fell before Soliman's attack. 
The followers of Mahomet, after having evacuated 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 Valladolid : " 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 return to Wittem- 
berg, and the zeal he had there displayed, rekindled animo- 
sity. " Now that we know where to catch him," said Duke 
George, "let us execute the decree of Worms!" It was 
even asserted in Germany that Charles V. and Adrian would 
meet at Nuremberg to concert their pla^s.-}- " Satan feels the 
wound that has been inflicted on him," says Luther ; " and 
this is why he is so furious. But Christ has already stretched 
out his hand, and will soon trample him under foot in spite 
of the gates of hell."t 

In the month of December 1522, the diet again assembled 
at Nuremberg. Everything seemed to indicate, that if Soli- 
man had been the great enemy that had engaged its atten- 
tion 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 favourable 
reception from his nation than any pope of Italian origin 

Das man die Naehfolger derselben vergiften Lehre, mit dem Schwert 
strafen mag. L. Opp. xvii. 321. 

f Cum fama sit fbrtis et Caesarem et papam Nurnbergam conyenturos. 
L. Epp. ii. 214. 

J Sod Christus qui ccepit conteret earn. Ibid. 215. 



CALL FOR LUTIIEIl's PUNISHMENT. 127 

could expect.* He therefore commissioned Chieregati, whom 
he had known in Spain, to repair to Nuremberg. 

As soon as the diet had opened, several princes spoke 
strongly against Luther. The Cardinal-archbishop of Salz- 
burg, who enjoyed the full confidence of the emperor, desired 
that prompt and decisive measures should be taken before 
the arrival of the Elector of Saxony. The Elector Joachim 
of Brandenburg, always decided in his proceedings, and the 
Chancellor 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 ."7 

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.J- Your fathers 
put John Huss and Jerome of Prague to death at Constance ; 
but they live again in Luther. Follow 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 begin- 
ning to understand Luther better, and had hoped better 
things of the pope. Thus then Rome, under an Adrian, will 
not acknowledge her faults ; she still hurls her thunderbolts, 
and the provinces of Germany are about to be laid waste 
and drowned in blood. While the princes remained ead and 
silent, the prelates and members of the diet in the interest of 
Rome became tumultuous. " Let him be put to death," || 

* Quod ex ea regione venirent, undo nobis secundum carnem origo est. 
Papal Brief. L. Opp. Lat. ii. 352. 

f Er wollte einen Finger drum geben Seek. p. 568. 

J Resecandos uti membra jam putrida a sano corpore. Pallavicini, i 
158. 

Einen grossen Schrecken eingejagt. Seek. p. 552. 

(j Nicht anders geschrien denn : Crucijige! crucifige ! L. Opp. xviii. 367. 



128 THE NUREMBERG PREACHERS. 

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

Very different language was heard in the churches of Nu- 
remberg. The people crowded into the chapel attached to 
the hospital, and to the churches of the Augustincs, of St. 
Sebaldus, and St. Lawrence, to listen to the preaching of 
the Gospel. Andrew Osiander was preaching powerfully in 
the latter temple. Several princes, and especially Albert, 
margrave of Brandenburg, who, in his quality of grand- 
master of the Teutonic Order, took rank immediately after 
the archbishops, went there frequently. Monks, leaving the 
convents in the city, were learning trades in order to gain a 
livelihood by their labour. 

Chieregati could not endure so much boldness. He in- 
sisted that the priests and rebellious monks should be thrown 
into prison. The diet, notwithstanding the resolute opposi- 
tion of the envoys of the Elector of Saxony and of the Mar- 
grave Casimir, determined on seizing the monks, but con- 
sented to make a previous communication 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 
nation that provoked it. 

The people, however, anticipated them. While the diet 
was deliberating what should be done Avith these ministers, 
the town-council of Nuremberg were considering how they 
should proceed with regard to the decision of the diet. They 
resolved, without exceeding their jurisdiction, that if attempts 
were made to lay violent hands on the city preachers, they 
should be set at liberty by main force. Such a determina- 
tion was very significant. The astonished diet replied to 
the nuncio, that it was not lawful to arrest the preachers 
of 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 haughtily 
to Ferdinand, " do nothing, but let me act. I will have 



PROMISES OF REFORM. 129 

these preachers seized in the pope's name."* As soon as 
the Cardinal-archbishop Albert of Mentz and the Margrave 
Casimir were informed of this extravagant design, they has- 
tened to the legate, entreating him to renounce his intentions. 
The nuncio was immovable, affirming that in the bosom of 
Christendom obedience to the pope was of the first impor- 
tance. 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."-}- The legate abandoned his 
project. 

Despairing of success by measures of authority, he resolved 
to have recourse to other expedients, and with 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 re- 
solutions intrusted to his legate, " that for many years cer- 
tain abuses and abominations have crept into the holy city 4 
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 Roman 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 Pallavi- 
cini, that these avowals were too sincere. The friends of 
the Reformation, on the contrary, were delighted at seeing 
Rome proclaim her own corruption. They no klnger doubted 
that Luther was right, since the pope himself declared it. 

* Sese auctoritate pontifica curaturum ut isti caperentur. Corp. Ref. 
i. 606. 

t Priusquam illi caperentur, se urbe cessuros esse. Ibid. 

In earn sedem aliquot jam annos qusedam vitia irrepsisse, abusns in 
rebus sacris, in legibus violationes, in cunctis denique perversionem. 
Pallav. i. 160. See also Sarpi, p. 25 ; L. Opp. xviii. 329, &c. 

Liberioris tamen, quam par erat, sinceritatis fuisse visum est, ea coa- 
ventui patefacere. Ibid. 162. 



130 ALARM OF THE LEGATE. 

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

The legate was frightened at this determination. He en- 
treated and threatened in turns. He insinuated that under 
a purely religious exterior the reformer concealed 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 
threatened by this frightful calamity."* 

All these declamations proved of no avail. The diet, 
although commending the promises of the pope, required for 
their speedy fulfilment that a free and Christian council 
should be assembled as 'soon as possible at Strasburg, Mentz, 
Cologne, or Metz, in which laymen should be present. Lay- 
men in a council! Laymen regulating the affairs of the 
Church in concert with priests ! 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 Chris- 
tian commonwealth.f It then proceeded to draw up a cata- 

* In eos, in vestras res, domos, uxoresi liberos, ditionce, dominatus, 
tompla quso colitis. L. Opp. Lat. ii. 536. 

f- Quod in tali concilio eia qui iuteresse deberent vel ecclcsiastici vel 
laicalis ordinis libere liceret loqui. Gelda^t, Constit. Imper. i. 452. 



GRIEVANCES OF T1IE NATION. 131 

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 scandals and 
profanations of the clergy; the disorders and simony of 
the ecclesiastical tribunals ; the encroachments on the secu- 
lar power for the enslaving of consciences ; were all set 
forth with as mtich frankness as energy. The states gave 
the pope to understand that the traditions of men were 
the source of all this corruption, 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."* Ghieregati, 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 sacrificing 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 meanwhile the pure Gospel alone 
should be preached, and nothing should be printed without 
the approbation of a certain number of pious and learned 
men.f These resolutions furnish us with the means of cal- 
culating the immense progress the lieformation had made 
subsequently to the Diet of Worms ; and yet the knight 
of Fcilitsch, 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 midst of 
their mountains, thrilled with delight. " The Roman pontiff 
is vanquished in Germany," said Zwingle. " We have 
nothing more to do than deprive him of his weapons. This 
is the battle we have now to fight, and a furious one it will 

* Wie sie solcher Beschwerung und Drangsaal entladeu werden. L. 
Opp. xviii. 354. 

h Ut pie placidequo purum Eyangclium praedicaretur. Pall. L 166 j 
Sleidan, i. 135. 



182 THE POPE'S LETTER TO FREDERICK. 

be. But Christ is 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 singing 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 Elector of Saxony 
that he discharged his anger. Never had the Roman pontiffs 
uttered a cry of alarm more energetic, 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 elector ; " 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 wicked- 
ness is not consumed. Open, then, thine eyes to see the 
greatness of thy fall ! 

" If the unity of the Church is broken ; if the simple have 
been turned aside from that faith which they had imbibed 
at their mothers' breasts ; if the temples are destroyed ; if 
the people are without priests ; if the priests receive not the 
honour that is due to them ; if Christians are without Christ : 

to whom is it owing, but to thee?| If Christian peace has 

vanished from the earth; if the world is full of discord, 
rebellion, robbery, murder, and conflagration ; if the cry 
of war is heard from east to west; if a universal conflict 
is at hand : it is thou thou who art the author of these 
things I 

* Victus est ac ferme profligatus e Geraania Romanus pontifex. Zw. 
Epp. 313. llth October 1523. 

f Gott babe solcnes E. G. eingeben. L. Opp. xviii. 476. 

J Dass die Kirchen ohne Volk sind, dass die Volker ohne Priester 
Bind, dass die Priester ohne Ehre sind, und dass die Christen ohne Christo 
sind. Ibid. 37' 



FREDERICK'S EMOTION. 133 

Sawest thou not this sacrilegious man (Luther) rending 
with his wicked hands and trampling under his impure feet 
the images of the saints and even the holy cross of Christ ? 
Dost thou not behold him, in his ungodly wrath, insti- 
gating 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 honour that belongs to them, even when 
their lives are blame-worthy.* 

" Rebellious apostate ! 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! 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 th/self; 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 Christ, whose representative I am upon earth, I de- 
clare that thou shalt be punished in this world, and plunged 
into everlasting fire in that which is to come. Repent 

and be converted! Two swords are suspended over thy 

head, the sword of the Empire and the sword of the 
Church." 

The pious Frederick shuddered as he read this threatening 
brief. He had written to the emperor shortly before, to the 
effect that old age and sickness rendered him incapable of 
taking any part in these affairs ; and he had been answered 
by the most insolent letter that a sovereign prince had ever 
received. Although bowed down by age, he cast his eyes 
on that sword which he had worn at the holy sepulchre in 
the days of his manly strength. He began to think that he 

* Wen sie gleich eines verdammten Lebens sind. L. Opp. xviii. 379. 
7* 



134 OPINIONS OF THE REFORMERS. 

would have to unsheathe it in defence of the conscience 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 imme- 
diately wrote to Wittemberg to hear the opinion of the fathers 
of the Reformation. 

There also troubles and persecutions were apprehended. 
" What shall I say?" exclaimed the gentle Melancthon; 
" whither shall I turn? Hatred overwhelms 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 without 
the consent of the people, from whose hands he has received 
his authority.-)- Now, the people have no desire to fight for 
the Gospel, for they do not believe. Let not princes, there- 
fore, take up arms ; they are rulers of the nations, and there- 
fore 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. Few 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 their own 
daring, were now desirous of making amends by their com- 
pliance. Many, besides, thought that the victory would 
remain with the Roman pontiff, as he appeared to be the 
stronger party. " In our days," said Luther, " princes are 
content to say three times three make nine 5 or else, twice 
seven make fourteen : The reckoning is correct ; the affair 
will succeed. Then our Lord God arises and says : How 
many do you reckon me? For a cipher perhaps ?......He 

* Quid dicam ! quo me vertam ? Corp. Ref. i. 627. 
t Principi nullum licet suscipere bellunj, nisi conseutiente populo, a 
quo accepit imperium. Ibid. C01. 



PERSECUTION. 135 

then turns their calculations topsy-turvy, and their accounts 
prove false."* 



CHAPTER IV. 

Persecution Exertions of Duke George The Convent at Antwerp 
Miltenberg The Three Monks of Antwerp The Scaffold The Mar- 
tyrs 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 Christen- 
dom. The persecution, which had been for some time relaxed, 
broke out afresh. Luther trembled for Germany, and en- 
deavoured to appease the storm. " If the princes," said he, 
" oppose the truth, the result will be a confusion that will 
destroy princes and magistrates, priests and people. I fear 
to see all Germany erelong deluged with blood.-j- Let us 
rise up as a wall and preserve our people from the wrath of 
our God. Nations are not such now as they have hitherto 
been.J The sword of civil war is impending over the heads 
of our kings. They are resolved to destroy Luther; but 
Luther is resolved to save them. Christ lives and reigns; 
and I shall live and reign with him." 

These words produced no effect; Rome was hastening 
onward to scaffolds and to bloodshed. The Reformation, like 
Jesus Christ, did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 
Persecution was necessary in God's purposes. 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 

* So kehrt er ihnen auch die Rechnung gar um. L. Opp. xxii. 1831. 
T Ut videar mihi videre Germaniam in sanguine natare. L. Epp. ii. 156. 
J Cogitent populos non esse tales modo, quales hactenus fuerunt. 
Ibid. 157. 
Christus meus vivit e{ regnat, et ego viram et regnabo. Ibid. 158. 



136 DUK.K GEORGE'S EXERTIONS. 

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 per- 
secuted. When man begins to know the truth, he feels a 
holy indignation against injustice and violence. A heaven- 
descended 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 ; he 
desired, above all, that it should devastate electoral Saxony, 
that focus 01 heresy, and spared no labour to move the 
Elector Frederick and Duke John. " Merchants from 
Saxony," he wrote to them from Nuremberg, " relate strange 
things about that country, and such as are opposed to the 
honour ot God and of the saints : they take the sacrament of 

the Lord's Supper with their hands ! 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 in- 
sult the priest entered the church riding on an ass! Ac- 
cordingly, 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 hi 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 impious priests ; and 
that too without delay, for our hair is turning gray as well 
as our beards, and shows us that we have but short time 
left for action."* 

Thus wrote Duke George to the elector. #The latter re- 
plied 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 

* Wie ihre Bart und Haare ausweiaen. Seckend. p. 482. 
t Musse man solcho Dinge Gott iiberlasscn. Ibid. p. 485. 



THE ANTWERP CONVENT. 137 

George, unable to persuade Frederick, hastened to persecute 
the followers of the work he detested. He imprisoned the 
monks and priests who followed Luther ; he recalled the stu- 
dents belonging to his states from the universities which the 
Reformation 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, Wurtemberg, and the duchy of Brunswick. 

But it was in the Low Countries, under the immediate 
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 energy. The prior, 
James Probst, a man of ardent temperament, and Melchior 
Mirisch, who was remarkable, on the other hand, for his 
ability and prudence, were arrested and taken to Brussels 
about the close of the year 1521. They were brought before 
Aleander, Glapio, and several other prelates. Taken by sur- 
prise, confounded, and alarmed, Probst retracted. Melchior 
Mirisch 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 condemned to death.* A few of them 
managed to escape. Some women, forgetting the timidity 
of their sex, dragged one of them (Henry Zuphten) from the 
hands of the executioners.-}- Three young monks, Henry 
Voes, John 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 

* Zum Tode verurtheilet. Seek. p. 548. 

t Quomodo mulieres vi Henricum liberarint. L. Epp. ii. 266. 



138 MIRISCH AND PEOBST. 

sacrament was removed, as if from a polluted spot ; Mar- 
garet, the governor of the Low Countries, solemnly leceived 
it into the church of the Holy Virgin ;* orders were given 
that not one stone should be left upon another of that hereti- 
cal monastery; and many citizens and women who had 
joyfully listened to the Gospel were thrown into prison.-}- 

Luther was filled with sorrow on hearing this news. 
" The cause that we defend," said he, " is no longer a mere 
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 instrument 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 inquisitors, wept over 
his backsliding; he retracted his retractation, and boldly 
preached at Bruges in Flanders the doctrines he had abjured. 
Being again arrested and thrown into prison at Brussels, his 
death seemed inevitable. || A Franciscan took pity on him, 
and assisted his escape ; and Probst, " preserved by a 
miracle of God," says Luther, reached Wittembergj where 
his twofold deliverance filled the hearts of the friends to the 
Reformation with joy.^j" 

On all sides the Roman priests were under arms. The 
city of Miltenberg on the Maine, which belonged to the Arch- 
bishop of Mentz, was one of the German towns that had 
received the Word of God with the greatest eagerness. The 
inhabitants were much attached to their pastor John Draco, 

* Susceptum honorifice a domina Margareta. L. Epp. ii. 265. 

f- Gives aliquos, et mulieres vexatae et punitae. Ibid. 

J Et vitam exiget et sanguinem. Ibid. 181. 

Est executor Caesaris contra nostros. Ibid. 207. 

II Domo captum, exustum credimus. Ibid. 214. 

TI Jacobus, Dei miraculo liberatus, qui nunc agit nobiscnm. L. Epp. ii. 
182. This letter, placed in M. de Wette's collection, under the date of 
April 14, must be posterior to the month of June ; 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 Luther 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. Perhaps we should read in the date of the 
letter in die S. Turiafi, instead of in die S. Tiburtii, which would bring it 
down to the 13th of July, a far more probable date in my opinion. 



MILTENBERG. 139 

one of the most enlightened men of his times. He was com- 
pelled to leave the city ; but the Roman ecclesiastics were 
frightened, and withdrew at the same time, fearing the venge- 
ance of the people. One evangelical deacon alone remained 
to comfort their hearts. At the same time troops from 
Mentz marched into the city : they spread through the streets, 
uttering blasphemies, brandishing their swords, and giving 
themselves up to debauchery.* 

Some evangelical Christians fell beneath their blows ;{ 
others were seized and thrown into dungeons ; the Romish 
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 soldier 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 pro- 
tected the pious evangelist from any further harm. 

Meantime, the inquisitors of the Low Countries, thirsting 
for blood, scoured the country, searching everywhere for the 
young Augustines who had escaped from the Antwerp per- 
secution. Esch, Voes, and Lambert were at last discovered, 
put in chains, and led to Brussels. Egmondanus, Hoch- 
straten, and several other inquisitors, summoned 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 pro- 
ceeded to enumerate other evangelical doctrines which they 
were called upon to abjure. " No ! we will retract nothing," 

* So sie doch schandlicher Isben derm Huren und Buben. L. Epp, 
ii. 482. 

f Schlug etliche Todt. Seek. p. 604. 
J Sey gegriisst, mein Bruder. Scultet. Ann. i. 173. 



140 THE THREE MONKS OF ANTWERP. 

exclaimed Esch and Voes firmly ; " 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 
by Jesus Christ." 

THE INQUISITORS. " We declare you to be heretics, worthy of 
being burnt 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 prison. 
As soon as this delay had expired, Esch and Voes were 
solemnly deprived of their sacerdotal character, and given 
over to the council of the governor of the Low Countries. 
The council delivered them, fettered, to the executioner. 
Hochstraten and three o^her inquisitors accompanied them to 
the stake.* 

When they came near the scaffold, the youthful martyrs 
looked at it calmly ; their firmness, their piety, their age,-}- 
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 intimidate 
these youths. But alone tranquil in the midst of the turbu- 
lent crowd in the square, they sang psalms, stopping 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 ascending 
slowly, a heavenly peace filled their hearts, and one of them 

* Facta est hsec res Bruxellse in publico foro. L. Epp. ii. 361. 
f Nondum triginta annorum. Ibid. 



MARTYRDOM. 



141 



went so far as to say : " I seem to be lying on a bed of 
roses."* The solemn hour was come; death was near: 
the two martyrs cried with a loud voice : " Domine Jesu ! 
Fili David I miserere nostri ! Lord Jesus, Son of David, 
have mercy on us!" They then began solemnly to repeat 
the Apostle's Creed.-}- 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, exclaimed, clasping his hands : 
" Lord Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us !" The 
flames now surrounded 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 Reformation 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 Lambert. 
The latter was the most learned of the three ; he had suc- 
ceeded to Probst's station as preacher at Antwerp. Agitated 
in his dungeon, and alarmed at the prospect of death, he was 
still more terrified by his conscience, which reproached him 
with cowardice, and urged him to confess the Gospel. He 
was soon delivered from his fears, and after boldly proclaim- 
ing the truth, died like his brethren.|| 

A rich harvest sprang from the blood of these martyrs. 

* Dit schijnen mij als roosen te zijn. Brandt, Hist, der Reformatie, 
1.79. 

f- Admoto igae, canere cceperunt symbolum fid'ei, says Erasmus. Epp. 
i. 1278. 

J Da ist der eine im Feuer auf die Knie gcfallen. L. Opp. xviii. 481. 

Ccepta est camificina. Epp. i. 1429. 

11 Quarta post exustus est tertius frater Lambertas. L. Epp. ii. 361. 



V 



142 LUTHEK'S SYMPATHY. 

Brussels turned towards the Gospel.* " Wherever Aleander 
raises a pile," said Erasmus, " there he seems to have been 
sowing heretics."-{- 

" Your bonds are mine," said Luther ; " your dungeons 

and your burning piles are mine!:}: We are all 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 Netherlands, in city and coun- 
try, these strains were heard communicating in every direc- 
tion an enthusiasm for the faith of these martyrs. 

No ! 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. 



CHAPTER V. 

The New Pope, Oement VII. The Legate Campeggio Diet of Nurem- 
berg 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 Rupture. 

ADRIAN would doubtless have persisted in these violent 
measures ; the inutility of his exertions to arrest the reform, 
his orthodoxy, his zeal, his austerity, and even his conscien- 
tiousness, would have made him a cruel persecutor. But 
this Providence did not permit. He died on the 14th of 

* Ea mors multos fecit Lutheranos. Er. Epp. p. 952 ; Turn demum 
coepit civitas favere Luthero. Ibid. p. 1676. Erasmus to Duke George ; 
Ea civitas antea purissima. Ibid. p. 1430. 

f- Ubicumque fumos excitavit nuntius, ibi diceres fuisse factam here- 
sein sementem. Ibid. 

J Vestra vincula mea sunt, vestri carceres et ignes mei sunt. L. Epp. 
ii. 464. 



CLEMENT VII. CAMPEGGIO. 143 

September 1523, and the Romans, overjoyed at Deing deli- 
vered from this stern foreigner, crowned his physician's door 
with flowers, and wrote this inscription over it : " To the 
saviour of his country." 

GHulio 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 uphold- 
ing the privileges of the papacy, and of employing its re- 
sources for his own aggrandizement. 

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 experience 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 that had taken place in the em- 
pire. When he entered Augsburg, he desired, as was usual, 
to give his benediction to the people, but they burst into 
laughter. This was enough : he entered Nuremberg pri- 
vately, without going to the church of St. Sebaldus, where 
the clergy awaited him. No priests in sacerdotal ornaments 
came out to meet him ; no cross Avas solemnly borne before 
him ;* one would have thought him some private individual 
passing along the streets of the city. Everything betokened 
that the reign of the papacy was drawing to an end. 

The Diet of Nuremberg resumed its sittings in the month of 
January 1524. A storm threatened the national 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 favouring the new 
heresy. Accordingly it was resolved to remodify this adminis- 
tration without retaining one of its former members. Frede- 
rick, overwhelmed with grief, immediately quitted Nuremberg. 

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 

* Communi habitu, qnod per sylvas et campos ierat per mediam urbom 
sine clero, sine pracvia cruce. Cochl. p. 82. 



144 THE LEGATE'S KEPLY. 

very day when Constantine left it to fix his residence at Con- 
stantinople. The consecration of the palm-branches and 
many other ceremonies of this feast were omitted : four thou- 
sand persons received the 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 Arch- 
duke 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."* 

Campeggio shuddered as he witnessed such audacity ; but 
affecting to despise the laughter of the populace and the dis- 
courses 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 depu- 
ties gave vent to their indignation : " What has become of 
the list of grievances presented to the pope by the German 
nation ?" said they to Campeggio. The legate, following his 
instructions, assumed an air of candour and surprise, and an- 
swered, " Three copies of that list reached Rome; but we have 
received no official communication of it,-}- and neither the 
pope nor the college of cardinals could believe that such a 
paper could have emanated from your lordships. We thought 
that it came from some private individuals who had pub- 
lished it out of hatred to the 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 people," said 
many deputies, " are thirsting for the Word of God ; and to 
take it away, as the edict of Worms enjoins, would cause 
torrents of blood to flow." 

The diet immediately made preparations for replying to 
the pope. As they could not repeal the edict of Worms, a 
clause was added to it rendering it ineffectual. They said, 

* Wolle sich des Wortes Gottes halten. Seckend. p. 613. 
+ Tria solum exemplaria fuisse perlata Roraam, ad quosdam privatim, 
ex iis unum sibi coutigisse. Sleidan. lib. iv. 



FLAN OF A SECULAR COUNCIL. 145 

" The people must conform with it as far as possible"* Now 
many states had declared it impossible 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 themselves 
to this. What could they expect from a council which per- 
haps would never be convoked, and which, under all cir- 
cumstances, would be composed of bishops from every na- 
tion ? Will Germany submit her anti-Romish inclinations 
to prelates from France, Spain, Italy, and England ? The 
government of the nation had already been abolished ; for it 
a national assembly should be substituted to protect the in- 
terests of the people. 

In vain did Hannaart, the Spanish envoy from Charles V., 
and all the partisans of Rome and the emperor, endeavour to 
oppose this suggestion ; the majority of the diet was immov- 
able. It was agreed that a diet, a secular 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 
peints to be laid before that august assembly. 

They forthwith applied to their task. Each province drew 
up its memorial, and never had Rome been threatened with 
a more terrible explosion. Franconia, Brandenburg, Hen- 
neburg, Windsheim, Wertheim, and Nuremberg, declared 
in favour of the Gospel, and against the seven sacraments, 
the abuses of the mass, the adoration 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 re- 
formation 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 religions questions in direct opposition to his authority I [ 

* Quantum eis possibile sit. Cochloeus, p. 84. 

t Pontifex segerrime tulit intelligens novum de religione tribunal 

co pacto excitari citra ipsius auctoritatem. Palay. i. 182. 



146 THE POPE'S EFFORTS BAVARIA. 

If this extraordinary resolution should be carried out, Ger- 
many would doubtless be saved, but Rome would be lost. 
A consistory was hastily convened, and from the alarm of 
the senators one might have thought the Germans were 
marching against the Capitol. " We must take the elec- 
toral hat from Frederick's head," said Aleander. " The kings 
of England and Spain must threaten to break off all com- 
mercial intercourse with the free cities," said another cardi- 
nal. 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 yet more invaded than 
the dignity of the court of Rome." 

While the pope was sending this letter to Castile, he 
was endeavouring to procure allies in Germany. He soen 
gained over one. of the most powerful houses 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 Doctor Eck, chancellor 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 encroachment 
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 everything, and even conferred on the dukes a 
fifth of the ecclesiastical revenues of their country. 

Thus, at a time when the Reformation possessed no organi- 
zation, Roman-catholicism already had recourse to powerful 
institutions for its support ; and catholic princes, aided by 
the pope, laid their hands on the revenues of the Church, 
long before the Reformation ventured to touch them. What 

* Erstes baierisches Religions Mandat. Winter, Gesch. der Evang. 
Lehre in Baiern, i. 310. 






THE LEAGUE OF RATISBON. 147 

must we think of the reproaches the Roman-catholics have 
so often made in this respect ? 

Clement VIL might reckon upon Bavaria to avert the 
formidable assembly at Spires. Erelong the Archduke Fer- 
dinand, 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 everything to be feared 
in an assembly where the voice of the people is heard," said 
he. " The Diet of Spires may destroy Rome and save Wit- 
temberg. Let us close our ranks ; let us come to an under- 
standing for the day of battle."* Ratisbon was fixed upon 
as the place of meeting. 

Notwithstanding the jealousy between the houses of Ba- 
varia and Austria, Campeggio succeeded in bringing the 
Dukes of Bavaria and the Archduke Ferdinand to this city, 
at the end of June 1524. They were joined by the Arch- 
bishop of Salzburg and the Bishops of Trent and Ratisbon. 
The Bishops of Spires, Bamberg, Augsburg, Strasburg, Basle, 
Constance, Freisingen, Passau, and Brixen were present by 
deputy. 

The legate opened their sittings, describing in forcible lan- 
guage 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 
Ratisbon. A grand ball, that continued till daylight, served 
to enliven this first Catholic assembly held by the papacy 
against the dawning Reformation.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,| and in the mean time he carried out this great 

* Winter, Gesch. der Evang. Lehre in Baiern, i. 156- 

f Ranke, Deutsche Gesch. ii. 159. 

J Non est frangere fidem ia eo, qui Deo fidem frangit. Decret. Cone, 
Sess. gen. 19. September 23, 1415. 



148 SEVERITY AND REFORM. 

principle on a small scale. During the sittings of the diet at 
Nuremberg, Campeggio had taken a globe and a book from a 
poor vendor 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 change in 
public worship ; to tolerate no married priest in their states ; 
to recall all their subjects who might be studying at Wit- 
temberg ; and to employ every means in their power for the 
extirpation of heresy. They enjoined the preachers, in the 
interpretation of difficult passages, to rely on the fathers of 
the Latin Church, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gre- 
gory. Not venturing, in the face of the Reformation, to ap- 
peal 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 endeavoured to 
embrace those German grievances which least concerned che 
court of Rome. The priests were forbidden to trade, to 
haunt the taverns, " to frequent dances," and to dispute over 
their cups about articles of faith. 

Such was the result of the confederation of Ratisbon.J 
Even while taking up arms against the Reformation, Rome 
conceded something ; and in these decrees we may observe 
the first influence of the Reformation of the sixteenth cen- 
tury to effect an inward renovation of Catholicism. The 
Gospel cannot display its strength without its enemies endea- 
vouring to imitate it in some way or another. Eraser had 
published a translation of the Bible in opposition to Luther's ; 
Eck his Common-places, by way of counterpoise to Melanc- 
thon's; and now Rome was opposing to the Reformation 
those partial essays of reform to which modern Romanism is 
owing. But all these works were in reality subtle expedients 

* Strobel's Verm. Beytrage znr Gesch. der Litt. Niirnberg. 1775, p. 98. 
+ Improbis clericorum abusibus et perditis moribus. Cochlc0us,p. 91. 
Ut Lutheranse factioni efficacius resistere possint, ultrofaea confe- 
deratione sese constrixerunt. Ibid. 
Enchiridion, seu loci communes contra htcrcticos. 152,7. 



ROMAN INTRIGUES. 149 

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 vitality, and never will there be 
any vitality in such attempts. 

Another fact here occurs to us. The Roman party formed 
at Ratisbon the first league that infringed the unity of Ger- 
many. The signal for battle was given from the pope's 
camp. Ratisbon was the cradle of this division, this poli- 
tical rending of their native land, which so many of the 
Germans deplore to this hour. The national assembly of 
Spires, by sanctioning and generalizing the reform of the 
Church, would have secured the unity of the empire. The 
conventicle of separatists 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 Saxony, the Elector Joa- 
chim of Brandenburg, the ecclesiastical electors, and the im- 
perial 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 antipa- 
thies, 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 hesitated 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. Hencefor- 
ward Luther's cause ceased to be a mere religious affair ; the 
dispute with the monk of Wittemberg ranked among the 
political events of Europe. Luther is about to be eclipsed ; 
and Charles V., the pope, and the princes will be the princi- 
pal actors on the stage where the grand drama of 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 at Ratisbou. 



* Rankc, Deutscho Gesch. ii. 1R3. 
VOL. III. 8 



150 THE EDICT OF BURGOS RUPTURE. 

Rome made every exertion to prevent it. " What !" said the 
papal deputies, not only to Charles V. but also to Henry 
VIII. and other princes of Christendom, " What ! do these 
insolent Germans pretend to decide points of faith in a na- 
tional assembly ? It would seem that kings, the imperial au- 
thority, all Christendom, and the whole world, should submit 
to their decrees !" 

The moment was well chosen to act upon the emperor. 
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 hesitate, and immediately sacrificed the inde- 
pendence of the empire to the favour of Rome and the suc- 
cess of his struggle with France. 

On the 15th of July, Charles issued an edict from Burgos 
in Castile, wherein he declared, with an imperious and angry 
tone, " that the pope alone had the right of convoking a 
council, and the emperor of demanding one ; that the meet- 
ing 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 against 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 1519, 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 off entirely with 
the troublesome and guilty representative of the evangelical 
and national ideas, and gave his sister in marriage to John 
III., king of Portugal. Frederick, who in 1519 had shown 
his indifference to the overtures of the King of Spain, was 
able in 1524 to suppress the indignation he felt at the 



f -'^ . MARTYRDOM OF GASPARD TAUBER. 151 

emperor's conduct ; but Duke John haughtily intimated 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. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Persecution Gaspard Tauber A Bookseller Cruelties in Wurteinberg, 
, Salzburg, and Bavaria Poinerania 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 
witli blood. Ferdinand and Campeggio descended the Dan- 
ube together from Ratisbon to Vienna, and during their 
journey bound each other by cruel promises. The persecu- 
tion immediately broke out in the Austrian states. 

One Gaspard Tauber, a citizen of Vienna, had circulated 
Luther's writings, and had even written against the invoca- 
tion of saints, purgatory, and transubstantiation.* 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 recanta- 
tion was placed in his hands ;f the people and choristers 
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 con- 
vinced, and I appeal to the holy Roman empire!" Clergy, 
choristers, and people were seized with astonishment and 
alarm. But Tauber continued to call for death rather than 
that he should deny the Gospel. He was decapitated, and his 

* Atque etiam proprios ipse tractatus perscripserim. Cochloeus, p. 92, 
verso, 
t See Cochl., ibid ; Cum igitur ego Casparus Tauber, etc. 



152 PERSECUTIONS IN HUNGARY AND WURTEMBERG. 

body burnt ;* and his courage made jm indelible impression 
on the inhabitants of Vienna. 

At Buda in Hungary, an evangelical bookseller, named 
John, had circulated Luther's New Testament and other of 
his writings throughout that country. He was bound to a 
stake ; his persecutors then piled his books around him, en- 
closing him as if in a tower, and then set fire to them. John 
manifested unshaken courage, 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 Eome 
loves to shed, will at last suffocate the pope with his kings 
and their kingdoms."^ 

Fanaticism grew fiercer every day ; evangelical ministers 
were expelled from their churches ; magistrates were ban- 
ished and at times the most horrible punishments 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, tearing 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 of the 
catholic league. An evangelical minister in the neighbour- 
hood of Salzburg was led to prison, where he was to pass the 
rest of his days ; whilst 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 

* Credo te vidisse Casparis Tauber historiam martyris novi Viennae, 
quern cscsum capito scribunt et igne exustum pro verbo Dei. Luther to 
Hausmann, 12th November 1524, ii. 563. 

t Idem accidit Budaj in Ungaria bibliopolse cuidam Johanni, simul cum 
libris circa eum positis exusto, fortissimeque passo pro Domino. Luther 
to Hausmann, ii. 563. 

J Sanguis sanguiuem tangit, qui suffocabit papam cum regibus et regnia 
suis. Ibid. 

Ranke, Deutsche Ge?eli. ii. 174. 



BAVARIAN' I'EI:S::CUTIOXS. 153 

form of trial they were ordered 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 execu- 
tioner himself hesitated, for (said he) they have not been 
tried. " Do what I command you," harshly replied the 
archbishop's emissary, " and leave the responsibility to the 
prince !" and the heads of these youthful liberators imme- 
diately 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. Burk- 
hardt 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, " there is nothing to fear." Upon 
this Fichtel 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 horrible 
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. Fichtel 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 retracta- 
tion. 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, beneath the 
domestic roof and in the lonely fields. 

" The cross and persecution reign in Bavaria," said 

* Zauner, Salzburger Chronik. iv. 381. 

t Verbi non palam seminati. L. Epp. ii. 559. 



154 HENRY VON ZUl'HTEN. 

Luther ; " these wild beasts are lashing themselves into 
madness."* 

Even the north of Germany was not free from these 
cruelties. Bogislaus, duke of Pomerania, being dead, his son, 
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 extraordinary 
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 Ditt- 
marsh, 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 1" 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 
all 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, with- 
out having either seen or heard him. 

This was on Saturday, and the prior wished to prevent 
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 Dittmarshers," said Henry von 
Zuphten, " heaven is as near me there as elsewhere ;-}- I will 
preach." 

He went up into the pulpit and preached with great energy. 
His hearers, moved and excited by his Christian eloquence, 
had scarcely left the church when the prior handed them the 
letter of the forty-eight regents, forbidding the monk to 
preach. They immediately sent their representatives to the 
heath ; and, after a long discussion, the Dittmarshers agreed 

* In Bavaria multum regnat crux et persecutio. L. Epp. ii. 559. 
+ Dcr Ilimmcl ware da so nalio als aiidcrswo. L. Opp. xix. 330. 



HENRY VON ZUPHTEN. 155 

that, considering their great ignorance, they would wait un- 
til Easter. But the incensed prior went up to some of the 
regents and inflamed their zeal afresh. " We will write to 
him," said they. " Mind what you are about," replied the 
prior 5 " 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 neighbouring villagers as- 
sembled, to the number of five hundred, and their leaders 
having broached three butts of Hamburg beer, by this means 
inspired them with great courage. It was striking midnight 
when they reached Mehldorf ; the peasants were armed ; 
the monks carried torches; all marched in disorder, ex- 
changing 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 everything they 
saw; dishes, kettles, flagons, clothing, were tossed about 
pell-mell', 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 ! " and then flung him into the 
mud. But it was Henry they were seeking 5 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. 
11 Why did you come here," said they. As Henry answered 
mildly, they cried out, " Down with him ! down with him 1 
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 horseback. " Yes, 
indeed," replied they, mocking him, " we will find horses 

for heretics ! March!" And they continued hurrying 

him towards the heath. A woman, 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 pronounced his condemnation. Upon this 
one of the madmen 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 



156 HENRY VON ZUPHTEN. 

a poor monk to receive his confession. " Brother," said 
Henry, " have I ever done you any wrong?" " None," re- 
plied the monk. " In that case I have nothing to confess 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 confession of his faith. " Burn first," said a pea- 
sant, striking him on the mouth with his fist, " and then 
you may speak 1" 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." * 



CHAPTER VK. 

Divisions The Lord's Supper Two Extremes Hoen's Discovery 
Carlstadt Luther Mysticism of the enthuisasts Carlstadt at Orla- 
mund Luther's Mission Interview at Table The Conference of 
Orlamund Carlstadt banished. 

WHILE the Roman party was everywhere drawing the 
sword against the Reformation, this work underwent new 
developments. It is not at Zuricli or at Geneva, but in 
Wittemberg, the focus of the Lutheran revival, that we 
should look for the commencement of that reformed 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 clement, 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 disposition, and aroused in 
him a mistrust, an habitual discontent and irritation, to 
which he had hitherto been a stranger. 

* Das ist die wahre Historic, &o, L. Opp. I,, xix. 333. 



THE TWO EXTREMES. 157 

t 

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 everything. The former of these two 
extremes is that of Rome ; the latter, of the Mystics. Re- 
ligion, 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 discussion 
about the Lord's Supper. While on a superficial glance we 
see nothing but a trivial dispute about words, a deeper ob- 
servation discloses to us one of the most important contro- 
versies 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 material- 
ism. Each of them arraigns the error which in his view 
appears the most fatal, and, in assailing it, possibly goes be- 
yond the truth. But this is of no importance ; each of them 
is true in his general tendency, and although belonging to 
two different hosts^ these two illustrious 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 injurious 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, according to Rome, was 
sufficient for salvation, and this principle had materialized 
religion. Carlstadt saw no better way of restoring its spirit- 
uality than by denying all presence of Christ's body : and he 
taught that this holy feast was to believers simply a pledge 
of their redemption. 

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 overlooked, now 

appears clearly established. Unquestionably we cannot fail 

8* 



158 HOEN'S DISCOVERY. 

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 connects 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 (Honius), 
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 Naeldwik, and a great friend 
of Wessel, several treatises by this illustrious doctor touch- 
ing 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 communicate to the reformers these papers 
written by his fellow-countryman. He therefore transmitted 
them to two of his friends, John Rhodius, president 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 7 the two Dutchmen arrived 
at Wittemberg, where they seem to have been favourably 
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 Netherlanders had brought with them, and parti- 
cularly on thewritings of Wessel concerning the Lord's Supper. 

llhodius 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 acknowledge the spiri- 
tual signification of the Eucharist, and even to write against 
the carnal eating of Christ's body. Luther shook his head 
and refused, upon which Carlstadt exclaimed warmly: 
" Well, then, if you will not do it, I will, although far less 
fitted than yourself." Such was the beginning of the divi- 
sion that afterwards occurred between these two colleagues.:}: 

* See Vol. 1. p. 100. 

t See Hardenberg Vita Wesseh ; Gerdes. Hist. Evany, renov.i. 228-230 ; 
Gieseler, Kirchen G. iii. 190 ; Ulman Job. Wessel (2d edit.), p. 564. 

J Hardenberg, Vita Wesseli ; W-. Opp. Amsterdam, p. 13. Hardenberg 
refers to Rhodius, Goswin, Melanethon, and Th. Blaurer, from whom ho 
says that he received his account, and adds : Interim yelim iHis credj, ut 
viris bonis ; mihi saltern, ut fideli relatori. 



CARLSTADT AND LUTHER MYSTICISM. 159 

The two Netherlander, 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 favour 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 sym- 
bolical explanation of the Lord's Supper would be the most 
powerful weapon to overturn the papal system from top to 
bottom ; for he said in 1525, that five years previously he 
had undergone many .severe temptations for this doctrine,* 
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 direc- 
tion Luther now took. They were not content with under- 
valuing what they called the external Word, that is, the 
Bible, and with pretending to special revelations from the 
Holy Ghost ; they went so far as to despise 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 attempt made to explain the doc- 
trine of the Lord's Supper in a symbolical manner, Luther 
saw only the danger of weakening the authority of the Holy 
Scriptures ; of substituting arbitrary allegories for their real 
meaning; of spiritualizing every thing in religion; of making it 
consist, 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 be- 
come its grave. We must acknowledge that, had it not been 
for Luther's violent opposition, the mystical, enthusiastic, 

* Ich habe wolil so harte Anfechtungen <Ja erlitten. L. Epp. ii. 577 



160 CARLSTADT AT ORLAMUND. 

and subjective tendency would then perhaps have made 
rapid progress, and would have turned back the tide of bless- 
ings that the Reformation was to spread over the world. 

Carlstadt, impatient at being prevented from explaining 
his doctrine freely in Wittemberg, urged by his conscience to 
combat a system which in his "opinion lowered Christ's death 
and destroyed his righteousness," resolved " to give a public 
testimony for the love of poor and cruelly deceived Chris- 
tendom." He left Wittemberg 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 impos- 
sible," said he, " to find in the real presence any advantage 
that does not proceed from faith ; it is therefore useless." In 
explaining Christ's words at the institution of the Lord's 
Supper, he had recourse to an interpretation which is not 
admitted by the reformed Churches. Luther, in the dispu- 
tation 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, 
take, 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 was soon to 
be broken." 

Carlstadt did not stop here. He was Scarcely emancipated 
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 to inflame men's 
minds in these agitated times. The people, imagining they 
heard a second Elijah, broke the idols of Baal. The excite- 
ment soon spread to the surrounding villages. The elector 
would have interfered ; but the peasants replied that they 
ought to obey God rather than man. Upon this, the prince 
determined to send Luther to Orlamund to restore peace. 
Luther regarded Carlstadt as a man eaten up by a love of 



INTERVIEW BETWEEN LUTHER AND CARLSTADT. 161 

notoriety,* a fanatic who might be so far^carried away as to 
make war on Christ himself. Frederick might perhaps have 
made a wiser choice. Luther departed, and Carls tadt was 
fated to see this troublesome rival once more come and dis- 
turb his plans of reform, and check his soaring 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 auditory against fanati- 
cism, rebellion, the breaking of images, 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 burgomaster, the town- 
clerk, the pastor of Jena, and several officers of the emperor 
and the margrave, when he received a letter from Carlstadt 
demanding an interview; he handed it to his neighbours, 
and replied to the bearer : " If Doctor Carlstadt wishes to 
come to me, let him come ; if not, I can do without him." 
Carlstadt came. His visit produced a lively sensation in the 
whole party. The majority, eager to see the two lions bat- 
tling, 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 of this morning 
you classed, me with those who inculcate rebellion and 
assassination. Such a charge I declare to be false." 

LUTHER. " I did not name you ; but since the cap fits, 
you may wear it." 

After a brief pause Carlstadt resumed^ 

" I will undertake to prove that on the doctrine of the sacra- 
ment you have contradicted yourself, and that no one, since 
the days of the apostles, has taught it so purely as myself." 

LUTHER. " Write ! combat my opinions !" 
CARLSTADT. " I offer you a public disputation at 

* Hue perpulit eum insana glorix et laudis libido. L. Epp. ii. 551. 



162 THE CHALLENGE. 

Wittemberg or at.Erfurth, if you will procure me a safe- 
conduct." 

LUTHER. " Fear nothing, doctor." 

CARLSTADT. " You bind me hand and foot, and when you 
have rendered me unable to defend myself, you strike me." * 

There was another brief silence, when Luther resumed : 

" 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 towards the 
assembly and said : " Dear brethren, this is my earnest- 
money, a warrant that I have authority to write against 
Doctor iTuther ; 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 vigor- 
ous 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 an historian, as from a single spark often pro- 
ceeds the conflagration of a whole forest, so from this small 
beginning a great division arose in the Church.-f- 

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 uni- 
versity will acknowledge Carlstadt as your pastor." " If 
Carlstadt is not our pastor," replied the treasurer of the 

* Ihr bandet mir Hande und Filsse, darnach schlugt Ihr mich. L. 
Opp. xix. 150. 

t Sicut una scintilla saepe totam sylvam comburit. M. Adami Vita 
Carlst. p. 83. Our narrative is mostly taken from the Acts of Reinhardt, 
pastor of Jena, an eye-witness, but a friend of Carlstadt, and whom 
Luther charged with inaccuracy. 



LTJTHER AND CARLSTADT AT ORLAMUND. 1G3 

town-council, " St. Paul is a false teacher, 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 hia 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 Avill grant 
me, however, that Moses knew God's commandments ? 
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 images. 
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 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 ?"-f 

ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE CHURCH. " No ! these are 
God's creatures, which we are not commanded to destroy." 

After the conference had lasted some time longer, Luther 

* Spann an, spann an. L. Opp. xix. 154. 

+ So muss du dess Missbrauchs halber auch. Ibid. 155. 



164 CARLSTADT S BANISHMENT. 

and his friends returned to their carriage, astonished at what 
they had seen, and without having succeeded in convincing 
the inhabitants, who claimed for themselves the right of 
freely interpreting and explaining the Scriptures. The ex- 
citement was very great in Orlamund ; the people insulted 
Luther, and some of them shouted out : " Begone, in the 
name of all the devils ! May you break your neck before 
you get out of our city !"* Never had the reformer under- 
gone such humiliation. 

He proceeded thence to- Kale, where the pastor had also 
embraced the doctrines of Carlstadt, and resolved to preach 
there. But when he entered the pulpit, he found the frag- 
ments 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 deter- 
mined 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 Reforma- 
tion. He gave orders that Carlstadt should be deprived of 
his offices, and that he should not only leave Orlamund, but 
the electoral states also. In vain did the church of this place 
intercede in his favour ; in 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 repre- 
sent 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 so 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 Germany with his complaints 
and lamentations. He wrote a farewell address to his friends 
* Two of the most distinguished contemporary historians of Germany 
(Dr. Markeineke, Ref. Gesch. ii. 139, and Fred, von Raumer, Gesch. 
Europ. i. 371), add, that the people of Orlamund flung mud and stones 
at Luther ; but he asserts the very contrary : " Dass ich froh ward, 
dass icb nit mit Steinen uud Dreck ausgewortien ward " I was glad to 
escape without being pelted with stones and mud. L. Epp. ii. 579. 
+ Hbher als tauscnd Weltcn. Seek, p C28. 



LUTHER'S DEJECTION CAELSTADT'S TRAVELS. 165 

at Orlamund. The people were called together by the ring- 
ing of the bells ; and the letter, which was read to the as- 
sembled church, drew tears from every eye.* It was signed, 
" Andrew Bodenstein, expelled by Luther, unheard and un- 
convicted." 

We cannot but feel pain at seeing the contest bet^Yeen 
these two men, who once were friends, and 'who were both so 
excellent. A feeling of sadness took possession of all the 
disciples of the Reformation. What would become.of it now 
that its most illustrious defenders thus opposed each other ? 
Luther noticed these fears, and endeavoured 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 vic- 
tory is God's, and to God belongs the glory !]- He will con- 
tend 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 published 
several works. He was a sound Latin, Greek, and Hebrew 
scholar, says Dr. Scheur; and Luther acknowledged his 
superior erudition. Endowed with an elevated mind, he 
sacrificed his reputation, his rank, his home, his very bread, 
to his convictions. He afterwards proceeded to Switzerland ; 
it is there he should have commenced his teaching : his in- 
dependence needed the free air in which Zwingle and OEco- 
lampadius breathed. His doctrine soon awakened almost 
as much attention as that obtained by Luther's first theses. 
Switzerland appeared to be Avon ; Bucer and Capito seemed 
to be carried away by it. 

Luther's indignation was then at its height, and he pub- 
lished 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 

* Quao publico yocatis per campanas lectao sunt omnibus simul fleuti- 
bus. L. Epp. ii. .558. 

f Causa Dei est, cura Dei est, opus Dei est, victoria Dei est, gloria 
Dei est ! Ibid. 556. 



166 RESISTANCE TO THE LEAGUE OF RATISBON. 

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. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Progress Resistance against the Ratisbon Leaguers Meeting between 
Philip of Hesse and Melancthon The Landgrave converted to tho 
Gospel The Palatinate Luneburg Holsteiu The Grand-Master at 
Wittemberg. 

THE Catholic League of Ratisbon 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-catholic princes, they replied : " We will 
keep it!" 

No sooner had the members of the league quitted Ratis- 
bon, than the deputies of the towns, whose bishops had 
taken part in this alliance, in surprise and indignation 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 dis- 
turb their minds. Nevertheless, about the close of the year, 
the deputies of these cities with many nobles met at Ulna, 
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 



MEETING OP THE TWO PHILIPS. 167 

they planted the standard of the Gospel and of 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 Camerarius and some other friends, 
he met a brilliant train near Frankfort. It was Philip, land- 
grave of Hesse, who three years before had called on Luther at 
Worms, and who was then on his road to the tournament at 
Heidelberg, where all the princes of Germany would be pre- 
sent. 

Thus did Providence bring Philip successively into contact 
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 Melancthon, 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 matters 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 de- 
lighted 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 discussing, and send me the result in writing." -j- 
Melancthon gave his promise. " Go then," said Philip, 
" and pass through my states." 

* Honoris eausa de equo descensurus. Camerarius, p. 94. 
t Ut de qusestionibus quas audiisset moveri, aliquid diligenter con- 
ecriptum curaret. Ibid. p. 94. 



168 PHILIP OF HESSE NOBLE PROSELYTES. 

Melancthon drew up with his usual talent an Abridgment 
of the Revived Doctrine of Christianity ;* a forcible and con- 
cise treatise, that made a decided impression on the land- 
grave's mind. Shortly after his return from the tournament 
at Heidelberg, this prince, without joining the free cities, 
published an edict by which, in opposition 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 towards the Reformation, wrote him a 
letter full of reproach, in which he conjured him to remain 
faithful to Rome. " I will remain faithful to the old doc- 
trine," replied Philip, " but such as it is contained in Scrip- 
ture." He then proved very forcibly that man is justified 
solely by faith. Astonishment kept the monk silent.f The 
landgrave was commonly styled " Melancthon's disciple. " J 

Other princes followed in the same direction. The elector- 
palatine refused to lend himself to any persecution ; 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 victory. 
A prince, whose conversion to the Gospel was destined 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 Wittem- 
berg, Albert, margrave of Brandenburg 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 Osiandcr and the reading 

* Epitome renovatsc ecclesiasticse doctrinse. 
t Seckcndorf, p. 738. 

J Princeps ille disciptilus Philippi fuit a quibusdam appellatuj. 
Cnrner. i>. 95. 



THE GRAND-MASTER OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS. 169 

of the Bible had convinced him that his monastic profession 
was contrary to the Word of God; and on the other the 
fall of the national government in Germany had deprived 
him of all hope of obtaining the succour 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 regula- 
tions of my order?" said the restless and agitated prince. 
Luther felt no 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 placed dis- 
tinctly before the mind of the grand-master a state of things 
that he had as yet conceived but vaguely. A smile lit up 
his features ; but he had too much prudence to declare him- 
self ; he remained silent.^ Melancthon, 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 can- 
not be bound ; they refused to let it be heard in one of the 
halls of a town in the Lower Palatinate ; it avenged itself 
by spreading over all the provinces; 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. ii. 527. 

t Ut contempta ista stulta confusaque regula, uxorem duceret Ibid. 
J Ille turn arrisit, sed nihil respondit. Ibid. 



170 PUBLIC WORSHIP REFOKMED. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Reforms All Saints Church Fall of the Mass Learning Christian 
/Schools Learning extended to the Laity The Arts Moral Religion 
Esthetical Religion Music Poetry Painting. 

WHILE the nations and their rulers were thus hastening 
forward to the light, the reformers were endeavouring to 
regenerate everything, to interpenetrate everything 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 everything should be re- 
trenched from the ceremony of the eucharist that tended to 
make it a sacrifice ;* that Christians should never assemble 
together without having the Gospel preached;-}- that be- 
lievers, or at least the priests and scholars, should meet 
every morning at five or six o'clock to read the Old Testa- 
ment ; and at a corresponding hour in the evening to read 
the New Testament ; that every Sunday, the whole Church 
should assemble in the morning and afternoon, and that 
the great object of their worship should be to sound abroad 
the Word of God.} 

The church of All Saints at Wittemberg especially excited 
Luther's indignation. Seckendorf informs us that 9901 
masses were there celebrated yearly, and 35,570 pounds of wax 
annually burnt. Luther called it " n sacrilegious Tophet." 
" There are only three or four lazy-bellies," said he, " who 

* Weise christliche Messe x,u halten. L. Opp. (L.) xxii. 232. 
+ Die christliche Gemeine nimmer soil zusammen kommeu, es werdc 
denn daselbst Gottes Wort gepredigct. Ibid. 226. 
J Dass das Wort im Schwaiige gehe. Ibid. 227. 



THE CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS. 171- 

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 resembled 
those ancient sanctuaries of paganism in Egypt, Gairl, 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 llth of July.* 
The canons having pleaded the elector's orders, Luther re- 
plied, " 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 Jonas, provost of the cathedral, to the 
elector. " A manifestation of the Gospel, so striking as that 
which we now have, does not ordinarily last longer than a 
sunbeam. Let us make haste thenJ'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 amicably, and urge you seri- 
ously, 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 mention this for your guidance, and 
require a positive and immediate answer, yes or no, 

* L. Epp. ii. pp. 308, 354. 

f Welchem gebiihrt das Schwerd, nicht das Predigtamt zu versorgen. 
L. Opp. xviii. p. 497. J Corp. Ref. i. 636. 



172 ABOLITION OF THE MASS. 

before Sunday next, that I may know what I have to do. 
May God give you grace to follow his light. 

" Thursday, 8th December 1524. 

" MARTIN LUTHER, 

" Preacher at Wittemberg"* 

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 township of Wit- 
temberg, " to abolish the great and horrible impiety com- 
mitted 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,-j- they acknow- 
ledged 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 reformers. 
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 Reformation. He saw in it 
a manifestation of the Divine will, and gave way. The fall 
of the Romish observances in the church of All Saints hasten- 
ed their abolition in a great number of churches throughout 
Christendom ; everywhere the same resistance was offered, 
everywhere 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 Reformation 
was ordained to change. The school was early placed beside 
the Church ; and these two great institutions, so powerful to 
regenerate the nations, were equally reanimated by it. It 
was by a close alliance with 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. Un- 
like the papacy, it does not aim at confining man again in 

L. Epp. ii. 565. 

t Durch da3 Licht dcs heiligon gottlicben Wortea L. Opp. xviii. 502. 



LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 173 

the close swaddling bands of outward ordinances 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 rules upon him ; but, aided by God, he can of 
himself and by himself distinguish what is true, and do what 
is right.* 

To lead mankind to' that ripe age which Christ has pur- 
chased for them, and to free them from that tutelage in which 
Rome had held them so long, the Reformation had to de- 
velop 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 Refor- 
mation, it was requsite to work on the young, to improve 
the schools, and to propagate throughout Christendom the 
knowledge necessary for a profound study of the Holy Scrip- 
tures. 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, call- 
ing 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. O 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.f Germans, do not expect to have this Word for ever. 
The contempt that is shown to it will drive it away. For this 

* Hebrews viii. 11. 

t Aber bin ist hin (but lost is lost) ; sie haben nun den Pabet, L. Opp. 
W. x. 535. 

VOL. III. 9 



174 TRUE WEALTH OF A STATE LANGUAGES. 

reason, let him who desires to possess it lay hold of it and 
keep it ! 

" Busy yourselves with the children," continues Luther, 
still addressing the magistrates ; " for many parents are 
like ostriches ; they are hardened towards their little ones, 
and, satisfied with haying 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 learned, 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 studying 
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 honoured, they shed such light that all the world 
is astonished, and every one is forced to acknowledge that 
our Gospel is almost as pure as that of the apostles them- 
selves. In former times the holy Fathers were frequently 
mistaken, because they were ignorant of languages ; and in 
our days there are some who, like the Waldenses, do not 
think the languages to be of any use ; but although their 

* Die Sprachen sind die Scheide, darinnen dies Messer des Geistes 
etecket. L. Opp. W. x. 535. 



LEARNING EXTENDED TO THE LAITY. 175 

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 anti- 
christian empire still unshaken." 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 extending 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 of 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 im- 
portant produced by the Reformation. He emancipated 
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 proceeded the greatest developments of modern times. 
Those laymen, whether men 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 Refor- 
mation 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 everything. " Those who de- 
spise profane literature," said Melancthon, " hold theology 
in no greater estimation. Their contempt is a mere pretext, 
with which they seek to conceal their idleness."! 

* Ea BGJ oder werde nicht lauter bleiben. L. Opp. W. x. 535. 

t Ich hatte wohl auch konnen fromm seyn und in der Stille recht pro- 
digen. Ibid. 

Hunc titulum ignavi suaj praetextunt. Corp. Ref. i. 613. 



176 PROTESTANTISM AND THE ARTS. 

The Reformation was not satisfied with merely giving a 
strong impulse to letters ; it gave also a fresh impulse to the 
arts. Protestantism has often been reproached as their 
enemy, and many Protestants willingly accept this reproach. 
We will not inquire whether the Reformation ought to glory 
in it or not ; we shall be content to observe that impartial 
history does not confirm the fact on which this accusation is 
founded. Let Roman-eatholicism pride itself in being more 
favourable to the arts than Protestantism ; be it so : paganism 
was still more favourable, and Protestantism places its glory 
elsewhere. There are some religions in which the esthetic 
tendencies of man hold a more important place than his moral 
nature. Christianity is distinct from these religions, inas- 
much 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 Pro- 
testantism 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 imagination, but according to their internal worth, 
and the connexion they have with the conscience ; so that 
if the papacy is above all an esthetical religion, as a cele- 
brated writer has proved it to be,* 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 understanding and what it did 
for literature ; it also spoke to his sensibility, to his imagi- 
nation, and contributed to the development 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 worship; and the chanting of the 
clergy was to be succeeded by the singing of the people. 
Accordingly Luther, in translating the Psalms, thought of 
* Chateaubriand, Genie du Christianisme. 



MUSIC AND POETRtf. 177 

adapting them to congregational singing. Thus a taste for 
music was spread among the nation. 

" Next to theology," said Luther, " I give the first place 
and the highest honour 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 beau- 
tiful chants at his house, he exclaimed with enthusiasm : 
" 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 perfection!" Since 

Luther's time, the people have sung ; the Bible inspired their 
songs, and the impulse given at the epoch of the Reforma- 
tion 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 contemporaries, elevated by faith to the sublimest 
ideas, excited to enthusiasm by the conflicts and dangers 
that continually threatened the infant Church, inspired by the 
poetic genius of the Old Testament, 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 contributed powerfully to awaken 
them from their slumbers. It was in this same year that 
Hans Sachs composed The Nightingale of Wittemberg. 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 wilderness. Now the nightingale proclaims the 

* Ich gebe nach der Theologie, der Musica den nahesten Locum und 
Uochste Ehre. L. Opp. W. zxii. p. 2253. 



178 - . - PAINTING. 

dawn, and, soaring above the mists of the morning, celebrates 
the brightness of the coming day. 

Whilst lyric poetry thus owed its birth to the loftiest in- 
spirations of the Reformation, satirical verses and dramas 
from the pen of Hiitten and Manuel attacked the most crying 
abuses. 

It is to the Reformation that the greatest poets of Eng- 
land, Germany, and perhaps of France, are indebted for their 
highest flights. 

Of all the arts, painting is that on which the Reformation 
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. Lucas Cranach, 
the great master of that age, settled 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),* an'd thus 
ranked among the most influential organs of the revolution 
that was transforming the nations. As soon as he had 
received new convictions, he consecrated his chaste pencil 
solely to paintings in harmony with Christian sentiments, 
and spread over groups of children, blessed by our Saviour, 
those graces witli 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 himself. -|- 

And yet we must confess that of all the arts painting is 
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 studied history or 
visited Italy, he expects nothing beneficial to humanity from 
* See Vol. II. p. 174. f Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, ii. 85. 



POLITICAL FERMENTATION. 179 

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 addressed 
man's moral nature, gave an impulse to the arts that they 
had not yet received from Roman-catholicism. 

Thus everything advaiiced : arts, literature, spirituality of 
worship, and the minds of princes and of people. But this 
noble harmony which the Gospel at its revival everywhere 
called forth, was about to be disturbed. 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 deepest darkness. 



CHAPTER X. 

Political Ferment Luther against Rebellion Thomas Munzer Agita- 
tion The Black Forest The twelve Articles Luther's Opinion 
Helfenstein March of the Peasants March of the Imperial 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 oppression, 
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 before 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 asso- 
ciated in the existence of nations. In Holland, at the close 
of the preceding century, the peasants had revolted, placing 
on their banners, by way of arms, a loaf and a cheese, the 



' .. : - ; '. ~ 

180 LUTHER AGAINST INSURRECTION. 

two great blessings of these poor people. " The Alliance of 
the Shoes " had shown itself in the neighbourhood 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 torrents of blood ; but no re- 
lief had been accorded to the people. A political reform, 
therefore, was not less necessary 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 minds were occu- 
pied by other thoughts. Luther, whose piercing glance had 
discerned the condition of the people, had already from the 
summit of the Wartburg addressed them in serious exhorta- 
tions calculated to restrain their agitated minds : 

" Rebellion," he had said, " never produces the ameliora- 
tion we desire, and God condemns it. What is it to rebel, 
if it be not to avenge oneself? The devil is striving to 
excite to revolt those who embrace the Gospel, in order to 
cover it with opprobrium; but those who have rightly 
understood my doctrine do not revolt," -J- 

Everything gave cause to fear that the popular agitation 
could not be restrained much longer. The government that 
Frederick of Saxony had taken such pains to form, and 
which possessed the confidence of the nation, was dissolved. 
The emperor, whose energy might have been an efficient 
substitute for the influence of this national administration, 
was absent ; the princes whose union had always constituted 
the strength of Germany were divided ; and the new declara- 
tions of Charles V. against Luther, by removing every hope 
of future harmony, deprived the reformer of part of the moral 
influence by which in 1522 he had succeeded in calming the 
storm. The chief barriers that hitherto had confined the 

* See Vol. I. p. 79. 

f Luther's treue Ermahnung an alle Christen gich vor Aufiiihr und 
Emporung zu hiiten. Opp. xviii. 288. 



REFORMATION AND INSURRECTION. 181 

torrent being broken, nothing could any longer restrain its 
fury. 

It was not the religious movement that gave birth to poli- 
tical agitations; but in many places it was carried 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 lan- 
guage, the harsh truths that he spoke, not only to the pope 
and prelates, but also to the princes themselves, must all 
have contributed to inflame minds that were already in a 
state of excitement. Accordingly, Erasmus did not fail to 
tell him : " We are now reaping 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 prepared by repentance for the faith and liberty of Chris- 
tians. 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 Rome endeavoured 
in their wrath to stifle the Reformation, real Christians 
patiently endured these cruel persecutions , but the multi- 
tude resisted and broke out, and seeing their desires checked 
in one direction, gave vent to them in another. " Why," 
said they, " should slavery be perpetuated 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 des- 
potism. 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 

Habemns fructum tni spiritus. Erasm. Hyperasp. b. iv. 
9* 



182 MYSTICISM AND THE REFOEMATION MUNZEK. 

that broke out in the empire, would betoken partiality. A 
fire had been kindled in Germany by religious discussions, 
from which it was impossible to prevent a few sparks escap- 
ing 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 continually 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 the intoxication of spiritual 
pride, and fancied they were saints. 

" To them the Holy Scriptures were but a dead letter," 
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 desire of reforming the 
world, and forgot, as all enthusiasts 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 appeared at Zwickau, quitted Wittemberg 

* Der barmherzige Gott behiite mich ja fur der christlichcH Kirche, 
darin eitel Heilige sind. On John i. 2. L. Opp. (W,) vii. 1469. 



MUNZEE'S PRETENSIONS. 183 

after Luther's return, dissatisfied with the inferior part he 
was playing, and became pastor of the small town of 
Alstadt in Thuringia. He could not long remain quiet, and 
accused the reformers of founding, by then- adherence to the 
letter, a new popery, and of forming churches which were 
not pure and holy. 

" Luther," said he, " has delivered men's consciences from 
the yoke of the pope, but he has left them in a carnal liberty, 
and not led them in spirit towards God." * 

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 effected. " He who 
possesses this Spirit," said he, "possesses the true faith, 
although he should never see the Scriptures in his life. 
Heathens and Turks are better fitted to receive it than many 
Christians who style us enthusiasts." It was Luther whom he 
here had in view. " To 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 favour. 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.J I have received from God the commission to gather 
together his elect into a holy and eternal alliance." 

The agitation and ferment which were at work in men's 
minds were but too favourable to the dissemination of these 
enthusiastic ideas. Man loves the marvellous, and whatever 
flatters his pride. Munzer, having persuaded a part of his 
flock to adopt his views, abolished ecclesiastical singing 
and all other ceremonies. He maintained that obedience to 
princes " void of understanding," was at once to serve God 
and Belial. Then marching out at the head of his pa- 
rishioners to a chapel in the vicinity of Alstadt, whither 
pilgrims from all quarters were accustomed to resort, he 

* Fiihrete sie nicht welter in Geist und zu Gott. L. Opp xix. 294. 

f Saur sehen, den Bart nicht abschneiden. Ibid. 

J Munzer's language is low and impious : Er wollt in Gott scheissen 
wenn er nicht mit ihm redet, wie mit Abraham. Hist, of Munzer by Me- 
Jancthon. Ibid. 295. 



184 AGITATION LUTHER'S POSITION 

pulled it down. After this exploit, being compelled to leave 
that neighbourhood, he wandered about Germany, and went 
as far as Switzerland, carrying with him, and communicat- 
ing to all who would listen to him, the plan of a general 
revolution. Everywhere he found men's minds prepared ; 
he threw gunpowder on the burning coals, and the explosion 
forthwith took place. 

.Luther, who had rejected the warlike enterprises of Sicken- 
gen,* 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 distinction between secular and 
spiritual things; he continually repeated that it was im- 
mortal souls which Christ emancipated 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 
causes me especial joy that these enthusiasts themselves 
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, dissuaded the prince 
from all measures of severity : " Let them preach what they 
please, and against 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 con- 
tend with one another.-}- Perhaps some persons may be led 
astray ; there is no battle without wounds ; but he who fight- 

See Vol. I. p. 137. 

f Man lasse die Gcistcr auf einander platzen und trcffen. L. Epp. 11 
647. 



THE BLACK FOREST THE TWELVE ARTICLES. 185 

eth faithfully shall be crowned. Nevertheless, if they desire 
to take up the sword, let your highness forbid it, and order 
them to quit 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 Thurgovian 
peasants rose against the Abbot of Reichenau, who would 
not accord them an evangelical preacher. Erelong thousands 
were collected round the small town of Tengen, to liberate an 
ecclesiastic who was there imprisoned. The revolt spread 
with inconceivable rapidity from Swabia as far as the Rhen- 
ish provinces, Franconia, Thuringia, and Saxony. In 
the month of January 1525, all these countries were in a 
state of rebellion. 

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, &c. 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 consulted. 
Luther and Melancthon delivered theirs separately, 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 penalty of 
death !" 

Luther's opinion of the revolt was the same as Melanc- 
thon's ; but he had a heart that beat for the miseries of the 
people. On this occasion he manifested a dignified impar- 
tiality, and spoke the truth frankly to both parties. He first 
addressed the princes, and more especially the bishops :- 



186 LUTHEK'S OPINION. 

" It is you," said he, "who are the cause of this revolt , it 
ts your clamours against the Gospel, your guilty oppressions 
of the poor, that have driven the 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. Even 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 peasants 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 peasants' 
confidence in Luther, and to make them listen patiently to 
the truths he had to tell them. He represented 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 against 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, " com- 
bined against me ; but the more they blustered the more did 

the Gospel gain ground And why was this? Because 

I have never drawn the sword or called for vengeance ; be- 
cause I never had recourse to tumult or insurrection : I relied 
wholly upon God, and placed everything 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 lan- 
guage. The people were too much excited by the fanatical 
speeches of the leaders of the insurrection, to listen, as of 
* Gott ist's selber der setzt sich wider euch. L. Opp. xix. 254. 



HELFENSTEIN LUTHER S INDIGNATION. 187 

old, to the words of the reformer. " He is playing the 
hypocrite," said they ; " he flatters the nobles. 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, whilst 
others drove the count and his soldiers against this wall of 
steel.* The wife of the wretched Helfenstein, a natural daugh- 
ter 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 endeavoured to arrest this 
march of murder ; a boy who had been in tjie 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 lead- 
ing 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 revela- 
tions 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 barbarous 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, alarmed at the thought that they might check the 
progress of the Gospel, Luther hesitated no longer, no longer 
temporized ; 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. 

" The peasants," said he, " commit three horrible sins 
against God and man, and thus deserve the death of body 
* Und jagteu den Grafen durch die Spiesse. Mathesius, p. 46 



188 LDTHEK'S INDIGNATION MARCH OF THE PEASANTS. 

and soul. First, they revolt against their magistrates 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 all the country with you. Who- 
ever is killed fighting for the magistrates will be a true 
martyr, if he has fought with a good conscience." Luther 
then gives a powerful description 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 5 for thou diest in the service 
of God, and to save thy neighbour 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 imposing aspect, covered with a red 
cloak, and wearing a red cap, this leader boldly advanced 
from village to village followed by the peasantry. Behind 
him, on a waggon decorated with ribands and branches of 
trees, was raised the tricolor flag, black, red, and white, 
the signal of revolt. A herald, dressed in the same colours, 
read the twelve articles, and invited the people to join in the 
rebellion. Whoever refused was banished from the com- 
munity. 

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 induce them to do 
so, they plundered the granaries, emptied the cellars, drew the 
seigneurial fish-ponds, demolished the castles of the nobles 
who resisted, and burnt the convents. Opposition had in- 
flamed 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. 

* Deinen Nachsten zu rdten aus der Holle. L. Opp. xix. 266. 



, VIOLENCE THE NOBLES THE REVOLT SPREADS. 189 

At the approach of the peasants, the cities that were 
nnable 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 defeated 
in one quarter, they assembled again in another, and braved 
the mosf 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 articles. " Brother George, 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 arc now peasants ; 
you are no longer lords." Equality of rank, the dream of 
many democrats, was established in aristocratic Germany. 

Many nobles, some through fear, others from ambition, 
then joined the insurgents. The famous Goetz von Ber- 
lichingen, 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, concealed the elector's answer. 
Goetz, being closely pursued, was compelled to put himself 
at the head of the rebel army. On the 7th of May the 
peasants entered Wurtzburg, where the citizens received them 
with acclamations. The forces of the princes and knights of 
Swabia and Franconia, which had assembled in this city, 
evacuated it, and retired in confusion to the citadel, the last 
bulwark of the nobility. 

But the movement had already extended to other parts of 
Germany. Spires, the Palatinate, Alsace, and Hesse ac- 
cepted the twelve articles, and the peasants threatened Ba- 
varia, Westphalia, the Tyrol, Saxony, and Lorraine. The 
Margrave of Baden, having rejected the articles, was com- 
pelled 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 Frank- 
fort obtained the liberties which they had claimed. 

An immense revolution was preparing in all the empire. 
The ecclesiastical and secular privileges, that bore so heavily 



190 MARCH OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY. 

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 
recognised by the New Testament ; all the other princes were 
to cease to reign; sixty-four free tribunals were to* be esta-. 
Wished, 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 intro- 
duced, and only one kind of money was to be coined through- 
out the empire. 

Meanwhile the princes had shaken off their first lethargy, 
and George von Truchsess, commander-in-chief of the im- 
perial army, was advancing on the side of the Lake of 
Constance. On the 2d of May he defeated the peasants 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 treason of its inhabitants. 
At Fiirfeld he united with the Elector Palatine and the 
Elector of Troves, 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 lay be- 
fore its walls. As soon as they heard of Truchsess' march, 
they resolved on an assault, and at nine o'clock at night on 
the 15th of May, the trumpets sounded, the tricolor flag 
was unfurled, and the peasants rushed to the attack with 
horrible shouts. Sebastian von Rotenhan, one of the warmest 
partisans of the Reformation, was governor of the castle, 
lie had put the fortress in a formidable state of defence, and 
having exhorted the garrison 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 vigour 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 peasants, thus struck 



DEFEAT OP THE PEASANTS. 191 

by their unseen enemies, were staggered 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 
ihe ferocious valour of these furious hordes. Two hours 
after midnight the peasants withdrew, having failed in all 
their efforts. v. 

They now tried to enter into negotiations, either with the 
garrison or with Truchsess, who was advancing at the head 
of his army. But this was going out of their path ; violence 
and victory alone could save them. After some little hesi- 
tation, they resolved to march against the imperial forces, 
but the cavalry and artillery made terrible havoc in their 
ranks. At Konigshofen, 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 accom- 
panied by executioners, and watered it alike with the blood 
of the rebels and oFthe peaceful friends of the Word of God. 
Goetz von Berlichingen was sentenced to imprisonment for 
life. The Margrave Casimir of Anspach put out the eyes of 
eighty-five insurgents, Avho 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 other by the hand, groping along, tottering, 
and begging 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 contortions. 

Public worship-was everywhere restored in its ancient forms. 
The most flourishing and populous districts of the empire 
exhibited to those who travelled through them nothing but 
heaps of dead bodies and smoking ruins. Fifty thousand 
men had perished, and the people lost nearly everywhere the 



AIUKZER AT XU.LHAL'SKX. 



little liberty they had hitherto enjoyed. Such was the hor- 
rible termination of this revolt in the south of Germany. 



CHAPTER XL 

Munzer at Mulhausen Appeal'to the People March of the Princes- 
End of the Revolt Influence of the Reformers Sufferings Changes 
Two Results. 

BUT the evil was not confined to the south and west of Ger- 
many. 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 him to their city, and elected him their pastor. The 
town-council having resisted, Munzer deposed it and nomi- 
nated another, consisting of his friends, with himself at 
their head. Full of contempt for that Christ, " sweet as 
honey," whom Luther preached, and being resolved to employ 
the most energetic measures, he exclaimed : _" Like Joshua, 
we must put all the Canaanites to the" sword." He esta- 
blished a community of goods, and pillaged the convents.* 
" Munzer," wrote Luther to Amsdorff on the llth of April 
1525, " Munzer is not only pastor, but king and emperor 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 re- 
sisted, 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 king- 
dom. He had a number of heavy guns cast in the Fran- 
ciscan convent, and endeavoured to . raise the peasantry and 
miners of Mansfeldt. " How long will you sleep ?" said he 
to them in a fanatical proclamation. " Arise and fight the 

* Omnia siinul communia. L. Opp. six. 292. 



APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE TERROR. 193 

battle of the Lord ! The time is come. France, Germany, 
and Italy are moving. On, on, on ! Dran, Dran, Dran ! 

Heed not the groans of the impious ones. They will 

implore you like children ; but be pitiless. Dran, Dran, 

Dran ! The fire is burning : let your sword be ever warm 

with blood.* Dran, Dran, Dran ! Work 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 insurrection. The con- 
vents of Michelstein, Ilsenburg, Walkenried, Rossleben, and 
many others in the neighbourhood of the Hartz, or in the plains 
of Thuringia, were devastated. 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 presence 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 Mtmzer succeeds, it is all over with 
us, unless Christ should rescue us. Munzer advances with 
a worse than Scythian cruelty,-}- and it is impossible to re- 
peat his dreadful threats." 

The pious elector had long hesitated what he should do. 
Munzer had exhorted him and all the princes to be con- 
verted, 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 insurrection. Alas ! the poor are op- 
pressed in many ways by their spiritual and temporal 

* Lasset euer Schwerdt nicht kalt werden von Blut. L. Opp. xix. 289. 
fr Moncerus plus quam Scythicam crudelitatem prse se fert. Corp. 
Ref. i. 741 



194 THE ELECTOR MARCH OP THE PRINCES. 

lords." And when his attention was directed to the humili- 
ation, the revolutions, the dangers to which he would expose 
himself, unless he promptly stifled the rebellion, he replied : 
" Hitherto I 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 soldiers 
swore to live and die with him. After pacifying his own 
states, he directed his march towards Saxony. 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 waggons. 
Munzer had not even prepared ammunition for his large 
guns. No succours 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 advan- 
tage of it : " Fear nothing," said he to the citizens and 
peasants ; ." I will catch all their balls in my sleeve." -J- 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 insurgents 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 honour the 
powers that be. Let us save our wives and children from 

* So wolle er hinkiinftig zu fuss gehen. Seek. p. 685. 
t Ihr sollt sehen dass ich alle Biichsensteine ira Ermel fassen ivill. 
L. Opp. xix. 297. 



END OF THE INSURRECTION. K 5 

the fury of these murderers. The Lord will- -give us the 
victory, for he has said: Whosoever resisteth the power t re-, 
sisteth the ordinance of God" Philip then gave the signal of 
attack. It was the 15th of May 1525. The army was put 
in motion ; but the peasant host stood immovable, singing 
the hymn, " Come, Holy Ghost," and waiting for Heaven to 
declare in their favour. The artillery soon broke down their 
rude rampart, carrying dismay and death into the midst 
of the insurgents. Their fanaticism and courage at once 
forsook them ; they were seized with a panic-terror, and ran 
away in disorder. Five thousand perished in the flight. 

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 Thomas 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 sacra- 
ment 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 prison- 
ers a peasant of favourable appearance, went up and said to 
him : " Well, my man, which government do you like best 
that of the peasants or of the princes ?" The poor fellow 
ma$e 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 einen am Bett. 

f Kein Mosser scherpfer schirrt denn wenn em Baur des andern Herr 
wird. Mathes p. 48. 



196 INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMERS. 

The relics of the insurrection were quenched in blood; 
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 people. 

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 : " Item, The following article has been 
omitted. Henceforward the honourable 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 
waggon shall guide the horses, the horses shall hold the 
reins, and we shall go on admirably, in conformity with the 
glorious system set forth in these articles." 

Luther did not confine himself to writing. While the 
disturbance was still at its height, he quitted Wittemberg 
and went through some of the districts where the agitation 
was greatest. He preached, he laboured to soften his hearers' 
hearts, and his hand, to which God had given power, turned 
aside, quieted, and brought back the impetuous and over- 
flowing torrents into their natural channels. 

In every quarter the doctors of the Reformation exerted a 
similar influence. At Halle, Brentz had revived the droop- 
ing spirits of the citizens by the promises of God's Word, 
and four thousand peasants had fled before six hundred 
citizens.-}- At Ichterhausen, a mob of peasants having as- 
sembled with an intent to demolish several castles and put 
their lords to death, Frederick Myconius went out to them 
alone, and such was the power of his words, that they im- 
mediately abandoned their design, j: 

* Hie nulla carnificina, nullum supplicium. Corp. Ref. i. 752. 
f Eorum animos fractos et perturbatos verbo Dei erexit. M. Adami 
Vit. Brentii, p. 441. 

J Agmen rusticorum qui convenerant ad demeliendas arces, unica 
oratione sii compescuit. M. Adami Vita Fred. Myconii, p. 178. 



LUTHER'S SPIRITUAL AGONY. 19T 

Such was the part taken by the reformers and the Refor- 
mation 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. Accord- 
ingly, Luther asserted that if the power of sound doctrine 
had- not checked the fury of the people, the revolt would have 
extended its ravages far more widely, and have overthrown 
both Church and State. Everything 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, be- 
came still more serious after the insurrection 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 repeated 
that Luther and his doctrine were the cause of the revolt, 
and, however absurd this idea may be, the reformer could 
not see it so generally entertained without experiencing the 
deepest grief. On the side of the people, Munzer and all 
the leaders of the insurrection represented him as a vile 
hypocrite, a flatterer of the great,* and these calumnies easily 
obtained belief. The violence with which Luther had de- 
clared against the rebels had displeased even moderate men. 
The friends of Rome exulted ; -|- all were against him, and 
he bore the heavy anger of his times. But his greatest af- 
fliction 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 

* Quod adulator principum vocer. L. Epp. ii. 671. 
f Gaudent papistae de nostro dissidio. Ibid. 612. 
VOL. III. 10 



198 CHANGE. 

by all, he exclaimed : " Soon, perhaps, I also shall be able 
to say : All ye shall be offended because of me this night. "* 

Yet in the midst of this deep bitterness, he preserved his 
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 enemy 
to crush me, now that he appears before me with the 
treacherous glance of the basilisk.-j- I groan as I contem- 
plate those calamities. Often have I asked myself, 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." | 

Now terminated the revolution in Luther's mind that had 
begun at the period of his return from the Wartburg. The 
inner life no longer satisfied him : the Church and her in- 
stitutions now became most important in his eyes. The 
boldness with which he had thrown down everything was 
checked at the sight of still more sweeping destructions ; he 
felt it his duty to preserve, govern, and build up ; and from 
the midst of the blood-stained ruins with which the peasant 
war had covered all Germany, 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 dismay. 
The masses, who had sought in the Keformatioh nothing 
but political reform, withdrew from it of their own accord, 
when they saw it offered them spiritual liberty only. 
Luther's opposition to the peasants was his renunciation of 
the ephemeral favour of the people. A seeming tranquillity 
was soon established, and the noise of enthusiasm and 

Matt. xxvi. 31. L. Epp. ii. 671. 

f Qui cum toties hactenus sub pedibus meis caleavit et contrivit 
leonern et draconem, non sjnct etiam basiliscum super me calcare. 
Ibid. 

$ Es ist besser einige aus dem Rachen des Teufels herausroissen. L. 
Opp. H. Ed. ix. 961. 



TWO RESULTS. 199 

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 insur- 
rection was from below ; the Reformation from above. A 
few horsemen and cannons were sufficient to put down the 
one; but the other never ceased to rise in strength and 
vigour, in despite of the reiterated assaults of the empire and 
the Church. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Death of the Elector Frederick The Prince and the Reformer 
Roman-catholic Alliance Plans of Charles the Fifth Dangers. 

MEANWHILE the cause of the Reformation itself appeared as if 
it would perish in the gulf that had swallowed up the liber- 
ties of the people. A melancholy event seemed destined to 
accelerate its fall. At the moment when the princes were 
marching against Munzer, and ten days before his defeat, 
the aged Elector ot Saxony, that man whom God had raised 
up to defend the Reformation against all dangers from with- 
out, descended 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." -f- 

Averting his eyes from the struggles then prevailing through- 
out Germany, this pious prince, who was at that time residing 

* Ea res incussit voJpo torrorcm ut nihil usquam moyeatur. Corp. 

Kef. i. 752. 
t Noch etwas gutes mehr m aer Welt. Seckend. p. 702. 



200 DEATH OP THE ELECTOR. 

in the castle of Loehau, 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 evening ; 
the aged prince then unburdened his soul, and confessed 
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 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, forgive me for the love of God ; for we 
princes often give offence to the poor, and that is wrong." 
Thus did Frederick obey the injunction of the apostle : 
Let him that is rich rejoice in that he is made low ; because 
as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.^ 

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 triumphing over it at 
last ; it fell upon his heart like the dew, or the gentle rain, 
filling it with hope and joy. Frederick 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 Avhich 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," 

* Dass alle Umstehende zum weinen bewegt. Seckend. p. 702. 
t James i. 10. 



THE PRINCE AND THE REFORMER. 201 

and declared his firm assurance " that he was redeemed by 
the precious blood of his beloved Saviour."* 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." 
" bitter death to all whom he has left behind him !" said 
Luther.-J- 

Luther, who was then travelling through Thuringia to 
allay the excitement, had never seen the elector, except at 
a distance, at Worms at the side of Charles the Fifth. But 
these two men had met in spirit from the very moment the 
reformer appeared. Frederick laboured for nationality and 
independence, as Luther did for truth and reformation. 
Unquestionably the Reformation was above all things a 
spiritual work ; but it was perhaps necessary for its early 
success that it should be linked with some national interest. 
Accordingly Luther had no sooner risen up against indul- 
gences 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 supporters 
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 violence. 

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.! 

* Durch das theure Blut meines allerliobsten Heylandes erlbset. Seek, 
p. 703. t O mors amara ! L. Epp. ii, 659. 

t Ranke, Deutsche Gesch. ii. 226. 



202 KOMANIST ALLIANCE CHARLES'S PLANS. 

Duke George hoped to impart his hatred and his affec- 
tions 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 ; 
hut 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 Electors 
of Mentz and Brandenburg, Dukes Henry and Erick of 
Brunswick, and Duke George, met at Dessau and con- 
cluded a Eomish alliance in the month of July.-j- George 
urged the new elector and his son-in-law the landgrave to 
join it. And then, as if to intimate what might be expected 
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 empire 
a constitution that would enable him to dispose of the forces 
of Germany at his good pleasure. Religious differences 
offered him the means ; he had only to let loose the Catholics 
against the followers of the Gospel, and when they had ex- 
hausted their strength, he would easily triumph over both. 
Down with the Lutherans! was therefore the cry of the 
emperor.J 

Thus all things combined against the Reformation. 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 ; the princes who might have defended him bowed 

* Dux Georgius, mortuo Frederico, putat se omnia posse. L. Epp. 
iii.22. 

f- Habito conciliabulo conjuraverunt restitutes sese esse omnia 

Ibid. 

t Sleiian. Hist, de la Rtf. i. 214. Keil, Luther% Leben, p. 160. 



DAKGEKS. 203 

their heads, and seemed to have forsaken the Gospel ; it was 
rumoured 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 assembling a new diet with the end of giving a 
deathblow to the Reformation. What dangers must not 

Luther have foreboded! This anguish, these inward 

struggles, 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 scarcely cold, and 
the dead bodies of the peasants that yet strewed the plains 
of Germany, Luther none could certainly have imagined 
such a thing Luther married. 



CHAPTER XIU. 

The Nuns of Nimptsch Luther's Sentiments The Convent dissolved 
Luther's Marriage Domestic Happiness. 

IN the monastery of Nimptsch, near Grimma in Saxony, 
dwelt in the year 1523 nine nuns, who were diligent in 
reading the Word of God, and who had discovered the con- 
trast that qxists between a Christian and a cloistered life. 
Their names were Magdalen Staupitz, Eliza Canitz, Ava 
Grossen, Ava and Margaret Schonfeldt, Laneta Golis, 
Margaret and Catherine Zeschau, and Catherine Bora. The 
first impulse of these young women, after they were deli- 
vered 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 prayers. The poor nuns 
were dismayed. How can they leave the monastery? 

* Der Seelen Seligkeit halber. L. Epp. ii. 323. 



204 THE NUNS OF N1MPTSCH. 

Their timidity was alarmed at so desperate 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.* Two 
worthy and pious citizens of Torgau, Leonard Koppe and 
Wolff Tomitzsch, offered their assistance,f which they ac- 
cepted as coming from God himself, and left the convent of 
Nimptsch without any opposition, and as if the hand of the 
Lord had opened the doors to them.J Koppe and Tomitzsch 
received them in their waggon; and on the 7th of April 
1523, the nine nuns, amazed at their own boldness, stopped 
in great emotion before the gate of the old Augustine con- 
vent 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 captive con- 
sciences and empty all the cloisters ! the breach is made !" 
Many persons offered to receive these nuns into their houses, 
and Catherine Bora found a welcome 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 approach 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." || 

Yet everything in the Church was advancing. The habits 
of a monastic life, the invention of man, were giving way in 
every quarter to those of domestic life, appointed by God. 
On Sunday the 9th of October 1524, Luther, having risen as 
usual, laid aside the frock of the Augustine monk, and put 
on the dress of a secular priest ; he then made his appearance 

* Mit aller Zucht und Ehre an redliche Statte und Orte kommen. 
L. Epp. ii. 322. 

t Per honestos cives Torgavienses adductse. Ibid. 319. 

Mirabiliter evaserunt. Ibid. 

Und alle Kloster ledig machen. Ibid. 322. 

It Cum expectem quotidie mortem et meritum hscretici supplioiiim. 
L. Epp. ii. 570. Letter to Spalatiu, 30th November 1524. 



END OF THE CONVENT. 205 

in the church, where this change caused a lively satisfaction. 
Renovated Christendom hailed with transport everything 
that announced that the old things were passed away. 

Shortly after this, the last monk quitted the convent ; but 
Luther remained ; his footsteps alone re-echoed through the 
long galleries ; he sat silent and solitary in the refectory that 
had so lately resounded with the babbling 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 sanctuary of a Christian family. 

Luther, whose heart was formed to taste the sweets of 
domestic life, honoured and loved the marriage state ; it is 
even probable that he had some liking for Catherine Bora. 
For a long while his scruples and the thought of the calum- 
nies which such a step would occasion had prevented his 
thinking of her ; and he had offered the poor Catherine, first 
to Baumgartner of Nuremberg, f and then to Dr. Glatz of 
Orlamund. But when he saw Baumgartner 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 em- 
braced a monastic life, was urging him to enter the conjugal 
state.J But one idea above all was daily present 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 

* Muss und will Ich sehen wo mich Gott ernahret. L. Epp. ii. 682. 
f- Si vis Ketam tuam a Bora tenere. Ibid. 553. 
J Aus Begehren meines lieben Vaters. Ibid. iii. 2. 
% Ibid. 1. * 



206 LUTHER'S MOTIVES. 

single thought broke the last links that still held him cap- 
tive. 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* 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 work that he has 
begun." -{ This remark made a very different impression on 
Luther from what might have been supposed. To brave the 
world, the devil, and his enemies, and, by an action which 
they thought calculated to ruin the cause of the Reforma- 
tion, prevent its success being in any measure ascribed to 
him this was all he desired. Accordingly, boldly raising 
his head, he replied, " 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 completely from the institutions of the Pa- 
pacy; he confirmed the doctrine he had preached, by his 
own example, and encouraged timid men to an entire 
renunciation of their errors.^ Rome appeared to be re- 
covering here and there the ground she had lost; she 
flattered herself with the hope of victory ; and now a loud ex- 
plosion scattered terror and surprise through her ranks, 
and still more fully disclosed to her the courage of the 
enemy 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 victory, 
to marry a nun, that they may see and know that they have 
not conquered me. I do not take a wife that I may live 

" Genesis ii. 18. 

t Risuros mundum universum et diabolum ipsum. M. Adam! Vita 
Luth. p. 130. ' , 

Ut confirmem facto quse docui, tarn tnultos invenio pusillanimes in 
tanta luce Evangelii. L. Epp. iii. 13. 

INonna ducta uxore in despectum triumpbantium et clamantinm Jo ! 
Jo \ hostium. Ibid. 21. 



LUTHER'S MAUEIAGE SENSATION. 207 

long with her; but seeing the nations and the princes 
letting loose their fury against me, foreseeing 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 testimony to what I teach here 
below."* 

On the llth 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 
Doctor John Apella witnessed the marriage. Melancthon 
was not present. 

No sooner was Luther married than all Europe was 
disturbed. He was overwhelmed wifh accusations and 
calumnies from every quarter. " It is incest," exclaimed 
Henry VIII. " A monk has married a vestal," said some.-i- 
" Antichrist will be the offspring of such a union," said 
others ; " for a prophecy announces that he 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 1"^: But 
while Luther was thus assailed, many wise 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 ." A more valuable testimony was now 
given in his favour. 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 anything unbecoming in Luther's 

* Non duxi uxorem ut diu viverem, sed quod nunc propiorem fiuem 
ineum suspicarer. L. Epp. iii. 32. 

+ Monachus cum vestali copularetur. M. Ad. Vit. Luth. p. 131. 

i Quot Antichristorum millia jam oliui habet mundus. Er. Epp. 
p. 789. 

Erasmus adds, alluding to reports spread by Luther's enemies that he 
nad not been married more than a fortnight when his wife was already 
brought to bed of a son ; " Partu maturo sponsae yanus erat rumor." 
Ibid. pp. 780, 789. 



208 LUTHER'S DOMESTIC HAPPiKE9. 

marriage.* I think that in marrying he must have don 
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 honourable in 
the eyes of God." 

Luther was troubled at first when he saw such floods of 
anger and contempt poured out upon him ; Melancthon 
became more earnest in friendship and kindness towards 
him ;f and it was not long before the reformer could see a 
mark of G-od'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 displeasing to God."}: 

Eight years had elapsed between the time when Luther 
had attacked the indulgences and his marriage with Catherine 
Bora. It would be difficult to ascribe, as is still 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 Wit- 
temberg. 

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 preg- 
nancy^ and a year after they came together she gave birth 
to a son. || The sweets of domestic life soon dispersed the 
storms that the exasperation of his enemies had at first 
gathered over him. His Ketha, as he styled her, mani- 
fested the tenderest affection towards him, consoled him in 
his dejection by repeating passages from the Bible, ex- 
onerated him from all household cares, sat near him during 
his leisure moments, worked his portrait in embroidery, 

*On \J<tuSf rovrt *,ai J/a/-x tfn. Corp. Ref. i. 753, ad Camerariua. 

*t* Ha fa, 9-Ktuim *.} ilio'ta.. Ibid. 

t And he adds : Offenditur etiam in carne ipsius divinitatis et croatorie, 
L. Epp. iii. 32. 

This letter is dated October 21, 1525. Catena mea simulat vel ver 
implet illud Genes. 3. Tu dolore gravida eris. Ibid. 35. 

II Mir meine liebe Kethe einen Hanson Lather bracht hat, gestern urn 
zwni. Ibid. 116. June 8, 1526. 



ADVANTAGES OF ABOLISHING CELIBACY. 209 

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 Ketlia. 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 ten- 
derness for Catherine ; he called her " his dear and gracious 
wife, his dear and amiable Ketha." Luther's character be- 
came more cheerful in Catherine's society, and this happy 
frame of mind never deserted him afterwards, even in the 
midst of his greatest trials. 

The almos't universal corruption of the clergy had brought 
the priesthood into general contempt, from which the iso- 
lated virtues of a few faithful servants of God had been un- 
able to extricate it. Domestic peace and conjugal fidelity, 
those surest foundations of happiness here below, were con- 
tinually 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. 
The Reformation, by abolishing the celibacy of the ecclesi- 
astics, restored the sanctity of the conjugal state. The 
marriage of the clergy put an end to an immense number of 
secret crimes. The reformers became the models of their 
flocks in the most intimate and important relations of life ; 
and the people were not slow in rejoicing to see the minis- 
ters of religion once more husbands and fathers. 



210 THE LANDGRAVE THE ELECTOR. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Landgrave The Elector Prussia -Reformation Secularization 
The Archbishop of Mentz Conference at Friedwalt Diet Alliance of 
Torgau Resistance of the Reformers Alliance of Magdeburg The 
Catholics redouble their Exertions The Emperor's Marriage Threat- 
ening 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 
suffering from the blow inflicted on it by the revolt of the pea- 
sants; 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 character 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 ?" " Everything," said the elector, " cere- 
monies as well as sermons, must be conformed to God's 
Word." 

Erelong the landgrave formed the extraordinary project 
of converting his father-in-law, Duke George. At one time 



HEAD OF THE REFORM PARTY PRUSSIA. 211 

he would establish the sufficiency of Scripture ; 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 opposed to the faith of the aged duke.* 

These efforts 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?-^ 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 intelli- 
gent leader, capable of making head against the terrible 
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 ele- 
ment 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 spi- 
ritual. 

God was adding to the number of its supporters. Prussia, 
that powerful state on the frontiers of Germany, 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 in which 
it had arisen. The knights, consulting their own interests 
alone, had dissatisfied the people under their rule. Poland 
had taken advantage of this in 1466 to compel the order to re- 
cognise her supremacy. The people, the knights, the grand- 
master, the Polish domination, were so many contrary powers 
ever in collision and rendering the prosperity of the country 
impossible. 

Then came the Reformation, and it was perceived that 

Rommel's Urkundenbuch, i. 2. 

f- Was das fur ein Glaube sey, dcr eine solche Erfahrung erfordert. 
Seek. p. 739. 



212 SECULARIZATION. 

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 stop- 
ping before Luther's house, sang with a solemn voice the 
beautiful hymn by Poliander : 

" To us at last salvation's come ! " * 

The reformer, who had never heard this Christian strain, 
listened in astonishment and rapture ; the foreign 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.-i- 

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 Sigis- 
mund, king of Poland, his uncle and lord-suzerain. 

The latter recognised 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 flowers. " There is but one order," 
said Albert, "and that is Christianity." The monastic orders 
were disappearing, and this Divine order was re-established. 

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 King of Den- 
mark, whose " faith in the one only Saviour " was not to be 
shaken. 

* Es ist das Heyl uns kommen her. 

+ Dankte Gott mlt Freuden. Seek. p. 66S. 

J Sleidan, Hist. Ref. p. 220. 



ARCHBISHOP OF MENTZ REFORMS. 213 

The pope called upon the emperor to take sevora m^sures 
against this -"apostate" monk, and Charles laid Albert under 
an interdict. 

Another prince of the family of Brandenburg, the Cardi- 
nal-archbishop of Mentz, was then on the point of following 
his cousin's example. The peasant-wars more especially 
threatened the ecclesiastical states ; the elector, Luther, and 
all Germany imagined they were on the eve of a great re- 
volution. The archbishop, thinking the only way of pre- 
serving his principality would be to secularize 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."^- But the peasant-war having come to an end 
more speedily 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 Reformation, 
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 
Roman priesthood, and to direct a general visitation of the 
churches.^ About the same time they were beginning at 
Wittemberg 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 separ- 
ates from us, separates from the Church !' There is no 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. 

All this could not be said and done without occasioning 
a strong reaction. Rome had thought the Reformation 

* Seckend. p. 712. f Er muss herunter. L. Epp. ii. 674. 

J L. Epp. iii. 28, 38, 51, &c. 

Dass Kirche sey allein diejenige, FO Gottes Wort haben und clanit 
gcreinigct werden. Corp. Ref. i. 766. 



214 FRIEDEWALT THE DIET. 

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 threatening letters, the 
one from Rome, the other from Spain. The imperial govern- 
ment prepared to set matters on their old footing ; and the 
idea was seriously entertained of effectually crushing the 
Reformation in the approaching diet. 

On the 7th of November, the electoral prince of Saxony 
and the landgrave met in alarm at the castle of Friedewalt, 
and agreed that their deputies at the diet should act in 
concert. Thus in the forest of Sulh'ngen were created the 
first elements of an evangelical alliance, in opposition to the 
leagues of Ratisbon and Dessau. 

The diet opened at Augsburg on the llth of December. 
The evangelical princes were not present in person. From 
the very first the deputies of Saxony and Hesse spoke out 
boldly : " The insurrection of the peasants," said they, 
il 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 Re- 
formation, more terrible calamities 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 following ; and that in 
the meanwhile 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 attacked on 
account of the Word of God, they should unite 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 endeavouring to form n 



RESISTANCE OF THE REFORMERS. 215 

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 hi the way of any union be- 
tween the evangelical princes, and this obstacle was Luther 
and Melancthon. Luther desired that the evangelical 
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 considera- 
tions, and he endeavoured to bring the neighbouring 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 accepted a pension from the 
emperor. Even the elector-palatine, whose evangelical dis- 
position 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 theologians 
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 there, under the presidence of the elector, 
they formed an alliance similar to that of Torgau. 

" Almighty God," said these princes, " having in his un- 
speakable mercy revived among men his holy and eternal 
Word, the food of our souls, and our greatest treasure here 
* Seckendorf^p. 768. 



216 ALLIANCE OP MAGDEBURG. 

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 preserve 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 lan- 
guage of the princes. 

Two days after, the city of Magdeburg was received into 
the alliance, and the new duke of Prussia, Albert of Bran- 
denburg, 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 threat- 
ening. The clergy and the princes friendly to Rome had 
seen the Reformation, which they had thought stifled, sud- 
denly growing up before them in a formidable shape. Already 
the partisans of the Reformation 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 heresy ; they have to contend against a powerful 
party. Other victories than those of Dr. Eck are required to 
gave Christendom. 

Effectual precautions had already been taken. The metro- 
politan chapter of the collegiate church at Mentz had called 
a meeting of all its suffragans, and decided on sending a de- 
putation to the emperor and the pope, calling on them to 
preserve the Church. 

At the same time, Duke George of Saxony, Duke Henry 
of Brunswick, and the Cardinal-elector Albert, had met at 
Halle, and resolved to address a memorial to Charles V. 
" The detestable doctrine of Luther," said they, " is making 
rapid progress. Every day attempts are made to gain over 
even us ; and as they cannot succeed by gentle measures, 

* Allein auf Gott den Allmachtigen, als dessen Werkzeuge sie handeln 
Ilortleber, Ursache dcs Deutschen Krieges. i. 1480. 



THE EMPEROR'S MARRIAGK THREATENING LETTER. 217 

they are striving to compel us, by exciting our subjects to 
revolt. We implore the assistance of the emperor."* Im- 
mediately after this conference, Brunswick himself set out 
for Spain in order to influence Charles's determination. 

He could not have arrived at a more favourable moment ; 
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 defray 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 Guadalquivir 
re-echoed with the noise of his festivities. A glittering train 
of nobles and a vast concourse of people crowded that ancient 
capital of the Moors. Under the arched roof of its magnifi- 
cent cathedral were displayed all the pompous ceremonies of 
the Church; a legate from the pope officiated, and never, 
even under the dominion of the Arabs, had Andalusia wit- 
nessed a spectacle of greater splendour and solemnity. 

At this very moment Henry of Brunswick arrived from 
Germany, and besought Charles to rescue the empire 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 of March 1526, 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 commis- 
sion to inform them verbally that he had been seriously 
grieved to learn that the continual progress of the Lutheran 
heresy threatened to fill Germany 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 and 
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 
" Schmidt, Deutsche Gesch. viii. 202. 



218 LUTHER'S AID. 

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 G ermany, the Romish party 
were transported with joy and proudly lifted up their heads. 
The Dukes of Brunswick and Pomerania, Albert of Meck- 
lenburg, John of Juliers, George of Saxony, the Dukes of 
Bavaria, and all the princes of the Church, thought them- 
selves 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 compel them by the sword. Duke 
George is reported to have said, "I may be Elector of 
Saxony whenever I please ;"f he subsequently, however, 
endeavoured to give another meaning to these words. 
" Luther's cause will not last long: let him look to it!" 
said the duke's chancellor 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 attentively 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. " Satan," wrote he to Frederick Myconius, 
" is putting forth his fury; ungodly pontiffs are conspiring; 
and we are threatened with war. Exhort the people to con- 
tend valiantly before the throne of the Lord by faith and 
prayer, so that our enemies, vanquished by the Spirit of 
God, may be constrained to peace. Our chief want, our 
chief labour is prayer; let the people know that they are 
now exposed to the edge of the sword and to the rage 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, 

* Weimar State-papers. Seckendorff, p. 768. 
fllanke, Dentsch Gesch. ii. p. 349 ; Rommel Urkunden, p. 22. 
^Ut in mediis gladiis et furoribus Satanse posito et periclitanti. L. Ejp. 
iii. 100. 



THE TWO PARTIES. 219 

the sympathy of the people, and an increasing influence over 
men's minds that no power could check. The papacy had 
in its favour the ancient order of things, the strength of old 
custom, the zeal and hatred 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 ambi- 
tion of Francis the First. 

Such was the state of affairs when the Diet of Spires was 
opened. Now let us return to Switzerland. 












BOOK XI, 

. 

.5- :*.- 'I.',',."* .''-. 7^- ' ' * ~ * " 

DIVISIONS. 
SWITZERLAND GERMANY. 1523-1527, 

CHAPTER I. 

Unity in Diversity Primitive Fidelity and Liberty Formation of Ro- 
mish Unity Leo Juda and the Monk Zwingle's Theses The Dis- 
putation of January. 

WE are about to contemplate the diversities, or, as they have 
been called, the variations of the Reformation. These diver- 
sities are one of its most essential characteristics. 

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 
heaven one and ever the same ; and yet it assumes different 
colours upon earth, according to the objects on which it 
falls. In like manner, formularies somewhat different may 
sometimes express the same Christian idea considered under 
different aspects. 

How dull would creation be if this boundless variety of 
forms and colours, which gives it beauty, were replaced by 
an absolute uniformity ! But how melancholy also would 
be its appearance, if all created beings did not form a magni- 
ficent unity ! 

Divine unity has its rights, so also has human diversity. 
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 from creation one of the laws 
that God himself has imposed on it, that of infinite diver- 



UNITY IN DIVERSITY PRIMITIVE LIBERTY. 221 

sity? And even things without life giving sound, whether 
pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, 
how shall it be known what is piped or harped ?* 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 error. 
The one exaggerates diversity, the other exaggerates unity. 
The essential doctrines of salvation are the limit between 
these two courses. To require more than these doctrines, is to 
infringe this diversity ; to require less, is to infringe unfty. 

The latter excess Is that of rash and rebellious minds, 
who look beyond Jesus Christ to form systems and doctrines 
of men. 

The former exists in various exclusive sects, and parti- 
cularly in that of Rome. 

The Church should reject error, 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 arms against the least deviation, and put herself in 
motion for mere verbal disputes. Faith would thus be fet- 
tered, and the feelings of Christians reduced to bondage. 
Such was not the condition of the Church in the times of 
real catholicity, the catholicity 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 of 
man. 

When a merely human system had been once invented, 
coercion increased from age to age. The Christian liberty, 
respected by the Catholicism of the earlier ages, was at first 
limited, then enslaved, and finally stifled. 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 from without, completely formed and 

* 1 Corinthians xiv. 7. 
VOL. JIT. 11 



222 FORMATION OF ROMISH UNITY. 

symmetrically arranged by the masters of mankind. Reflee- 
tion, will, feeling, all the faculties of the human being, 
which, subjected to the Word and Spirit of God, should 
work and bear fruit freely, Avere deprived of their liberty, and 
constrained 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 pos- 
sesses nothing by itself. Doubtless there still existed 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 opi- 
nions that mightbe received or rejected 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 encroachments, 
had ceased to exist. All that man ought to love, believe, or 
do, was uegulated and decreed in the offices of the Roman 
chancery. The faithful were relieved of the fatigue of ex- 
amining, 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 who had inherited the Catholicism of the 
apostolic ages, such a man feeling his inability to expand in 
the bonds in which he was confined, was compelled to snap 
them asunder, and display again to the astonished world the 
unfettered bearing of a Christian, who acknowledges no law 
that of God. 

The Reformation, by restoring liberty to the Church, was 
destined also to restore its original diversity, and to people 
jt with families united by the great features of resemblance 
they derive from their common parent ; but different in 
their secondary features, and reminding us of the varieties 



SWITZERLAND AND GEEMANY. 223 

inherent in human nature. Perhaps it would have been de- 
sirable for this diversity to exist in the universal Church with- 
out 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 de- 
veloped themselves independently of each other, began 
to come in contact in the years whose history we are about 
to retrace, and realized the diversity of which 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 
certain secondary points. Passion, indeed, entered into 
these discussions ; but while deploring such a melancholy 
intermixture, Protestantism, far from seeking to conceal her 
diversity, publishes and proclaims it. Its path to unity is 
long and difficult, but this unity is the real unity. 

Zwingle was advancing in the Christian life. While the 
Gospel had freed Luther from that profound melancholy to 
which he had formerly given way in the convent of Erfurth, 
and had developed in him a serenity which often amounted 
to gaiety, and of which the reformer 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 thought- 
less and worldly life, it had imprinted a seriousness on his 
character 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 overwhelmed 
with reproaches from every quarter, and disputes would often 
take place even in the churches. 

Leo Juda, who (says an historian) was a man of small 
stature,f but full of love for the poor , and zeal against false 
teachers, had arrived at Zurich about the end of the year 
1522 to occupy the station of pastor of St. Peter's church. He 
had been replaced at Einsidlen by Oswald Myconius.J This 

* See Vol. II. book viii. near the end. 

) Er war ein kurzer Mann. Fiisslin Beytrage. iv. 44. 

t Ut post abitum Leonis, monachis aliquid legam. Zw. Epp. 263. 



224 LEO JTJDA AND THE MONK ZWTNGLE's THESES. 

was a valuable acquisition for Zwingle and for the Reforms 
tion. 

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 him- 
self to satisfy the righteousness of God. " Reverend father 
prior," said Leo, " listen to me for an instant ; and you, my 
dear citizens, keep still ; I will speak as becomes a Chris- 
tian." He then proved to the people the falseness of the 
doctrine to which he had been listening.* 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, re- 
quiring permission to give an account of his doctrine in the 
presence of the deputies of the bishop ; and the council, 
desirous of putting an end to these disturbances, convened a 
conference for the 29th of January 1523. The news spread 
rapidly through the whole of Switzerland. His adversaries 
exclaimed in their vexation : " A diet of vagabonds is to 
be held at Zurich ; all the beggars from the highways will 
be there." 

Zwingle, desiring to prepare for the struggle, published 
sixty-seven theses. The mountaineer of the Tockenburg 
boldly assailed the pope in the eyes of all Switzerland. 

" All those (said he) who maintain that the Gospel is 
nothing without the confirmation of the Church, blaspheme 
God. i> 

" 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 : thus orders, 
sects, and parties fall to the ground. 

" We should not constrain those who will not acknowledge 
their error, unless they disturb the public peace by their 
seditious behaviour." 

Such were some of Zwingle's propositions. 

Early in the morning of Thursday the 29th of January, 
more than six hundred persons had collected in the hall 
* J. J. Hottingcr. Heir. Kirch. Gesch. iii. 605. 



THE DISPUTATION OF JANUARY. 225 

of the Great Council at Zurich. Citizens and strangers, 
scholars, 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 expecting some 
extraordinary result. 

The burgomaster Roust, who had fought at Marignan, 
presided at the conference. The chevalier James d'Anwyl, 
grand-master of the episcopal court at Constance, 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 tor- 
mented 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."-J-_ 

Zwingle stood up and said : " I have preached that salva- 
tion 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. !"| 

Upon this all eyes were turned towards Faber, 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, " has promised 
a council within a year ; we must wait until 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 interrupted 

* Ein grosses Verwunderen, was doch uss der Sach werden wollte. 
Bullinger Chronik. i. 97. 

f Immotus tamen maneo, non meis nerris nixus, sed petra Christo, in 
quo oninia possum. Zw. Epp. p. 261. 

J Nun wohlan in dem Namen Gottes, hie bin ich. Bullinger Chronik. 
p. 98. 



226 SILENCE VICTORY. 

by the burgomaster, who said : " If there is any one here 
who has anything 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 third time, but to no purpose. Faber; thus closely 
pressed, dropped for an instant the reserve he had imposed 
on himself, to declare that he had convicted the pastor 
of Filispach of his error, and who was now confined in 
prison ; but immediately 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 obsti- 
nately refused. This silence on the part of the Romish 
doctors tired the patience of the meeting. A voice was 
heard exclaiming from the farther 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 coun- 
cil 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 noth- 
ing that they could not substantiate by Scripture. 

" Praised be God, who will cause his holy Word to pre- 
vail 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 honour of the 
Church and the doctrine of Christ ; and I will prove it." " Do 
so," replied Zwingle. But Faber declined his challenge, ex- 
cept it should be at Paris, Cologne, 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."f "The Gospel!" sneered Faber, "always the Gos- 

* Sc. the monks. Wo sind nun die grossen Hansen Zw. Opp. i. 124 ; 

) EC miiss das Erdrych brechen. Zw. Opp. i. 140. 



PAPAL, TEMPTATIONS. 227 

pel 1 Men might live in holiness, peace, and charity, even 

if there were no Gospel."* 

At these words the spectators rose indignantly from their 
seats. Thus terminated the disputation. 



CHAPTER II. 

Papal Temptations Progress of the Reformation The Idl at Stadel- 
hofen Sacrilege The Ornaments of the Saints. 

THE Reformation had gained the day ; it was now to accele- 
rate 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 different kind were tried. Zwingle's firmness and re- 
publican bearing overawed his adversaries ; accordingly they 
had recourse to peculiar measures to subdue him. While 
Rome was pursuing Luther with her anathemas, she endea- 
voured . to win over the reformer of Zurich by gentleness. 
The dispute was scarcely ended when Zvvingle 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 Zwingle his beloved son, and assured him of "his 
special favour."-}- At the same time the pope urged Zink 
to gain over Zwingle. " And what has the pope commis- 
sioned you to offer him ?" asked Oswald Myconius. "Every- 
thing," replied Zink, " except the papal chair."J 

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 respect ; all her 

* Man mocht denocht friintlich, fridlich und tugendlich 1'aben, wenn 
glich kein EYangelium were. Bull. Chron. p. 107 ; Zw. Opp. i. 152. 

+ Cum de tua egregia virtute specialiter nobis sit cognitum. Zw. Epp. 
p. 2G6. 

J Serio respondit : Omnia certe prater sedem papalem. Vita Zwingli, 
per Osw. Myc. 



228 ZWINGLE'S FIRMNESS FABEIVS HOSTILITY. 

proposals were unavailing. In Zwingle, the Romish Church 
had a still more pitiless enemy than Luther. He eared far 
less than the Saxon reformer for the ideas and ceremonies 
of former ag^s; 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 
taking place in Christendom, she found counsellors who en- 
deavoured to put her in the way. 

Faber, exasperated at seeing the pope thus humble him- 
self before his adversary, hastened to enlighten him. He 
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. Accordingly, the 
reformer, playing on his name (Faber), 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 Swit- 
zerland. The veteran soldiers, the great families, the herds- 
men of the mountains, combined their hatred against this 
doctrine whu h thwarted their tastes. At Lucerne, the magni- 
ficent representation of Zwingle's passion was announced ; in 
effect, the people dragged the reformer's effigy to the scaffold, 
shouting out that they were going to put the heretic to 
death ; and laying hands on some Zurichers who happened 
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 folio wers."-{- 
Even the diet re-echoed with threats against him. " My dear 
confederates," said the councillor of Mullinen to the cantons, 

" make a timely resistance to the Lutheran cause At 

Zurich a man is no longer master in his own house!" 

" Prodeant volo, palamque arma capiaot. Zw. Epp. p. 292. 
f- Christum suis nunquam defccturum. Ihid. p. 278. 



THE CRUCIFIX OF STADELHOFEN. 229 

This agitation among the enemy announced what was 
passing in Zurich more loudly than any proclamations 
could have done. The victory was indeed bearing fruit ; 
the conquerors were gradually taking possession of the 
country, and every day the Gospel made fresh progress. 
Twenty -four canons and a great number of chaplains 
voluntarily petitioned the council to reform 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 are unfortunately in every army a number of 
those desperate heroes who leave their ranks and make 
unseasonable attacks on points that ought still to be re- 
spected. 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 essentials that ought to 
occupy his mind, that man can fix his attention on second- 
ary matters. At a place called Stadelhofen, outside the city 
gates, stood a crucifix elaborately carved and richly orna- 
mented. The most zealous partisans of the Reformation, 
shocked at the superstitions to which this image gave 
rise, could not pass by without giving vent to their 
indignation. A citizen named Claude Hottinger, " a 
worthy man," says Bullinger, " 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 
Hottinger, " 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." Hot- 
tinger thought himself empowered to act, and shortly after, 
about the end of September, he was seen to pass the gates 
with a body of citizens. On arriving- at the crucifix, they 
11* 



230 SACRILEGE ORNAMENTS OF THE SAINTS. 

deliberately dug round it, until the image, yielding to their 
efforts, fell to the earth 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 sacrilege ! They 
deserve to be put to death ! " exclaimed the friends of Rome. 
The council caused the image-breakers to be apprehended. 

" No !" cried Zwigle and his colleagues from their pul- 
pits : " Hottinger and his friends are not guilty in the sight 
of God and worthy of death.* But they may be 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 Saint Peter's, one day remarking in front 
of the church a number of poor people ill fed and with tattered 
garments, said to one of his colleagues, 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 mem- 
bers of Jesus Christ." A few days later, at three o'clock in 
the morning, the saints and all their ornaments disappeared. 
The council flung the curate into prison, notwithstanding he 
protested his 'innocence of this proceeding. " What I" ex- 
claimed 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 : / was naked, and ye clothed 
me?" 

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-Collard, at the period of the famous debates 
oil the law of sacrilege in France 1824. 

f- Dorurn habend ir miser Herren kein racht zu men, sy zu tbdou. Bull. 
Chron. p. 127. 



DISPUTATION OF OCTOBER. 23] 



CHAPTER III. 

The Disputation of October Zwingle on the Church The Church 
Commencement of Presbyterianism Discussion on the Mass En- 
thusiasts The Language of Discretion Victory A Characteristic of 
the Swiss Reformation Moderation Oswald Myconius at Zurich 
Revival of Literature Thomas Plater of the Valais. 

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 Reformation. In fact, the ma- 
gistrates were embarrassed and agitated ; they felt the ne- 
cessity of having their consciences enlightened, and with this 
view they resolved to appoint another public disputation in 
the German language, in which the question of idols should 
be examined according to Scripture. 

The Bishops of Coire, Constance, and Basle, the university 
of the latter city, and the twelve cantons, were accordingly re- 
quested to send deputies to Zurich. But the bishops declined 
the invitation, and calling to mind the wretched figure their 
deputies had made at the former disputation, they had little 
inclination to repeat such 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 only 
worthy and pious priests, who explained the Gospel as their 
fathers had done ; that they would send no deputy te 
Zwingle " and his fellows ;" but that, if he fell into their 
hands, they would treat him in such a manner as to deprive 



232 ZWINQLE ON THE CHUKCH. 

him of all wish to relapse into the same faults.* Schaff- 
hausen and St. Gall alone sent representatives. 

On the 26th of October, after the sermon, an assembly 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-house. Zwingle and Leo 
Juda were seated at a table, on which lay the Old and New 
Testament in the original languages. Zwingle spoke 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 
provincial 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 parti- 
cular churches, we have them at Berne, at Schaffhausen ; 
and even here. But the popes, with their cardinals and 
their councils, form neither the universal Church nor a par- 
ticular Church.-j- 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 with 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 churches, 
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 ecclesiastically by the Great 
Council.! At first he explained every question from the 
pulpit ; and when his hearers' minds were convinced of the 
truth, he carried the matter before the Great Council, who, 

* So wollten wir Ihm den Lohn geben, dass er's nimmer mehr th'ate. 
Simmler Samml. MS. ix. 

f Der Pabste, Cardinale und Bisohoffe Concilia sind nich die christliche 
Kirche. Fussl. Beytr, iii. 20. 

J Diacosi*n Senatus summa est potestas Ecclesiao rice. Zw. Opp. 
Iii.339. 



CANON HOFFMAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 233 

in harmony with the ministers of the Church, formed such 
decisions as the Church called for.* 

In the absence of the bishop's deputies, Conrad Hoffmann, 
the same aged canon who had procured Zwingle's election 
to Zurich, undertook the defence of the pope. He main- 
tained 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 dis- 
cuss 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 
orders, even should he be a knave!" 

" Wait for a council !" replied Zwingle. " And who will 
attend a council ? The pope with some sluggish and ignor- 
ant bishops who will do nothing but what suits their fancy. 
No ! the Church is not there ! Hong and Kiissnacht (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 Christian 
people, whom Rome had deprived of their privileges. 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 Presbyterian system in the age 
of the Reformation. Zwingle was withdrawing Zurich from 
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Constance, separating it 
from the Latin hierarchy, and founding on this idea of the 
flock, of the Christian assembly, a new ecclesiastical consti- 
tution, to which other countries were afterwards to adhere. 

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 

* Ante omnia multitudinem de qusestione probe docere ita factum est, 
ut quidquid diacosii (the great council of two hundred), cum verbi mi- 
nistris ordinarent, jamdudnra in animis fidelium ordinatum esset. Zw, 
Opp. iii. 339. 



234 SILENCE OF PRIESTS AND MONKS. 

Bible. " If no one stands forward to defend 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 this assembly. The partisans of the Reforma- 
tion were full of energy, liberty, and joy ; their adversaries 
appeared speechless, uneasy, and dejected. They summoned, 
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 preaching in defence of images, the 
virgin, the saints, and the mass ; but all made answer that 
they could say nothing in their favour, and that hencefor- 
ward 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 discuss 
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 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 de- 
eired to uphold by Scripture the doctrine impugned, and no 

Dass einigerley Betrug Otier Falschsyg in dem reinen Blut unJ 
Fleisch Christi. Zw. Opp. i. 498. 



VICTORY. 235 

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 vanquished the 
partisans of the old doctrines, than they had to contend 
against those impatient spirits who call for sudden and vio- 
lent innovations, and not for wise and gradual reforms. 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 Simon Stumpf ex- 
claimed : " The Spirit of God has already decided : why 
refer to the decision of the council?"* 

The commander Schmidt of Kiissnacht arose 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 mountains 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 re-enter 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, " Gra- 
cious 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. 

Thus ended the disputation. The presidents rose; the 
burgomaster thanked them ; and the 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 October 

* Der Geist Gottes urtheilet. Zw. Opp. i. 529. 

t Wie sy Christum in iren Herzen sollind bilden und machen. Ibid. 
634. 
J Dass er sich selbst mit vil andren bewegt zu weinen. Ibid. 537. 



236 CHARACTER OF THE SWISS REFORMATION. 

1523, 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 independence with respect to the 
see of Constance, was then entirely emancipated. Instead 
of resting on the pope through the bishop, it rested hence- 
forward through the people on the Word of God. Zurich 
recovered the privileges that Rome had taken from her. Town 
and country 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 
farther, 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 shown that a Christian people can 
guard this precious deposit better 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 knows 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 souls who ought to be conciliated ; let 
the mass, therefore, for some time longer be read on Sunday 
in all the churches, and let us avoid insulting the priests who 
celebrate it." -f- 

The council drew up an edict to this purport. Hottinger 
and Hochrutiner, one of his friends, were banished from the 
canton for two years, and forbidden to return without per- 
mission. 

The Reformation at Zurich followed a prudent and Chris- 
tian course. Daily raising this city more and more, it sur- 

* In 1839, the celebrated pantheist and unbeliever, Strauss, haying 
been nominated professor of dogmatical theology in the university of 
Zurich, the people of all the canton resisted the appointment, and raised 
a new government into power. 

f Ohne dass jemand sich unterstehe die Messpriester zu beschimpfen. 
Wirtz. HL K. G., v. 208. 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING IK ZURICH. 237 

rounded her with glory in the eyes of all the friends of the Word 
of God. Accordingly those in Switzerland who had saluted 
the new light that was dawning upon the Church felt 
themselves powerfully attracted towards Zurich. Oswald 
Myconius, expelled from Lucerne, had been residing for 
six months at Einsidlen, when, as he was returning one 
day from a journey he had made to Glaris,* 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 Zwingle. Gerold- 
sek 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 Geroldsek himself and of so many other 
friends of the Gospel, 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 nicknamed at 
Paris " the great devil," had neglected his duties ; 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 listened to him with delight. 
Myconius was destined to 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 distinguishing 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 Vie'ge rolls its noisy waters, 
after issuing from the sea of ice and snow which encircles 

* Inesperato nuntio excepit me filius redeuntem ex Glareana. Zw. 
Epp. p. 32-2. 

( Inter spem et mettim. Ibid. 
J Ac deinde omnes simul pereamu^. Ibid. p. 323. 
Juventus ilium lubcns audit. Ibid. p. 264. 



238 THOMAS PLATER. 

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 neighbourhood of these colossal Alps was to pro- 
ceed one of the most original of all the characters that ap- 
peared in the great drama of the sixteenth century. 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 gain- 
ing knowledge; and having taken his place in Oswald'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 congregation. Plater entered very softly, laid hold of an 
image of St. John that stood upon an altar, and thrust it into 
the stove, saying : " Down with you, for in you must go." 
Most assuredly neither Myconius nor Zwingle would have 
sanctioned such a proceeding. 

It was in truth by better arms than these that incredulity 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 Testament in the church of 
Our Lady before an eager and attentive crowd, -j- An- 
other public disputation, held on the 13th and 14th of Jan- 
uary 1524, had again proved fatal to Rome; and in vain 
did the canon Koch exclaim : " Popes, cardinals, bishops, 
councils these arc my church ! " 

Everything was making progress in Zurich ; men's minds 
were becoming more enlightened, their hearts more decided, 
* See his Autobiography. -f .Weise, Fiisslin Beyt. ir. 06. 



DIET OF LUCERNE. 239 

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. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Diet of Lucerne Hottinger arrested His Death Deputation from the 
Diet to Zurich Abolition of religious Processions Abolition of 
Images The Two Reformations Appeal to the People. 

THE adversaries were aware of what might be the conse- 
quences 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 endeavour- 
ing to excite the chief council of the nation in their favour. 
Friburg and the Forest Cantons proved their docile instru- 
ments ; Berne, Basle, Soleure, Glaris, and Appenzel were 
undecided. Schaff hausen was inclining towards the Gospel ; 
but Zurich alone stood forward boldly in its defence. The 
partisans of Rome 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 taverns and over their wine."* Such was the 
ecclesiastical law they were desirous of establishing in the 
confederation. 

Nineteen articles were drawn up to this effect, approved 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 

* Es soil nieman in den Wirtzhuseren,oder sunst hinter dem Wyn von 
Lutherischen, oder newen Sachen uzld reden. Bull. Chr. p. 144. 



240 HOTTINGER ARRESTED. 

strictly observed : " which caused great, joy among the 
priests," says Bullinger, " and great sorrow among believers." 
A persecution, regularly organized by the supreme authority 
of the confederation, was about to begin. 

One of the first who received the mandate of the diet was 
Henry Flackenstein of Lucerne, bailiff of Baden. 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 tavern in Zur/ach, he had said that the priests 
wrongly interpreted Holy Scripture, and that man should 
put his trust in God alone.* The landlord, who was con- 
tinually going in and out to bring bread or wine, listened to 
what appeared to him such very extraordinary language. 
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 ?" " They preach," replied Hottinger, 
" that Christ was sacrificed 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 1523), Hottinger had quitted Swit- 
zerland, 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 Rhine, before he 
was arrested. He was taken to Klingenau, 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 suitable answer." 

In effect, the bailiff conducted him successively before the 
judges of Klingenau, before the superior tribunal of Baden, 
and, since he could find no one who would declare him guilty, 
before the diet sitting at Lucerne. He was firmly resolved 
to seek judges who would condemn his prisoner. 

The diet lost no time, and condemned Hottinger to be 
* Wie wir unscr pitt Hoffuung und Trost allein uf Gott. Bull. Chr. p. 146. 



HOTTINOES'S MARTYRDOM. 241 

beheaded. When informed of his sentence, he gave glory to 
God : " That will do," said James Troger, one of his judges, 
" we do not sit here to listen to sermons. You 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 spectators 
could not refrain from tears. " I am going to eternal happi- 
ness," said he, turning towards them. On reaching the 
place where he was to die, he raised his hands to heaven, 
exclaiming : " Into thy hands, my Redeemer, I commit 
my spirit!" In another minute his head rolled upon the 
scaffold. 

The blood of Ilottinger was hardly cold before the enemies 
of the Reformation seized the opportunity of still further in- 
flaming the anger of the confederates. It was in Zurich 
itself that the mischief should be crushed. The terrible ex- 
ample that had just been given must have filled Zwingle and 
his partisans with terror. Another vigorous effort, and the 
death of Hottinger would be followed by that of the Reform. 

The diet immediately 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 of 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 discontinue their functions. Con- 
federates 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." 

Thus spoke the adversaries : and what would the citizens 

* Zurich selbigen ausreuten und untertrucken helfe. Hott. Helv. K. 
G. iii. 170. 



242 ABOUTION OF PROCESSIONS AND IMAGES. 

of Zurich do ? Would their hearts fail them ? Had their 
courage cooled with the blood of their feMow-citizen ? 

Zurich did not leave her friends or enemies long in sus- 
pense. 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 1351, it had been customary for a 
numerous procession, each member of which bore a cross, to 
go on Whitmonday on a pilgrimage to Einsidlen to worship 
the Virgin. This festival, which had been established in 
commemoration of the battle of Tatwyll, was attended with 
great disorders.* The procession 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 in- 
numerable superstitions, were honourably interred ;-j- and 
then, at the request of the three pastors, the council pub- 
lished a decree, to the effect that honour 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-architect, blacksmiths, carpenters, builders, 
and masons, went into the various churches, and having 
closed the doors,! took down the crosses, defaced the 
frescoes, whitewashed 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 honour and glory of God." Erelong 
the organs were taken down, on account of their connexion 
with many superstitious practices ; and a baptismal service 
was drawn up, from which everything unscriptural was 
excluded.^ 

The burgomaster Roust and his colleague, with their dying 

* Uff eineu Creitzgang, sicben unehelicher kinden iiberkommen war- 
dend. Bull. Chr. p. 160. 
f Und es eerlich bestattet hat. Ibid. 161. 
J H:iben'l die naeh iiien zu besclilos?cn. Ibid. 175.- 
See note, vol. I. p. 145. 



THE TWO REFORMATIONS. 243 

eyes joyfully hailed the triumph of the Reformation. They 
had lived long enough, and they died at the very time of this 
great renovation of public worship. 

The Swiss Reformation here presents itself under an 
aspect somewhat different from that of the German Refor- 
mation. 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 the two reformers viewed the same object. Luther 
desired to maintain in the Church all that was not expressly 
contrary to the Scriptures, and Zwingle to abolish all that 
could not be proved by them. The German reformer wished 
to remain 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, re- 
turned to the apostolic times, and, carrying out an entire 
transformation of the Church, endeavoured to restore it to its 
primitive condition. 

Zwingle's Reformation was therefore the more complete. 
The work that Providence had confided to Luther, the re- 
storation of the doctrine of justification by faith, was doubt- 
less 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 re- 
formers. Christian Catholicism, born in the midst of Jewish 
Pharisaism and Greek paganism, had gradually felt the in- 
fluence of these two religions, which had transformed 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. 

The Jewish element prevailed chiefly in that part of 
the Christian doctrine which relates to man. Catholicism 
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. Paganism had 



244 LUTIIEB AND ZWINGLE. 

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 established 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 clement that he had been com- 
pelled to struggle, when an impudent monk on behalf of the 
->ope 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 Einsidlen, 
when a crowd, gathered together from every side, fell down 
olindly 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 something more : he esta- 
blished 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 Zwingle exalted God. 

These two tasks, which were specially but not exclusively 
theirs, were the complement of each other. Luther laid the 
foundation of the building; Zwingle raised its crowning 
stone. 

It was reserved for a still more capacious genius to impress, 
from the banks of the Leman lake, these two characters con- 
jointly upon the Reformation.* 

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 govern- 
ment felt the necessity of relying on the people. The people, 
moreover, that is to say the assembly of believers, was, ac- 
* Litterarischer Anzeiger, 1840, No. 27. 



OPPOSITION. 245 

cording 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 opinion, and the bailiffs were enjoined to demand 
of all the parishes whether they were ready to suffer everything 
for our Lord Jesus Christ, " who," said the council, " gave 
his life and his blood for us sinners."* The whole canton 
had carefully followed the progress of the Reformation 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 enthusias- 
tically received in every parish. " Let our lords," answered 
they, " remain fearlessly attached to the Word of God : we 
will aid them in upholding it ; f and if any one seeks to mo- 
lest 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 Helvetic cantons for the 
cause of the Gospel addressed themselves to him. J The re- 
sponsibility of public affairs, the care of the churches, the 
anxieties of the glorious conflict that was going on in every 
valley of Switzerland, 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 Ger- 
many; and the doctrine of salvation, so powerfully pro- 
claimed by both, filled the vast tracts that extend from the 
summit of the Alps to the shores of the Baltic and of the 
North Sea. 

* Der sin rosenfarw Bliit alein fur uns anno Sunder vergossen hat. 
Bull. Chron. p. 180. 

f Meine Herrn sollten auch nur dapfer bey dem Gottsworte verbleiben. 
Flisslia Beytr. IT. p. 107, which contains the replies given by all the 
parishes. 

J Scribunt ex Holvetiis ferme omnes qui propter Christum premuutur. 
Zw. Epp. p. 348. 

Negotiorum.strepitus et ecclesiarum curae it me undique quatiunt. 
Ibid. 

VOL. III. 12 



246 HEW opposrnott. 



CHAPTER V. 

New Opposition Abduction of (Exlin The Family of the Wirths The 
Populace at the Convent of Ittingen The Diet of Zug The Wirths 
apprehended and given up to the Diet Their Condemnation. 

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 conse- 
quence 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 formid- 
able 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 Ap- 
penzel, commissioned to acquaint these states with the firm re- 
solve of the diet to crush the new doctrine, and to prosecute 
its adherents to the forfeiture of their goods, their honours, 
and even of their lives. Zurich did 'not hear this warning 
without emotion ; but a firm reply was made, that, in mat- 
ters of faith, the Word of God alone must be obeyed. On 
receiving this answer, Lucerne, Schwytz, Uri, Unterwalden, 
Friburg, and Zug, trembled with rage ; and, unmindful of the 
reputation and strength the accession of Zurich had formerly 
given to the infant confederation, forgetting the precedence 
that had been immediately accorded to her, the simple and 
solemn oaths that had been made to her, and of 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 Germany, the partisans of Rome 
were the first to break the federal unity But threats and 
the rupture of alliances were not enough. The fanaticism of 



A PATRIARCHAL FAMILY. 247 

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 neighbourhood of Stein. 
The bailiff Am-Berg, who had appeared to listen to the 
Gospel with delight,f being desirous of obtaining that baili- 
wick, 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 7th of July 1524, some persons 
knocked at the pastor's door ; they were the bailiffs soldiers, 
who entered the house, seized CExlin, and carried him away 
prisoner, in defiance of his cries. Thinking they meant 
to assassinate him, he cried "Murder;" the inhabitants 
started from their beds in affright, and the village soon be- 
came the scene of a frightful tumult, which was heard as far 
as Stein. The sentinel on guard at the castle of Hohen- 
klingen fired the alarm-gun ; the tocsin was rung, and the 
inhabitants of Stein, Stammheim, and the adjoining places, 
were soon moving, and inquiring of one another in the dark- 
ness what was the matter. 

At Stammheim lived the deputy-bailiff Wirth, whose 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 patri- 
archal 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 virtues throughout the whole 
district. At the noise of the tumult in Burg, the father 
and the two eldest sons went out like their neighbours. 
The father was indignant that the bailiff of Frauenfeld 
should have exercised his authority in a manner contrary to 
the laws of the country. The sons learned with sorrow that 
their brother, their friend, the man whose good example they 
were delighted to follow, had been dragged away like a cri- 
minal. Each of them seized a halberd, and in spite of the 

See Vol. II. p. 312. 

f Der war aiifangs dom Evangelic giinstig. Bull. Chr. p. 180. 



248 THE MOB IN THE CONVENT OP ITTINGEN. 

fears of a tender wife and mother, the father and his two 
sons joined the band of citizens of Stein with the determination 
of rescuing their pastor. Unhappily, a number of those mis- 
creants who make their appearance in every disorder had joined 
the expedition ; they pursued the bailiff's officers ; the latter, 
hearing the tocsin and the shouts of alarm, redoubled their 
speed, dragging their victim after them, and soon placed the 
river Thur between 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 Frauenfeld. 
" Oh!" said the bailiff Wirth, " the pastor of Stein is so 
dear to us, that for his sake I would willingly sacrifice my 
goods, my liberty, and my life."* The populace, finding 
themselves near the Carthusian convent 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 in- 
toxicated, and shameful disorders were the consequence. 
Wirth vainly entreated them to leave the convent ;{ 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.:}: The drunken 
peasants proceeded to ransack the wine-cellars and the store- 
rooms, 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 disturbance, established them- 
selves in the convent, for the sake of its good cheer. On a 
sudden a fire broke out, no one knew how, and the monas- 
tery 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 banners 

* Sunder die Kuttlen im Buch fur Im wagen. Bull. Chr. p. 193. 
t Undbadt r-y um Gottes wiUen uss dem Kloster zu gaud. Ibid. 
p. 183. '$ Dan cs Im leid was. Ibid. p. 195. 



THE DIET AT ZUG. 249 

flying on Stein and Stamraheim," 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 himself any longer, exclaimed 
with frightful imprecations :* " The heretic Zwingle is the 
father of all these insurrections ; and you too, doctor of St. 
Gall, are favourable to his infamous cause, and aid him in 

securing its triumphs You ought no longer to have a 

seat among us." The deputy of Zug endeavoured to re- 
store peace, but in vain. Vadian left the hall, and as the 
populace had designs upon his life, he quitted the town se- 
cretly, and reached the convent of Cappel by a circuitous 
route. 

Zurich, intent on suppressing every disorder, resolved 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 ene- 
mies 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 appearance at his house, he said : " My lords of Zurich 
might have spared themselves all this trouble: if they had only 
sent a child I should have obeyed their summons."-}- The 
three Wirths were taken to Zurich and put in prison. Ku- 
timan, bailiff of Nussbaum, shared their fate. They were 
strictly examined, but nothing 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. 

* Mit Fluchen und Wuten. Bull. Chr. p. 184. 

f Dann hattind sy mir oin Kind geschikt. Ibid. p. 186. 



250 THE WIRTHS SURRENDERED TO THE DIET. 

" To Zurich belongs the right of ascertaining whether these 
men are guilty or not," said the deputies of that state ; " and 
we have found no fault in them." On this the deputies of 
the cantons exclaimed : " Will you surrender them to us ? 
Answer yes or no, and not a word more." Two deputies of 
Zurich mounted their horses, and rode off with all haste to 
their 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 divided : 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. examine them solely with regard to the affair of Ittingen, 
and not on their faith." The diet acceded to this proposition, 
and on the Friday before St. Bartholomew's day (18th August 
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 prospect of 
the fate which awaited the two youths and their aged com- 
panions. Sobbing alone was heard as they passed along. 
" Alas!" exclaims a contemporary, " what a mournful pro- 
cession!"* The churches were all filled. " God will punish 
us !" cried Zwingle. " Let us at least pray him to impart his 
grace to these poor prisoners, and to strengthen them in the 
faith."f 

On Friday evening the accused arrived at Baden, where 
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 walked 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 

* O weh ! was eleuder Fahrt war das ! Bern. Weyss. Fussl. Beyt, iv. 
p. 56. 
t Sy troste und in warem glouben starckte. Bull. Chr. p. 188. 



EXAMINATION AND TOKTURE. . 251 

to men" (1 Cor. iv. 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 ; hut. he per- 
sisted in declaring his innocence of the pillage and burning 
of Ittingen. He was then accused of having destroyed an 
image representing St. Anne. Nothing could be substantiated 
against the other prisoners, 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. From morning until noon 
they inflicted the crudest 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 
iiis anguish, " whence did you learn this heretical faith ? From 
Zwingle or from any other person?" And when he exclaimed, 
" 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 deputy, said 
to him : " Young man, tell us the truth ; for if you refuse to 
do so, I swear by the knighthood that I gained on the very 
spot where the Lord suffered martyrdom, 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 present ;"-} alluding to the marriage of this youthful 
servant of the Lord. 

When the examination was ended, the deputies returned 
i 

* On Kerzen, Schellen und anders so bisshar geiipt 1st. Bull. Chr. 
p. 196. 

t Alls man inn am folter seyl uffzog, sagt der zum Stein : Herrli, das 
ist die Gaab die wir iich zu iiwer Hussfrowen schanckend. Ibid. p. 190, 



252 N . CONDEMNATION. 

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, carrying 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 Frauenfeld : " Landamman T 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 an hospital ;* 
and so, if he had committed robbery or murder, I would have 
made every exertion to obtain his pardon. But seeing that 
he has burnt Saint Anne, Christ's grandmother, he must 
die!" " The Lord have mercy upon us," exclaimed Escher. 

The gates were now shut : it was the 28th September, and 
the deputies of Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwytz, Unterwalden, 
Zug, Glaris, Friburg, and Soleure, having proceeded to deli- 
berate 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. 

The officers proceeded to the tower to fetch the prisoners. 
" My son," said the father to Adrian, " never avenge our 
death, although we have not deserved punishment." Adrian 
burst into tears. " Brother," said John, " the cross of Christ 
must always follow his Word."f 

After the sentence was read, the three Christians were led 
back to prison; John Wirth walking first, the two vice- 
bailiffs next, and a priest behind them. As they were cross- 
ing 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. 

* Sin HUBS ist alwey gsin wie cin Klostor, \Virtshuss und Pitall. Bull 
Chr. p. 198. 
t Doch allwag das Criitz darbey. Ibid. 



EXECUTION. 253 

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 
faithful even to the end." Upon this they all three began ta 
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 anxiety for his 
parent, bade him farewell. " My dearly beloved 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.* To-day, if it 
be God's pleasure, my beloved brother, we shall go to Him 
who is the Father of us all. Fear nothing." "Amen!" re- 
plied 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.-}- The bailiff Ruti- 
man prayed in silence. 

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. Han- 
nah was obliged to pay twelve golden crowns to the execu- 
tioner who had deprived her husband and her son of life. 

Thus blood, innocent blood, had been shed. Switzerland 
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 Reforma- 
tion. 

* Furohin bist du nitt me min Vatter und ich din San, sondern wir sind 
Briidern in Christo. Bull. Chr. p. 204. 
t Des gnadens wey ueten Til Lutheii herzlich. Ibid. 



12* 



254 ABOLITION OF THE MASS. 



CHAPTER VI. , s : 

Abolition of the Mass Zwingle's Dream Celebration of the Lord's Sup- 
per Fraternal Charity Original Sin The Oligarchs opposed to the 
Reform Various Attacks. 

IT was not thought desirable to proceed to the abolition of 
the mass in Zurich immediately after the suppression 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 unalterable fide- 
lity. 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 Hottin- 
ger was executed, Zurich suppressed images ; 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 in- 
crease in strength. 

On the llth of April 1525, the three pastors of Zurich, 
accompanied by Megander and Oswald Myconius, appeared 
before the Great Council, and demanded the re-establish- 
ment of the Lord's Supper. Their language was solemn ;* 
all minds were absorbed in meditation ; every man felt the im- 
portance of the resolution which the council was called upon 
to take. The mass, that mystery which for more than three 
centuries had been the 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 

* Und vermantend die ernstlich. Bull. Cliron. p. 263. 



ZWINGLE'S DREAM. 255 

Am-Grutt, under-secretary of state, alarmed at the bold de- 
mand of the pastors, opposed it with all his might. "These 
words, This is my body" said he, " unquestionably prove 
that the bread is the body of Christ himself." Zwingle 
observed that ieri (is) is the proper word in the Greek 
language to express signifies, and he quoted several in- 
stances in which this word is employed in a figurative 
sense. The Great Council were convinced and did not hesi- 
tate ; the Gospel doctrines had penetrated their hearts ; 
besides, as they were separating from the Church of Rome, 
there was a certain satisfaction in making that separation 
as complete as possible, and in digging a gulf between it 
and the Reformation. The council, therefore, ordered the 
thass to be suppressed, and decreed that on the next day, 
Holy Thursday, the Lord's Supper should be celebrated in 
conformity with the apostolical 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-Grutt, and that he 
could not reply to his principal objection. Suddenly a 
figure stood before him and said : " Why do you not quote 
the llth verse of the 12th chapter 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 transla- 
> tion, and there found the same word ioW (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 Zwingle 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 
doubt. 

This circumstance, which admits of so simple an explana- 
tion, and the very expression Zwingle employs to show that 
he could not recall the appearance of the figure he had seen 



256 CELEBRATION OF THE LOKI/8 SUPPER. 

in his dream,* have given rise to the assertion that Zwingle 
received this doctrine from the devil. 

The altars had disappeared; plain tables bearing the 
gacramental bread and wine were substituted in their place, 
and an attentive crowd pressed round them. There was 
something particularly solemn in this multitude. On Holy 
Thursday, the young people, on Friday, the day of the Pas- 
sion, the adult men and women, and on Easter Sunday, the 
aged, celebrated in turn the death of the Lord.-{- 

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 platters or wooden plates, and 
each one broke off 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 simple 
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 revived in Christendom. 
Enemies were seen renouncing their long-cherished and in- 
veterate enmities, and embracing one another after having 
partaken of the sacramental bread. Zwingle, delighted at 
these affecting manifestations, returned thanks to God that 
the Lord's Supper was again working those miracles of 
charity which the sacrifice of the mass had long ceased to 
accomplish. 

* Ater fuerit an albus nihil niemiai (I do not remember whether he 
was white or black) ; somninni enini narro. 

f Fuaslin BeytrJgc, iv. (i4. 

t Mit grossen verwundern viler Ltitheii und noch mit Til grossern frour 
den der Gloubigen. Bull. Chrou. p. 264. 

8 Expositio fidei. Zw. Opp. ii. 241. 



BROTHERLY LOVE ORIGINAL SIN. 257 

" 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 Lord, and that 
the doctrine we preach inclines us to innocence and peace?"* 

Charity and unity then prevailed, although there was no 
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 distinguished scholastic divines. In this 
way he had given the name of disease to our original cor- 
ruption, and reserved 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 call- 
ing original sin a disease, added, that all men were lost by 
this disease, and that Jesus Christ was the only remedy. 
In this position there is no error of Pelagianism. 

But while the celebration of the Lord's Supper at Zurich 
was attended by a return to Christian brotherhood, Zwingle 
and his friends had to support a severer struggle against 
their adversaries from without. Zwingle was not only a 
Christian teacher, he was also a true patriot ; and'we know 
how zealously he contended against the foreign capitula- 
tions, pensions, and alliances. He felt convinced that these 
external influences must tend to destroy piety, blind the 
reason, and scatter discord on every side. But his bold pro- 
tests were destined to prejudice the advancement of the 
Reformation. In almost every canton, the chiefs who re- 
ceived the pensions of the foreigner, and the officers who 
led the youth of Helvetia to battle, formed powerful factions, 

* Ut tranquillitatis et innocentise atudiosos reddat. Zw. Epp. p. 390. 

f< De rera et falsa religions commentarius. Zw. Opp. iii. 145-325. 

$ Peccatum ergo morbus est cognatus nobis, quo fugimus aspera et 
gravia, sectamur jucunda et roluptuosa : secundo loco accipitur peccatum 
pro eo quod contra Icgcm fit. Ibid. 204. 

Original! morbo perdimur omnes ; remcdio vero quod contra ipsum 
mrenit Dens, incolumitati restituimur. De pccc. orig. declaratio ad 
Urbanum lihegium. Ibid. i. 632. 



258 VARIOUS ATTACKS. 

formidable oligarchies, that attacked the Reformation, not so 
much on behalf of the Church as on account of the injury it 
would inflict on their interests and honours. 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 foot- 
steps of Zurich, had suddenly reverted to the mercenary 
capitulations, and shut its gates against the Reformation. 

Even in Zurich, some wretches, instigated by foreign 
intrigues, attacked Zwingle during the night, flung stones at 
his, house, broke the windows, and called with loud cries for 
u the red haired Uli, the vulture of Glaris ;" 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 move- 
ment 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 future in the 
diet : " Well, then," replied these men of Zurich with calm- 
ness, and raising their hands towards heaven, as the heroes 
of Rutli in old time, " we have the firm assurance that God, 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in whose name the con- 
federation was formed, will not desert us, and will at last, of 
his great mercy, make us sit at the right hand of his 
sovereign majesty."f Possessing such faith the Reforma- 
tion had nothing to fear. But would it gain similar victo- 
ries 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 
in the most influential state of the confederation. 

* Interea surgere Zwinglius ad ensem suum. Zw. Opp. iii. 411. Uli 
is an abridgment of Ulrich. Zwingle had been priest at Glaris. 
+ Bey Ihm zuletzt eitzen. Kirchhofer Ref. v. Bern. p. 55. 



BERNE THE WATTEVJLLES. 259 



, 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. 

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 Watte- 
ville, who since 1512 had occupied the first station in the 
republic, had early read the writings of Luther and Zwingle, 
and had often conversed about the Gospel with John Haller, 
pastor of Anseltingen, 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 Halter used to call him " our bishop."* 

The prelates and the pope spared no endeavours to bind 
him to the interests of Rome ;} 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 darkness to the mild 
light of the Gospel, says Zwingle.:}: As a friend of Berthold 
Haller, he read all the letters which the latter received from 

* Episcopus noster Vadivillius. Zw. Epp. p. 285. 

t Tantum favoris et amicitias quse tibi cum tanto summorum pontifi- 
cum et potentissimorum episcoporum ccctu hactenus intercessit. Zw. 
Opp. i. anc. ed. lat. 305. 

Ex obscuris ignorantite tenebris in amoenam Evangelit lucem pro* 
ductum. Ibid. 



260 THE ADVERSE PARTY AT BERNE. 

Zwingle, and could not find language to express his ad- 
miration.* 

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. 

Amongst its leaders were the schulthess of Erlach, the 
banneret Willading, and many patricians whose interests 
were identical with those of the convents under their ad- 
ministration. Behind these influential men were an ignorant 
and corrupted clergy, who called the evangelical jdoctrine 
" an invention of hell." " My dear confederates," said the 
councillor Mullinen before a full assembly in the month of 
July, " take care that this Keformation 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, 

7 

one John Hein, who went into the pulpit and declaimed 
against the Reformation with the eloquence of a Saint 
Thomas.-j- 

Thus were the two parties drawn up in battle-array 
against each other; a struggle seemed inevitable, and al- 
ready the result did not appear doubtful. In fact, one 
common faith united a part of the people to the most dis- 
tinguished families of the state. Berthold Haller exclaimed, 
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 Bernese are hungering 
after it!" } 

Shortly after this two acts of the government appeared 
to incline the balance to the side of the Reformation. The 
Bishop of Lausanne having announced an episcopal visita- 
tion, the council intimated to him through the provost Wat- 
teville, that he had better refrain from so doing. And at 

* Epistolas tuce et eruditionis et humanitatis testes locupletissimas. 
Zw. Epp. p. 287. 

t Suo Thomistico Marte omnia invertere. Ibid. 

I Famom rerbi Bernates habent. Ibid. 295. 

Ut nee oppidum, nee pagos Bernatum visitare prsetendat omnino. 
Ibid. 



FIRST SUCCESSES OP THE REFORM. 261 

the same time the councils of Berne issued an ordinance which, 
whilst in appearance it conceded 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 preachers boldly 
appealing to this ordinance. This decree, which was the 
basis of all those that succeeded, was the legal commence- 
ment of the Reformation in Berne. From that time the 
progress of this canton was more decided, and Zwingle, whose 
attentive eyes watched everything 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 ; J 
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 pro- 
ject of getting rid of these ministers whose bold discourses 
were overthrowing the most time-honoured customs ; and it 
was not long before a favourable 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 (29th 
September) was a great festival at the monastery. Many 
of the clergy were present this year, and among others Wit- 
tenbach of Bienne, Sebastian Meyer, and Berthold Haller. 
Having entered into conversation with the nuns, among 
whom was Clara, daughter of Claudius May, a > supporter 

* Alein das heilig Evangelium uud die lehr Gottes frey, offentlich und 
nnverborgen. Bull. Chr. p. 111. 

f Alle Christen sich allpnthalben fruuweiid des glaubens. Zw. Opjw 
L426. 

t Christi negotium agitur. Zw. Epp. 9th May 1523. 



262 HALLER AT THE CONVENT ACCUSED AND ACQUITTED. 

of the Reformation, Haller said to her, in the presence of 
her grandmother : " The merits of the conventual life are 
imaginary, whilst marriage is an honourable state, instituted 
by God himself." Some of the nuns to whom Clara repeated 
Berthold's words were horrified at them. " Haller main- 
tains," was the rumour 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 reformers : 
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 
Wittembach, men whom all Switzerland venerated, than 
an energetic opposition was manifested by the Great Council 
against the Smaller Council and the clergy. " We cannot 
condemn the accused unheard," exclaimed Tillmann ; " 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 discharged, 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 Refor- 
mation. 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 places 
where they expected it the least. At Kb'nigsfeldt, on the 
Aar, near the castle of Hapsburg, stood a monastery adorned 

* Es ist nun gethan. Der Lutherische Handel muss vorgehen. Ana- 
helm, Wirtz. K. G. v. 2&0. 



CONVENT OF KONIGSFELDT. 263 

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 1st of May 1308, the Emperor 
Albert had fallen by the hand of his nephew John of Swabia ; 
and the beautiful painted windows of the church of Konigs- 
feldt represented the horrible punishments that had been 
inflicted on the relations and vassals of the murderer. 
Catherine 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 reading the Scriptures 
and compounding salutary ingredients to form an excellent 
electuary. Retiring to her cell, 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 calumniated even in our own days. 

" May grace and peace in the Lord Jesus be given and 
multiplied towards you always by God our heavenly 
Father," wrote the nun of Konigsfeldt to Zwingle. " Most 
learned, reverend, and dear Sir, I entreat you to take in 
good part the letter I now address to you. The 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 



264 MARGARET WATTEVILLE TO ZWINGLB. 

through your preaching of the Word of God. For this 
reason I give praise to the everlasting 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, arm- 
ing 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 Christian 
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 anything that was agreeable to you ; 
and it is not I only who think thus, but all those who love 
the Gospel in our convent of Konigsfeldt. They salute your 
reverence in Jesus Christ, and we all commend you without 
ceasing to His almighty protection.* 
" Saturday before Lcetare, 1523." 

Such was the pious letter that the nun of Konigsfeldt 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 mo- 
nastic 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 endeavoured at first to bring 
these nuns to reason, and the provincial and abbess em- 
ployed threats and promises by turns ; but the sisters Mar- 
garet, 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 increased. " 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 1" Our prisoners ! our prisoners !" ex- 
claimed the banneret Krauchthaler, " they shall be no pris- 

* Cujus prscsidio auiilioque prsesentissimo, nos restrain dignitatem 
assidue commendamus. Zw. Epp. p. 280. 



THE TWO CHAMPIONS. 265 

oners of mine!" This language from one of the firmest 
supporters of the convents decided the council ; the convent 
gates were opened, and shortly after, Catherine Bonstetten 
was married to William of Diesbach. 

And yet Berne, far from siding openly with the reformers, 
held a middle course, and endeavoured to pursue a see-saw 
system. An opportunity soon occurred for showing this 
vacillating procedure. Sebastian Meyer, reader of the Fran- 
ciscans, published a retractation of his Romish errors, which 
created a great sensation, and in which, describing a con- 
ventual life, he said : " In the convents the monks Uve more 
impurely, fall more frequently, recover themselves more 
tardily, walk more unsteadily, rest more dangerously, are 
pitied more rarely, are cleansed more slowly, die more de- 
spairingly, 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 
pulpit : " No ! Christ has not, as the evangelists teach, made 
satisfaction to his Father once for all. It is further neces- 
sary 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 immediately 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 morrow, 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 
Bernese, playing on the word Luther, which in old German 
signifies clear. \ 

* Langsamer gereiniget, verzweifelter stirbt, barter verdammot. 
Kirchhofer, Reform, v. Bern. p. 48. 

t Dass sie weder luther noch triib seyen. Ibid. p. 50. 

J Romish writers, and M. de Haller in particular, following Salat and 
Tschudi, both enemies of the Reformation, quote a pretended letter of 
Zwingle's, addressed about this time to Kolb at Berne. It is as fol- 
lows : 

" Health and blessing from God our Lord. Dear Francis, proceed 
gently in the affair ; at first throw the bear only one sour pear among 



266 CLAKA 1CAY. 

But in vain did they seek to stifle the Reformation 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 learned Henry Bui- 
linger. " St. 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 Timothy v. 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 

many sweet ones ; then two, and afterwards three ; and when he has begun 
to eat them, throw him more and more sour and sweet 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. Zurich, Monday before St. George's 
day, 1525. 

" Your servant in Christ, ULRICH ZWINGLE." 

There are decisive reasons against the authenticity of this letter. I. 
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 arbi- 
trarily substitutes 1527 for 1525 : this correction was no doubt very 
well meant ; but here, unfortunately, Haller is at variance 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 unanimous as to the year, which 
with both is clearly 1525. II. There is a difference as to the manner in 
which this letter was divulged ; according to one version, it was inter- 
cepted ; according to another, some of Kolb's parishioners communicated 
it to an inhabitant of the smaller cantons who chanced to be at Berne. 
III. The original is in German ; but Zwingle always wrote in Latin to his 
learned friends ; and besides, he saluted them as their brother, and not as 
their servant. IV. If we read Zwingle's letters, we shall see that it is 
impossible 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 call the paltry jest 
preserved by Salat a letter, is mere mockery. V. As an historian Salat 
deserves little confidence, and Tschudi 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 Bernese of Zwinglo's letter to 
Haller, which we have mentioned in our second volume (p. 359), 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 ad- 
dressed by Zwingle to Kolb. 

* Euerem Herrn Jesu nachfolget in Demuth. Kirchh. Ref. T. B. 60. 



BASLE. 267 

Word of God, invented by men, and fraught with tempta- 
tion and sin. Her father Bartholomew, who had spent fifty 
years on the battle-field or in the council-chamber, heard 
of his daughter's resolution with delight. Clara left the 
convent. 

The provost Nicholas Watteville, whose whole interest 
bound him to the Roman hierarchy, and who was to be 
raised to the first vacant bishopric in Switzerland, also re- 
nounced his titles, his revenues, and his expectations, that 
he might preserve an unspotted conscience ; and snapping 
all the bonds by which the popes had endeavoured to en- 
tangle 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.* 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Basle (Ecolampadius He visits Augsburg Enters a Convent Re- 
tires to Sickingen's Castle Returns to Basle Ulrich Hiitten His 
Plans Last Effort of Chivalry Hiitten dies at Ufnau. 

THUS everything announced the triumphs that the Refor- 
mation would soon obtain at Berne. Basle, a city of no less 
importance, and which was then the Athens of Switzer- 
land, was also arming herself for the great combat that has 
distinguished the sixteenth century. 

Each of the cities of the confederation had its peculiar 
character. Berne 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, Myconius, and Schmidt, 
carried with them a powerful class of citizens. Lucerne was 
the city of arms and military capitulations ; Basle, of learn- 

* Zw. Epp. annotatio, p. 451. The Tscharners of Berne are descended 
from this marriage. 



268 (ECOLAMPADIUS. 

ing and the printing-press. Here Erasmus, the head of the 
literary republic in the sixteenth century, had taken up his 
abode and preferring the liberty he enjoyed in this capital to 
the flattering invitations of popes and kings, he had become 
the centre of a numerous concourse of men of letters. 

But an humble, meek, and pious man, though in genius 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 Utenheim, bishop of Basle, 
in concert with Erasmus, was endeavouring to surround him- 
self with men fitted to accomplish a kind of half-way Refor- 
mation. With this view he had invited Capito and CEcolarn- 
padius to his court. In the latter person there was a taint 
of monasticism that often annoyed the illustrious philosopher. 
But (Ecolampadius soon became enthusiastically attached 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, his native place, 
where he was soon disgusted with the disorders and profane 
jests of the priests. He has left us a noble monument of the 
serious spirit which 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 agitated 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 ; (Ecolampadius did not hesitate, 
and declared in favour 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 prejudicial to his success in the world, he 
looked around him, and fixed his eyes on a convent of 
monks of Saint Bridget, near Augsburg, celebrated for their 
piety and their profound 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 
according to the Word of God ?" The latter having replied 
* Heraog, Studien und Kritiken, 1840, p. 334. 



CEOOLAMPADIUS IN THE CONVENT. 269 

in the affirmative, (Ecolampadius 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 Romau-catholicism. But here he 
found no repose ; his friends blamed the step ; and he him- 
self openly declared that Luther was nearer the truth than 
his adversaries. Accordingly, Eck and the other Romish 
doctors pursued him with their menaces, 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 order in conformity with the Word 
of God. " Do not, I beseech you," said he to his brethren, 
" set a higher value upon your statutes than on the ordi- 
nances 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 contrary to His Word." (Ecolampadius applied him- 
self to the task, but was almost wearied by the labour. " 
Almighty God!" exclaimed he, "what abominations has 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, "apos- 
tate I 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 CEcolampadius 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 
vot. m. 13 



CECOLAMPADIUS AT EBEKNBUEG AXD BASLE. 

had brought trouble into their convent. "Farewell," said 
he, and was free. He had remained nearly two years in 
the cloister of Saint Bridget. 

OEcolampadius 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 con- 
vent 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 offered him an asylum, which he accepted. 

His mind, oppressed by monastic servitude, took a new 
flight in the midst of the noble warriors of Ebernburg. 
" 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 Gospels 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 Rhine, 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 than these 
armed men. The bookseller Cratander invited him to Basle ; 
Sickingen allowed him to depart, and (Ecolampadius, de- 
lighted 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 Saint Martin's 
church, and it was this call to an humble and obscure em- 
ployment* that possibly decided the Reformation of Basle. 
An immense crowd filled the church whenever CEcolampa- 
dius went into the pulpit.-j- 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." :f 

* Meis sumtibus non sine contemptu et invidia. (Ecol. ad Pirckh. de 
Eucharistia. 

*h Das er kein Predigt thate, er hatte ein machtig Volk darinn, says hia 
contemporary Peter Ryf. Wirtz. v. 350. 

I CEcolampadius apud nos triumphat, Eras, ad Zwing. Zw. Epp p. 312. 



SUCCESS AND ALARM HUTTEN. 271 



In effect, this mild yet firm man (says Zwingle) spread 
around him the sweet savour of Christ, and all those who 
crowded about him grew in truth.* Often, indeed, a rumour 
was circulated that he would be forced to leave -Basle and 
recommence his perilous pilgrimage. His friends, Zwingle 
in particular, were alarmed ; but erelong the tidings of fresh 
victories gained by (Ecolampadius 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 re- 
former was not without anxiety. Erasmus was at Basle, 

and Erasmus was the friend of (Ecolanipadius 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."f 

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, Italy, and England. 
But he did not like men to come and trouble him there ; and 
if he looked upon CEcolampadius with suspicion, another 
man inspired him with still greater apprehension. Ulrich 
Hiitten had followed (Ecolampadius to Basle. For a long 
while he had been attacking the pope, as one knight engages 
with another. " 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 German ; 
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 bishops to 
regulate the interests of the Church. A Christian constitu- 
tion, 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 

* Illi magis ac magis in omni bono augescunt. Eras, ad Zwing. Zvr, 
Epp. p. 312. 

f Et in terrain proniissioms dnccre non potcst. L. Epp. ii. 353. 



272 LAST EFFORT OF CHIVALRY. 

seen <he failure Of his hopes in this quarter, had turned 
tovr^ds Sickingen, and sought from knighthood what the 
empire had refused him. 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.* The taking of Land- 
stein had proved the final defeat of chivalry, the decisive 
victory of artillery over shields and lances, the triumph of 
modern times over the middle ages. Thus the last exploit 
of the knights was destined to be in favour of the Reforma- 
tion ; the first effort of these new arms and system of warfare 
was to be against it. The mailed warriors that fell beneath 
the unlocked 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 dying heroes, pro- 
claimed 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 
Hiitten's hopes. Standing beside the corpse of Sickingen, 
he bade farewell to those brighter days which his imagina- 
tion 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 Switzerland. These two men 
had long been friends; but the unpolished and turbulent 
knight, braving the opinions 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 everything for its sake, and fearing 
nothing in the world so much as a dispute. On arriving at 
Basle, Hiitten, poor, sick, and a fugitive, immediately in- 
quired for his old friend. But Erasmus trembled at the 
thought of receiving at his table a person under the ban of 
* Vol. I. P . 13, 



DEATH OF HUTTEN. 273 

the pope and the emperor, who would sjwwe no one, who 
would borrow money of him, and would no doubt be drag- 
ging after him a crowd of those " Gospellers" whom Erasmus 
dreaded more and more.* He refused to see him, and 
shortly after, the magistrates of Basle desired Hiitten to 
leave the city. Wounded to the quick, and exasperated 
against his 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 sword with both hands, and 
aimed a crushing blow at his antagonist ; the scholar, 
adroitly stepping aside, pecked 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 Zwingle. But intrigues again compelled him to 
leave that city ; and after passing some time at the baths ot 
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 enter- 
tained the sick and fugitive knight with the most touching 
charity. It was in this peaceful and obscure retreat that 
Ulrich Hiitten, one of the most remarkable men of the six- 
teenth century, died obscurely about the end of August 1523, 
after a most agitated life, expelled by one party, persecuted 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.J 
Thus was broken the arm of iron that had presumed to sup- 
port the ark of God . 

* " Ille egens et omnibus rebus destitutus quoerebat nidum aliquem ubi 
moveretur. Erat mihi gloriosus ille miles cum sua scabie in aides 
recipiendus, simulque recipiendus ille chorus titulo Eoangelicorum," 
writes Erasmus to Melancthon, in a letter in which he endeavours to 
excuse himself. Er. Epp. p. 949. 

+ Expostulatio Hutteni. Erasmi Sporsgia. 

J Libros nullos habuit, supellcctilcin nullam, praetor calamum. Zw. 
Epp. p. 313. 



27-1 ERASMUS AND LUTHER. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Erasmus and Luther Vacillations of Erasmus Luther to Erasmuc 
Erasmus's Treatise against Luther on Free Will Three Opinions- 
Effect upon Luther Luther on Free Will 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 endeavouring to obtain concessions 
from the hierarchy that would unite the extreme parties. 
The vacillations and inconsistency of Erasmus disgusted 
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 Erasmus with 
absolute decision. " We Christians," said he, " ought to be 
sure of our doctrine, and able to say yes or no without hesi- 
tation. To presume to hinder us from affirming our belief 
with full conviction, is depriving us of faith itself. The Holy 
Ghost is no sceptic ;-f- and He has written in our hearts a 
firm and strong assurance, 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 revolu- 
tion in the Church will never proceed from philosophical 
views and mere human opinions. To fertilize the earth after 
a long drought, the lightning must cleave the cloud and the 
windows of heaven must be opened. Criticism, philosophy, 

* Auf Eyern gehen und keineszutreten. L. Opp. xix. 11. 
t Der heiligo Geist ist kcin Sccpticus. Ibid. 8. 



WITTICISM OF ERASMUS. 275 

and even history may prepare the way for the true faith, 
but canuot supply its place. In vain would you clear 
the water-courses and repair the dikes, so long as the rain 
does not come down from heaven. All human learrJng 
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 Erasmus unite with 
them against Rome. Many sayings which his caustic humour 
let fall were quoted, as showing his disagreement with the 
most zealous defenders of Romanism. One day, for instance, 
when he was in England, 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." Erasmus made no reply. Shortly after, when 
leaving England, More lent him a horse to carry him to 
the seaside ; but Erasmus took it with him to the Con- 
tinent. 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 Erasmus 
had thus become known. It was said at Paris that Luther 
had only opened the door, after Erasmus had picked the 
lock.f 

The position taken by Erasmus was by no means easy : 
" I shall not be unfaithful to the cause of Christ," wrote he 
to Zwingle, " at least so far as the age will permit me."| 
In proportion as he beheld Rome rising up against the friends 

* Quod mihi dixisti nuper de corpore Christ! : 

Crede quod habes, et habes ; 
Hoc tibi rescribo tantum de tuo caballo: 
Crede quod habes, et habes. 

Paravicini Singularia, p. 71. 

f Histoire Cathol. de notre temps, par S. Fontaine, de 1'ordre de t 
Francois, Pans, 1562. 
Quantum hoc so<nlum p*utur. Zw. Epp. p. 221. 



276 LUTHER TO ERASMUS. 

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.* " No work," Avrote 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 Erasmus already imagined he felt the quick and vigor- 
ous blows of the Wittemberg champion. " It is very easy to 
say, Write against Luther," replied he to a Romish theo- 
logian ; " but it is a matter full of peril."J 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's learning with the indignation he felt at his timi- 
dity. 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 necessary to walk with us against 
the papists. We put up with your weakness. If learning 
flourishes : 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 
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 

* A pontifice, a Csesare, a regibus, et principibus, a doctissimia etiara 
ot carissimis amicis hue provocor. Erasm. Zw. Epp. p. 308. 

f Nulla, te et ingenio, eruditione, eloquentiaque tua dignior esse potoet 
Adrianus Papa, Epp. Er. p. 1202. 

i Res est periculi plena. Er. Epp. p. 738. 



ERASMUS DETERMINES TO ATTACK LUTHER. 277 

the other hand, my dear Erasmus, refrain from scattering over 
us with such profusion that pungent salt which you know so 
well how to conceal under the flowers of rhetoric ; for it is 
more dangerous 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 reformer 
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 Gospel 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 VIII. 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, suf- 
fered 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 justify- 
ing 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 seat, and the little monk of Wittemberg had de- 
throned the mighty philosopher of Rotterdam. He must 
then, by some bold step, recover the position he had lost. 
All Christendom that adhered to the old worship implored 
him to do so. A capacious genius and the greatest repu- 
tation of the age were wanted to oppose the Reformation. 
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. The 

* Spectator tantum sis tragoedise nostrse. L. Epp. ii. 501. 
t Quidam stolidi scribcntes pro te. Unschuldige Nachricht, p. 645. 
13* 



278 LUTHER'S SENTIMENTS. 

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 Ro- 
manism in what it has added to Christianity, 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 free will, 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 acknowledge," 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 farther than a certain outward 
rectitude, altogether insufficient in the eyes of the Deity. 
He had at the same time recognised that it was God wh*o 
gives true righteousness, 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 ideainhis theo- 
logy, 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 himself. God or man, 
good or evil, these are certainly no paltry questions ; and 
if " trivialities" exist, they must be looked for elsewhere. 

* On this subject, M. Nisard says (Erasme, Revue des deux mondes,iii. 
411), " We are grieved for our kind, when we see men capable of grap- 
pling with eternal truths, fencing all their lives against trivialities, like 
gladiators fighting against flies." 

t L.0pp. xix. 146. 



ERASMUS ON FREE WILL. 279 

It was in the autumn of 1524 that Erasmus published his 
famous treatise entitled Dissertation on the Freedom 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 free will 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 gladiator, instead of the lyre ! 
I am aware," wrote he to the Bishop of Rochester, " that in 
writing upon free will, I have gone beyond my sphere...... 

You congratulate me upon my triumphs ! Ah ! I know not 
that I triumph. The faction (i. e. the Reformation) is spread- 
ing daily. -J- Was it then fated, that at my time of life I 
should be transformed from a friend of the Muses into a 
wretched gladiator!" 

It was no doubt an important matter for the timid Eras- 
mus to have risen up against Luther; he was, however, 
far from showing any very great boldness. In his 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 everything, and God nothing. Not daring openly 
to express his thoughts, he affirms one thing and proves an- 
other ; 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, 
*i that man can neither will, nor commence, and still less 

* Jacta cst alea audax, mini crede, facinus expecto lapidatio- 

nem. Er. Epp. p. 811. 

+ Quomodo triumphans nescio Factio crescit in dies latius. Ibid 

809. 



V 



280 THKEE OPINIOHS EFFECT ON LUTHER. 

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 free will either in angelg, or in Adam, or 
in us, either before or after grace, but that God works in 
man both good and evil, and that everything 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 Scriptqre 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."*!- But when he received 
Erasmus's 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 silver and 
gold.J 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 scholastic 
divines began to utter shouts of victory : " Well, where is 
your Luther now ? Where is the great Maccabeus ? 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 



* De libero arbitrio Diatribe. Eras. Opp. ix. 1215, sqq. 

t Victoria est penes balbutientem reritatem, non apud mendaeem elo- 
quentiarn. I,. Epp. ii. 200. 

J Als wenn einer in silbern oder guldern Schusseln wolte Mist und 
Unflath auftragen. L. Opp. xis. 4. 



LUTHER'S REPLY. 281 

remain in the back-ground ; he has found out how to hold 
his tongue." * 

Luther saw that he must write an answer; but it waa 
not until the end of the year 1525 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 otherwise ? 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." -J- We shall see that Erasmus was soon re- 
lieved of this apprehension. 

The doctrine of God's election as the sole cause of 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 particularly in a speculative 
point of view, and endeavoured to establish by such argu- 
ments as appeared to him most conclusive, that God works 
everything in man's conversion, and that our hearts are 
so alienated from the love of God that they cannot have a 
sincere desire for righteousness, 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 themselves 
lords of sundry kingdoms, principalities, and distant islands 
(of Rhodes, Cyprus, and Jerusalem, &c.), while they have 
not the least power over them." Here, 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 relation to that which is above 
him, that is to say, to God ; but with respect to that which 

" Sehet, sehet nun da zu ! wo ist nun Luther. L. Opp. xix. 3. 
f I lie si hie multum sui dissimilis fuerit, clamabunt sycophantae col- 
ludere nos. Erasm. Epp. p. 819. 






282 POWER OF MAN AND OF GOD. 

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 free 
will (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 without 
even asking him to be ready to give up his body, his life, 
his wealth, his honour, and all things I acknowledge you 
have gained your cause." J 

Luther's glance was too penetrating not to discover the 
contradictions into which his opponent had fallen. And 
accordingly, in his reply he endeavours to fasten the philo- 
sopher in the net in which he had entangled himself. " 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 his blood to acquire for us 
a power that we already possessed by nature." In truth, 
the passages cited by Erasmus must be taken in quite a dif- 
ferent sense. This much debated question is clearer than it 
appears to be at first sight. When the Bible says to man, 
Choose, it presupposes the assistance of God's grace, by which 
alone he can do what it commands. God, in giving the com- 
mandment, also gives the strength to fulfil it. If Christ said 
to Lazarus, Come 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 com- 
mandment that God addresses to him, and which, according 
to Erasmus, establishes the ability of man, is so reconcilable 
with the workings of God, that it is precisely by these means 

* Der Wille des Menschen mag L. Opp. xix. 29. 

t Ibid. 33. t Ibid. 



LUTHER'S SECOND AND THIED PARTS. 283 

that the working is effected. It is by saying 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 him- 
self to be carried."* 

After combating Erasmus's arguments in favour of free 
will, Luther defends his own against the attacks of his op- 
ponent. " Dear Dissertation," says he ironically, " mighty 
heroine, who pridest thyself in having overthrown these 
words of our Lord in St. John : Without me ye can do NO- 
THING, which thou regardest nevertheless as the prop of my 
argument, and callest it Luther's Achilles, 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 such assertions as these to us : This 

may mean; that may be understood whilst it was thy 

duty to show us that it must be so understood Unless 

thou doest so, we take this declaration in its literal mean- 
ing, and laugh at all thy examples, thy great preparations, 
and thy pompous triumphs." -j- 

Finally, in a concluding part, Luther shows, and always 
from Scripture, that the grace of God does everything. 
" 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, darkness, the devil, death, sin, and 
the wrath of God, it follows that all these passages of the 
Bible that speak of Christ are opposed to free will. Now 

L. Opp. xix. 55. t Ibid. 116. 



284 THE JANSENISTS AND THE REFORMERS. 

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.f How is it that, while the results of the Re- 
formation were so immense, Jansenism, though adorned by 
the noblest geniuses, wasted and died away ? It is because 
Jansenism went back to Augustine and relied on the 
Fathers ; while the Reformation went back to the Bible 
and leant upon the Word of God. It is because Jansenism 
entered into a compromise with Rome, and wished to estab- 
lish 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 primi- 
tive rock. To stop half way is a useless work ; in all things 
we should persevere to the end. Accordingly, while Jan- 
senism 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 someAvhat sarcastic homage to 
Erasmus himself. " I confess," said he, " that you are a 
great man ; where have we ever met with 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 me in the knowledge of 
the Gospel, so that you may surpass me as much in this re- 
spect as you do already in every other." J 

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 immediately wrote to the 
Elector of Saxony, demanding justice ; and Luther having 

* L. Opp. xix. 143. 

+ It is unnecessary to state that I do not speak of personal discussions 
between these two men, one of whom died in 1600, and the other was not 
born until 1623. 

J L. Opp. xix. pp. 146, 147. 



THE THREE DAYS. 285 

desired to appease him, he lost his usual temper, and, in the 
words of one of his most zealous apologists, began " to pour 
forth invectives with a broken voice and hoary hair."* 

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 want- 
ing in wisdom. He replied publicly in his Hyperaspistct, 
accusing the reformer of barbarism, lying, and blasphemy. 
The philosopher even ventured on prophesying. " I pro- 
phesy," 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 prophecy, after a lapse of three hundred 
years, by the enthusiasm and acclamations of the whole Pro- 
testant 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 Christen- 
dom has been infinitely greater than that of Erasmus. Even 
those who did not thoroughly understand the grounds of the 
dispute, seeing the conviction 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 last centuries, the sixteenth, the seventeenth, 
and the eighteenth, may be conceived as an immense battle 
of three days' duration.f We willingly adopt this beautiful 
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! Strange error! No: 

each of these days has its marked and distinct 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 philosophy, in the person of 
Erasmus and her other representatives. On the second day, 

* M. Nisard, Erasme, p. 419. 

t Port Royal, by M. Saiute Bcuve, i. 'M. 



286 THE THREE ADVERSARIES. 

we grant that Rome, her authority, her discipline, her doc- 
trine, 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 find- 
ing on the field of battle, not the Gospel, but Rome, made 
short work, and soon carried every intrenchment. 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. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Three Adversaries Source of Truth GrebeP The Fanatics and 
Zwingle Constitution of the Church Prison The Prophet Blau- 
rock Fanaticism at Saint Gall Sehucfcer and Family Discussion 
at Zurich The Limits of the Reformation Punishment of the Fa- 
natics. 

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 decretals and the supremacy of the 
pope, and then against the cold apophthegms of the ration- 
alists, philosophers, or schoolmen, it had equally to struggle 
with the reveries of enthusiasm and the hallucinations of 
mysticism ; opposing alike 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 adversaries. 
The false systems that in every age have been the most 
opposed to evangelical Christianity, have always been dis- 
tinguished by their making religious knowledge proceed 
from within the man himself. Ration -sllpm makes it pro- 



GREBEL AND THE FANATICS. 287 

cced from reason ; mysticism from certain inner lights ; and 
Romanism from an illumination of the pope. These three 
errors look for truth in man : evangelical 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 recognises this inspiration 
solely 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 re-establish the 
rights of the Word of God, in opposition not only to Roman- 
ism, but also to mysticism and rationalism. 

The fanaticism, which had been extinguished in Ger- 
many by Luther's return to Wittemberg, reappeared in full 
vigour 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 Switzerland. Conrad 
Grebel, whose restless and ardent disposition we have already 
noticed,* had become connected with him, as had also Felix 
Manz, a canon's son, and several other Zurichers ; and Gre- 
bel had immediately endeavoured 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 Grebel to him ; 
" for to them alone the promise belongs, and let us found a 
church in which there shall be no sin."-]- " 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." f 

Grebel having failed with the reformer, would have desired 
to appeal to the people. " The whole community of Zurich," 
said he, " ought to have the final decision in matters of 
faith." But Zwingle feared the influence these radical en- 
thusiasts might exercise over a large assembly. He thought 

* Vol. II. P . 348, 

} Vermeintend cin Kilchen ze vcrsammlen die one Siind war. Zw. 
Opp. ii. 231. J Ibid. iii. 302. 



288 CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 

that, except on extraordinary occasions when the people 
might be called upon to express their accordance, it was 
better to confide the interests 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 ap- 
point 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 yet very unskilful in those of the Church ; just as the 
reverse of this is true also. Nevertheless the inconveni- 
ence 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, how- 
ever this may be, Zwingle, while appealing to the Church, 
was careful not to make it too prominent, and preferred 
the representative system to the actual sovereignty of the 
people. This is what, after three centuries, 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, Brodtlein, pastor 
at Zollikon, and Louis Herzer, received him with eager- 
ness. They resolved to form an independent congregation 
in the midst of the great congregation, a Church within the 
Church. The baptism of adult believers only, was to be 
their means of assembling their congregation. "Infant 
baptism," said they, " is 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 

* Impietatem manifestissimam, a cacodaemone, a Nicolao II. esse. 
Hottinger iii. 219. 



THE PROPHET BLAUROCK. 289 

were thrown into prison, and several foreigners were ban- 
ished. 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, exclaiming: "Yet a few days, and 
Zurich will be destroyed ! Woe to thee, Zurich ! Woe ! 
woe !" The simple-minded and pious were agitated and 
alarmed. Fourteen men, among whom was Felix Mantz, 
and seven women, were apprehended, in despite of Zwin- 
gle's intercession, and put on bread and water in the here- 
tic's tower. After being confined a fortnight, they managed 
to loosen some planks in the night, and aiding one another, 
effected their escape. " An angel," said they, " had opened 
the prison and led them forth.' 3 * 

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, constraining many, by 
his imposing fervour, to receive his baptism. One Sunday, 
when at Zollikon, the impetuous monk interrupted the dea- 
con as he was preaching, calling out in a voice of thunder : 
" It is written, My house is a house of prayer, but ye liave 
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 acclamations ; and on 
Palm Sunday he proceeded to the banks of the Sitter with 
a great number of his adherents, whom he there baptized. 

* Wie die Apostel von dem Engel Gottea gelediget. Bull. Chr. p. 261. 
t Icb bin ein Anfanger der Taufe und des Herrn Erodes. Fiissl. 
Beytr. i. 264. 



290 ZWINGLE TO THE PEOPLE OF ST. GALL. 

The news quickly spread through the adjoining cantons , 
and a great crowd flocked from Zurich, Appenzel, and seve- 
ral other places to the " Little Jerusalem." 

Zwingle's heart was wrung at the sight of this agitation. 
He saw a storm bursting on thee districts where the seed of 
the Gospel was just beginning to spring up.* Resolving to 
oppose these sentiments on baptism,f he wrote a treatise on 
that subject,:): which the council of St. Gall, to whom it was 
addressed, ordered to be read 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 everything 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 wailing 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 beau- 
tiful and flourishing churches, leaves behind it nothing but 
flocks plunged into mourning and desolation." 

Thus spoke Zwingle, the child of the Tockenburg moun- 
tains. " 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'WordofGod." 

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 began 
to clap their hands, and skip about in the streets, to dance 
in a ring, sit on the ground, and tumble each other about 

* Mich beduret seer das ungewitter. Zw. to Council of St. Gall, 
ii. 230. t See Vol. I. p. 145 hot. 

t Vom Tauf, vom Widertauf, und rom Kindertauf. Zw. to Council 
of St. Gall, ii. 230. 

So wollen wir Gottes Wort haben. Ibid. 237. 



JOHN SCHUCKER AND SONS. 291 

in the dust. Some burnt the New Testament, saying: 
" The 'etter killeth, the Spirit giveth life." Others, i'alling 
into convulsions, pretended to have revelations 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 
(7th February 1526), they invited a large party to their 
house, and their father killed a calf for the feast. The 
viands, the wine, and this numerous assembly> heated 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 reason, took 
the calf's bladder, and placing in it part of the gall, intend- 
ing thus to imitate the symbolical 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, " Brother Leonard, arise !" Leon- 
ard stood up. The father, brothers, and others of the com- 
pany 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 countenance of the wretched man, said to him : 
" Think of what you are about, and take care that no mis- 
chief happens." " Fear not/' replied Thomas, " nothing 
will happen 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 bystanders 
recoiled with horror at the deed ; and the farm resounded 
with groans and lamentations. Thomas, who had nothing 

* Mil wunderbaren geperden und gesprachen, verzucken, geeichten 
nnd offenbarungen. Bull. Chr. i. 324. 



292 DISCUSSION AT ZURICH. 

on but a shirt and trousers, rushed barefooted and bare- 
headed out of the house, ran to St. Gall with frenzied ges- 
tures, entered the house of the burgomaster Joachim Vadian, 
and said to him with haggard looks and wild cries : " I pro- 
claim 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.* The culprit was 
seized. " It is true I did it," he continually repeated ; " but 
it is God who did it through rne." On the 16th of Febru- 
ary, this unhappy 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 
fanaticism in Saint Gall. 

It still prevailed at Zurich. On the 6th of November in 
the preceding year, a public discussion on the subject of 
infant baptism f had been held in the council hall, when 
Zwingle and his friends proposed the following theses : 

" Children born of believing parents are children of God, 
like those who were born under the Old Testament, and 
consequently may receive baptism. f 

" Baptism f under the New Testament is what circum- 
cision was under the Old; consequently, baptism ought 
now to be administered to children, as circumcision was 
formerly. 

" We cannot prove the custom of re-baptizing f either by 
examples, texts, or arguments drawn from Scripture ; and 
those who are re-baptized crucify Jesus Christ afresh." 

But the dispute was not confined to religious questions ; 
they called for the abolition of tithes, on the ground that 
they were not of Divine appointment. Zwingle replied, 
that the maintenance of the schools and churches de- 
pended on the tithes. He desired a complete religious re- 
form ; but was decided not to permit the public order or 
political institutions to be in the least degree shaken. This 
was the limit at which he perceived that word from heaven, 
written by the hand of God, " Hitherto shalt thou come, 

* Glych wie Kain den Abel sinen Bruder erraort hat ! Bull. Chron. 
. 324. t See note, Vol. I. p. 145. 



LIMITS OF THE REFORMATION. 293 

and no farther."* It was necessary to stop somewhere, 
and here Zwingle and the reformers halted, in spite of 
those headstrong men who endeavoured to hurry them far- 
tlier still. 

But if the reformers halted, they could not stop the en- 
thusiasts, 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 before the tri- 
bunals, they declared they did not recognise the civil autho- 
rity, 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 resembling in this respect certain 
irreligious enthusiasts that have sprung up in our days, they 
looked upon a community of goods as the perfection of 
humanity, f 

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 measures. Being 
resolved to make an example, it condemned Mantz to be 
drowned. On the 5th of January 1527, 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, witnessed with dry and burning eyes the martyr- 
dom of her son4 

On the same day Blaurock was scourged with rods. As 
they were leading him outside of the city, he shook his blue 
cloak and the dust from off his feet against the state of 
Zurich. It would appear that two years later this unhappy 

* Job xrjcvui. 11. t Fussli Beytrage, i. 229-258 ; ii. 263. 

f Ohne das er oder die Mutter, sondern nur der Bruder, geweinet. 
Hott. Helv. K. Gesch. iii. 385. 

Und schiittlet sinen blauen Rock und sine Schuh ttber die Stall 
Zurich. Bull. Chr. i. 382. 

VOL. ill. 14 



294 LIBERTY AND INTOLERANCE. 

creature was burnt alive by the Roman-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 ques- 
tion that the Romish states would have accused the Protes- 
tant states of encouraging disorder if they had not punished 
these enthusiasts; but these considerations may explain, 
although they cannot justify, the severity of the magis- 
trates. They might have taken measures against every- 
thing that infringed the civil authority ; but religious errors, 
being combated by the teachers, should have enjoyed com- 
plete liberty before the civil tribunals. Such opinions are 
not to be expelled by the scourge ; they are not drowned 
by throwing their professors into the water ; they float up 
again from the depth of the abyss ; and fire but serves to 
kindle in their adherents a fiercer enthusiasm and thirst for 
martyrdom. Zwingle, with whose sentiments on this sub- 
ject we are acquainted, took no part in these severities.* 



CHAPTER XI. 

Progression and Immobility Zwingle and Luther Luther's Return to 
Scholasticism Respect for Tradition Occam Contrary Tendency 
in Zwingle Beginning of the Controversy GEcolampadius and the 
Swabian Syngramma Strasburg mediates. 

IT was not, however, on baptism f alone that diversities 
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 liberty ; and if 

* Quod homines seditiosi, reipublicK turbatores, magistratuum hos- 
tes, justa Senatus sententia, damnati sunt, num id Zwinglio fraudi ease 
poterit? Rod. Gualteri Ep. ad lectorem, Opp. 1544, ii. 

t Vol. I. p. 145, hot. 



PROGRESSION ANIJ IMMOBILITY. 295 

Roman-catholicism has to feur the shoals of despotism, Pro- 
testantism is equally exposed to those of anarchy. Progres- 
sion is the character of Protestantism, 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 favour- 
able to variations. It has in truth largely availed itself oi 
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 im- 
mobility. 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 Romish 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 favourable to variations, and much more so to 
progression and to life. In fact, on the one hand it recognises 
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 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. Accord- 
ingly, 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 is now fill- 
ing the world with its researches, its labours, bibles, mis- 
sionaries, light, salvation, and life. 

It is a great error, to classify together and almost to con- 
found evangelical Christianity Avith mysticism and rational- 
ism, 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 characteristic manifested in the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper. 



296 ZWINGLE AND LUTHER. 

Such a result might have been expected. This doctrine 
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 reappear. 

Zwingle and Luther, who had each been developed sep- 
arately, the one in Switzerland and the other in Saxony, 
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 violent; and this 
violence was moderated in each by a sincere piety. But 
there was one feature in Zwingle's character destined to carry 
him farther than Luther. It was not only as a man that he 
loved liberty, but also as a republican 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 Luther recoiled. He had moreover studied 
less profoundly the scholastic theology, and thus found his 
motions less 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 encounter 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, sim- 
plicity of worship and sanctification 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 super- 
stitions of the Church, 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 pre- 



THE NETHEKLANDERS AT ZURICH. 297 

judicial to sanetification ; he feared lest Christians, imagin- 
ing 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 reality.* It leads to a real 
union with Divine things." Thus, whatever Zwingle's ad- 
versaries may have asserted, it was not a leaning to rational- 
ism, but a profoundly religious view, that led him to his 
peculiar doctrines. 

But there was another element iu Zwingle's convictions : 
he was subject to those historical influences which we must 
everywhere recognise in the annals of the Church as in that 
of the world. It has been long supposed that he was ac- 
quainted with the sentiments of Ratram, Wickliffe, and Peter 
Waldo ; but we possess a much safer historical clue to the 
convictions of the Swiss reformer. 

The two Netherlander, Rhodius and Sagarus, whom 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 Wes- 
sel's manuscripts, and reached Basle, where Luther himself 
had commended them to GEcolampadius. The latter person, 
who was of timid character, finding that Luther did not ap- 
prove of the opinions which these brethren from Holland 
were endeavouring 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, immedi- 
ately turned the conversation on the doctrine of the Lord's 
Supper.-J- 

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.J 

* Fidem rem esse, non scientiam, non opiniouem vel imaginationem. 
Comment, de vera relig. Zw. Opp. i:i. 230. 

-f- Factum est ut Johannes Rhodius et Georgius Sagarus, pii et docti 
viri, Tigurum venirent, ut de Eucharistia cum Zwinglio conferrenfr. 
Lavateri Hist, de origine controv. sacram. Ti^uri, 1564, p. 1. 

Qui cum ejus sententiam audivissent dissimulantes suam, gratias 
igerunt Deo, quod a tanto errore liberati cssent atque Honii Batavi epia- 
tolam protulerunt. Ibid. 



298 RESULT OF ZWINGLE'S INQUIRIES. 

They then presented the letter from Cornelius Hoen, which 
Zwingle read, and published shortly after. 

This letter had an incalculable influence on the destinies 
of the Reformation. Hoen, resting his arguments on Christ's 
words in the sixth chapter of Saint John, said : " Christ 
gives himself to us by means of the bread :* but let us dis- 
tinguish between the bread we receive by the mouth, and 
Christ whom we receive by faith. Whoever thinks that he 
receives only what he takes into his mouth, does not discern 
the body of the Lord, and eats and drinks his own condem- 
nation, because by eating and drinking he bears testimony 
to the presence of Christ, whilst by his unbelief he remains 
far from Him." At the same time the Netherlander laid 
Wessel's theses before Zwiugle.-j- These writings made a 
deep impression on the reformer's mind. 

The result of Zwingle's inquiries corresponded with his 
tendencies. By studying Scripture as a whole, which was 
his custom, and not in detached passages, and by having re-- 
course 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 taken (as Hoen said) in the meaning 
of signifies, and as 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 need- 
ful." t 

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 Marburg) 

* Dominus per panem se ipsum tradit nobis. Epist. Christiana per 
Honnium Batavum Hist. Ev. i. 231-260. 

f Propositiones ex evangelic de corpore et sanguine Christi sumendo, 
&c. It is uncertain whether Zwingle had, at this time, received Wessel's 
treatise de Eucharisda. 

J Hand alitef hie panem et viuum esse puto quam aqua cst in baptismo. 
Ad Wittenbachium Ep. 15th June 1523. 

Zwinglius mihi coufessus est, se ex Erasmi scriptis primum hausisso 
opinionem suam de coona Domini. Corp. Ref. iv. 970. 



LUTHER'S KETURN TO SCHOLASTICISM. 299 

that it was originally from the writings of Erasmus that he 
had derived his opinions on the Lord's Supper." In fact 
Erasmus wrote in 1526 : " The sentiments of (Ecolam- 
padius would not displease me if the testimony of the 
Church were not against them. I do not see what an in- 
sensible 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 princi- 
ples very similar to those of the Zurich doctor. It is not the 
sacrament that sanctifieth," said he, " but faith in the sacra- 
ment." But the extravagances of those whose mys- 
ticism spiritualized everything, led to a great change in his 
views. When he saw enthusiasts who pretended to a par- 
ticular inspiration, breaking 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 dan- 
gers that would threaten the Church if this ultra-spiritual 
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 founder- 
ing, 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, calcu- 
lated 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 nevertheless two distinct substances, are confounded to- 
gether 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." 

* Nee enim video quid agat corpus insensibile, nee utilitatem allatu- 
rum si sentiretur, modo adsit in Symholis gratia spiritualis. Er. Opp. 
ili. 941. t Vol. I. p. 145 hot. 



800 RESPECT FOR TRADITION. 

Thus at this period there seems to have been some 
return on the part of Luther towards the scholastic theology. 
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 preserved 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 reoly. In this 
answer lies the principle of the two Reforma tions. Eccle- 
siastical traditions were dear to the Saxon reformer. If he 
separated from them on several points, it was not until after 
terrible struggles, and because, above all, it was necessary 
to obey the Scriptures. But when the letter of the Word 
of God appeared in harmony with the tradition and usages 
of the Chinch, 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* it must be so un- 
derstood ; 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,f whom 
he preferred to all others, an ouinion 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 universal 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 

1 Cor. x. 4. 

f Diu multumque legit scripta Occami cujus acumen anteferebat 
Thomae et Scoto. Melancth. Vita Luth. 



ZWINGLK'S TURN OP MIND. 301 

and wine, because he is present everywhere, and above all, 
wherever he wills to be." * 

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 connexion 
with the traditions of past ages. As a theologian, he looked 
at Scripture alone, and thence only would he receive his 
faith freely and immediately, without troubling himself 
about what others had thought before him. As a repub- 
lican, 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 St. Paul : For we being many are one 
bread, and one body ; and he saw in the Lord's Supper the 
sign of a spiritual communion between Christ and all 
Christians. " Whoever acts unworthily," said he, " is guilty 
towards the body of Christ of which he is a member." This 
thought had a great practical influence over men's minds ; 
and the effects it produced in the lives of many confirmed 
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 turbulent Carlstadt, who 
kept passing to and fro between Switzerland and Germany, 
had not inflamed these contrary opinions. 

A step taken with a view to maintain peace led to the 
explosion. The council of Zurich, desirous of preventing 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 sacrament 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 

* Occam und Luther, Studien und Kritiken, 1839, p. 69. 
t Quod morosior est (Carlstadius) in caeremoniis non fereudis, non 
admodum probo. Zw. Epp. p. 369. 

14* 



302 BEGINNING OF THE CONTROVERSY. 

corporeal." * 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, pro- 
cured for them that spiritual eating which alone is truly 
salutary. 

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 Zwingle 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. Accustomed to the forms of the German princi- 
palities, he knew but little of the proceedings of the Swiss 
republics ; and he inveighed against the grave divines 
of Helvetia, as he had done against the Munzers and 
Carlstadts. 

Luther having published his Treatise against the Celestial 
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 fieligion, dedicated 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 believer to Him in the closest 
union, what need have we of more ? "Why should He after- 
wards have ascribed this virtue to His flesh, whilst 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 

* A manducatione cibi, qui ventrem implet, transiit ad verbi mandn- 
cationem, quam cibum vocat ccelestem, qui mundum vivificet. Zw. 
Opp. iii. 573. 



THE SWABIAN .SYNGRAMMA. 303 

his mind. He took courage, and wrote from Basle to Zwin- 
gle : " 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 affected by it. 
Brenz, Schncpff, and twelve other pastors of Swabia, to 
whom (Ecolampadius had dedicated his book, and most of 
whom had been his pupils, experienced 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 honour and admire him as much as it is possible for a 
man to do. The bonds of love are not broken between us be- 
cause we are not of one opinion." He then published, con- 
jointly with his friends, the famous Swabian Syngramma, 
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 true members of the reformed 
churches may admit this illustration. 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 glory, began 
to defend the doctrine attacked, and fell upon (Ecolampa- 
dius. 

Strasburg then came forward to mediate between Swit- 
zerland 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. 

* He took the word is in its usual acceptation, but by body he under- 
stood a symbol of the body. 



804 LUTHER 8 CHARACTER CONSEQUENCES. 

Nowhere did Luther's character shine forth more strik- 
ingly than in this controversy on the Lord's Supper. 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 Scrip- 
ture, 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 opinions, the little attention he 
paid to the reasons of his 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 minis- 
ters 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 Reformation 
were destined to have still more fatal consequences. The 
Romish theologians exulted, particularly in Switzerland, 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 generous ; and conduct so disinterested did not 
fail to bear fruit, and to extort, even from enemies, a feeling 
of interest and esteem. 

And further than this, we may here again recognise tbat 

* la morte et ia inferno jactatus L. Epp. iii. 132. 



DIFFERENT TENDENCIES. 305 

sovereign hand which directs all things, and permits nothing 
without the wisest design. Luther, notwithstanding hig 
opposition to the Papacy, was in an eminent degree con- 
servative. Zw ingle, on the contrary, was inclined to a radi- 
cal reform. These two opposite tendencies were necessary. 
If Luther and his friends had stood alone at the time of the 
Reformation, the work would have been stopped too soon, 
and the reforming principle would not have accomplished its 
prescribed task. If, on the contrary, there had been only 
Zwingle, the thread would have been snapped too abruptly, 
and the Reformation would have been isolated from the 
ages that had gone before. 

These two tendencies, which to a superficial observer 
might seem to have existed only to combat each other, were 
ordained to complete each other ; and after a lapse of three 
centuries we can say that they have fulfilled their mission. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Tockenburg An Assembly of the People Reformation The 
Orisons Disputation at Ilantz Results Reformation at Zurich. 

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 had still to endure an intestine war. But its 
threat conflict was always with popery ; and the attack be- 
gun 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 heresy. "Convince 
us by the Word of God," said Militus, During, and Farer, 

A term applied to them by their opponents, but which they never 
admitted as applicable to the mseives. 



306 A MEETING IN THE TOCKENBURO. 

" 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." * 

This was truly the spirit of Zwingle and of the Reforma- 
tion. A circumstance occurred shortly after that inflamed 
the minds of the inhabitants of these lofty .valleys. A meet- 
ing of the people took place on Saint Catherine's day ; the 
citizens were assembled, and two men of Schwytz, having 
come to the Tockenburg on business, 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 attracted the attention of the whole meeting. 
George Bruggmann, Zwingle's uncle, who was at an adjoin- 
ing table, sprung angrily from his seat, exclaiming : " Surely 
they are speaking of Master Ulrich !" All the guests rose 
and followed him, fearing a brawl.-}- As the tumult kept 
increasing, the bailiff hastily assembled the council in the 
street, and prayed Bruggraann, 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 remember them." They 
then mounted their horses, and galloped off on the road to 
Schwytz.J 

The government of Schwytz then addressed a threatening 
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, debau- 
chery, and mercenary wars ; relieve the poor, protect those 
who are oppressed, and whatever abuse may be heaped 

* Ne potentissimo quidem, sed soli Deo ejusqne verbo. Zw. Epp. 
p. 370. 

t Totumque conyivium sequi, grandem conflictum timentes. Zw. Epp. 
p. 371. 

Auf solches, ritten sie wieder heim. Ibid. p. 374. 

Macti animo estc ct interriti. Ibid. p. 351. 



THE ORISONS DISCUSSIONS AT ILANTZ. 307 

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 re- 
spective parishes, unanimously decreed that the mass should 
be abolished, and that they would be faithful to the Word 
of God.f 

The conquests were not less important in Rhsetia, which 
Salandronius had been compelled to leave, but where Co- 
mander was boldly proclaiming the Gospel. The enthusiasts, 
indeed, by preaching their fanatical doctrines in the Grisons, 
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 con- 
founded, regarded this schism with anxiety ; and lastly, the 
partisans of Rome were loud in their exultation.J 

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 Reformation 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 them; but I require the opposite party to do as 
much." " If the bishop has ten thousand florins at his dis- 
posal," exclaimed the rough voice of a peasant in the crowd, 
" it is from us he has wrung them; to give as much more 
to these poor priests would be too bad." " We are poor 
people with empty purs.es," said Comander, pastor of Coire ; 
" we have hardly the means of buying food : where then can 
we find ten thousand florins ?" Every one laughed at this 
expedient, and the business proceeded. 

* Verbis diris abstinete opem ferte egenis spem certissimam iu 

Deo reponatis omnipotente. Zw. Epp. p. 351. There must be a mistake 
in the dates of one of the letters, 14th and 23d (anno 1524), or else one 
of Zwingle's letters to his fellow-countrymen is lost. 

t Parochise uno consensu statuerunt in verbo Dei manere. Ibid. 
p. 423. 

J Pars tertia papistarum est in immeusum gloriantium do schisrnate 
inter nos facto. Zw. Epp. p. 400. 

Sie wiircn gute arme Gesellen mit lehren Secklen. Fiissl. Beytr. i. 
358. 



308 THE BIBLES THE THESIS. 

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. Hofmeister under- 
stood this to be directed against him. " We have come pro- 
vided 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 conference, we are willing to 
withdraw." " Ah!" exclaimed the priest of Dintzen, look- 
ing at the books of the Zurichers, " if the Greek and Hebrew 
languages had never entered our country, there would have 
been fewer heresies 1"* " 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 ban- 
neret of Ilantz, " the commune will interfere." " Well then," 
replied others, " let them listen, but be silent." The Zu- 
richers 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 Christian 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 listening to the pipers," said Hofmeister, " he 
does not find it too long."| 

Then a man arose and advanced from the midst of the 
crowd, tossing his arms, knitting his brows, blinking 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 writing," said he to Comander;" 
answer them instantly." " I am here," said the reformer of 

* Ware die Griechische und Hebraische Sprache nicht iii das Land 
gekommen. Fiissl. Beytr. i. 360. 
+ Satzte den Fuss wie ein milder Ochs. Ibid. 362. 

J Den Pfeiffern zuzuhbren, die wie den Fiirsten hofierten. Ibid. 

Blintzete wit den Angcn, rumfete die Stirne. Ibid. 368. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER SACRAMENTS RESULTS. 309 

the Orisons, " to defend 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 suspense. " Very well," said he at last, and returned to 
his seat. 

It was proposed to pass on to the doctrine of the sacra- 
ments. 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 at- 
tempt to attack Comander, began with much volubility to 
argue in favour of the doctrine of the sacrament according to 
the text, " This is my body." " My dear Berre," said Co- 
mander, " how do you understand these words, John is 
Elias?" " I understand," replied Berre, who saw what Co- 
mander was aiming at, " that he was really and essentially 
Elias." " Why then," continued Comander, " did John the 
Baptist himself say to the Pharisees that he was not Elias ?" 
The schoolmaster was silent : at last he replied, " It is true." 
Everybody began to laugh, even those who had urged him 
to speak. 

The Abbot of St. Luke's made a long speech on the eucha- 
rist, which closed the conference. Seven priests embraced 
the evangelical doctrine ; complete religious liberty was pro- 
claimed, and the Romish worship was abolished in several 
churches. " Christ," to use the language of Salandronius, 
" grew up everywhere in these mountains, as the tender 
grass of spring ; and the pastors were like living fountains, 
watering these lofty valleys."* 

The Reform made still more rapid strides at Zurich. The 
Dominicans, the Augustines, the Capuchins, so long at 
enmity, were reduced to the necessity of living together; 
a foretaste of hell for these poor monks. In the place of 
these corrupted institutions were founded schools, an hospital, 
a theological college : learning and charity everywhere sup- 
planted indolence and selfishness. 

Vita, moribus et doctrina herbescenti Cbristo apud Rbactos fons uri- 
gans. Zw. Epp. p. 485. 



310 THE OLIGARCHS DEPUTATION TO BEBNB. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Oligarchs Bernese Mandate of 1526 in Favour of the Papacy 
Discussion at Baden Regulations of the Discussion Riches and 
Poverty Eck and CEcolampadius Discussion Zwingle's Share in the 
Discussion Vaunts of the Romanists Abusive Language of a Monk 
Close of the Disputation. 

THESE victories of the Reformation could not remain unnoticed. 
Monks, priests, and prelates, in distraction, felt that the 
ground was everywhere slipping from beneath 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 pensions 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.* 

Their first efforts were directed against Berne. The seven 
Roman-catholic cantons, in collusion with the Bernese 
oligarchs, sent a deputation to that city, who laid their 
complaints before the council on Whitmonday 1526. " All 
order is destroyed in the Church," said the schulthess (chief 
magistrate) of Lucerne, " God is blasphemed, the sacra- 
ments, the mother of God, and the saints are despised, and 
imminent and terrible calamities threaten to dissolve our 
praiseworthy confederation." At the same time the Bernese 
partisans of Rome, in harmony with the Forest cantons, 
had summoned to Berne the deputies of the country, chosen 
from those who were devoted to the papacy. Some of them 
had the courage to pronounce in favour of the Gospel. The 
sitting was stormy. " Berne must renounce the evangelical 

* Revelation xiii. 5, 6, 7. 



DISPUTATION PROPOSED. 311 

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 Rome triumphed, and the mandate of 1526 was about 
to annul that of 1523. In effect, all the married priests 
not born in the canton were compelled to leave it ; they 
drove from their borders all who were suspected of Luther- 
anism ; they exercised a vigilant censorship over every work 
sold by the booksellers, and certain books were publicly 
burnt. Even John Faber, with audacious falsehood, said 
publicly that Haller had bound himself before the council 
to perform mass again, and to preach the doctrine of Rome. 
It was resolved to take advantage of so favourable an oppor- 
tunity 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 comply with 
your wishes." " The Zurichers," it was everywhere said, 
" have made you a promise ; if you can convince them by the 
Bible, why not do so ? if you cannot, why do you not con- 
form to the Bible ?" 

The conferences held at Zurich had exercised an immense 
influence, and it was felt necessary to oppose them by a con- 
ference held in a Romish city, with all necessary precautions 
to secure the victory to the pope's party. 

True, these discussions had been pronounced unlawful, 
but means were found to evade this difficulty. " It is 
only intended," said they, " to check and condemn the pes- 
tilent doctrines of Zwingle."f This being settled, they 
looked about for a vigorous champion, and Doctor Eck 
offered himself. He feared nothing. " Zwingle no doubt 

* Actum uff den heil. Pfingsel Montag, 1526. Tschudi. 
f Das der gmein man, one cine offne Disputation, nit zu stillcnwaa. 
Bull. Chr. i. 331 
I Diet of Lucerne, 13th March 152G. 



312 FEARS FOK ZWINGLE. 

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-conduct 
to go direct to Zurich ; but Eck replied that he would wait 
for the answer of the confederation. Zwingle then offered 
to dispute at Saint Gall or Schaffhausen ; but the council, 
acting on an article of the federal compact, 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 attempt."-}- 

Accordingly, the decision of the diet produced a great sen- 
sation in Switzerland. It was not doubted that a conference 
held under such auspices would be favourable to the Refor- 
mation. Are not the five cantons the most devoted to the pope 
supreme in Baden, said the Zurichers? 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 Friburg, were 
not his writings committed 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 ?J 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 hangman all 
the rest of his days ? And has not Doctor Eck himself, 

* Er babe wohl mehr Kiihe gemolken, als Biicher gelesen. Zw. Opp. 
ii. 405. 

f Vide mine quid audcant oligarch! atque Faber. Zw. Epp. p. 484. 

J Zwingli in ihrem Gebiet, wo er bctreten werde, gefangen zu uehmcn. 
Zw. Opp. ii. 422. 

Da wollte or gern all sein Lebtag ein Henker gcnanut werden. Ibid. 
454. 



THE MARTYRS DF LINDAU AND FRIBCKQ. 313 

for years past, been crying out that the heretics must be at- 
tacked 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. Zwingle, an eye-wit- 
ness 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 execution that they challenge us I 

Let Zurich, Berne, Saint Gall, or even Basle, Constance, 

and Schaffhauscn, 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 I 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 at Baden, 
condemned to the flames, as a heretic, an evangelical minister 
named John Hiigel, pastor of Lindau,-}- 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 rumours 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 safe-conduct."! 

It was affirmed 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 persecutions before 
them, the council of Zurich decreed that Zwingle should not 
go to Baden. || 

* Wellend wir ganz geneigt syn ze erschynen. Zw. Opp. ii. 423. 

t Hunc homiuem heeretieum damnamus, projicimus et conculcamus. 
Hotting. Helv. K. Gesch. iii. 300. 

J Oaveatis per caput vestrum Zw. Epp. p. 483. 

Navigio capturn, ore mox obturato, clam fuisse cleportandum. Osw. 
Myc. Vit. Zw. 

Ii Zwinglium Senatus Tigurinus Badonam dimittere recusavit. Ibid. 



314 CECOLAMPABIUS REGULATIONS. 

The discussion being fixed for the 19th of May, the dis- 
putants and the representatives of the cantons and bishops 
began to arrive gradually. On the side of the Roman-catholics 
appeared in the foremost place the warlike and vain-glorious 
Doctor Eck; on the side of the Protestants, the retiring 
and gentle (Ecolampadius. The latter was well aware of the 
perils attending this discussion. " He had long hesitated, 
like a timid stag worried by furious dogs," says an old his- 
torian ; at length he decided on going to Baden, previously 
making 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 ;* 
but he soon became convinced that, if the intrepid doctor 
had appeared in that fanatical city, the anger of the Roman- 
ists, kindling at his sight, would have caused the death of 
both of them. 

They began by determining the regulations of the confer- 
ence. Doctor Eck proposed that the deputies of the Forest 
Cantons should be empowered to pronounce the final judg- 
ment ; which was, in truth, anticipating the condemnation 
of the reformed doctrines. Thomas Plater, who had come 
from Zurich to attend the colloquy ,~ was despatched by 
(Ecolampadius to ask Zwingle's advice. Arriving during 
the night, he was with difficulty admitted into the reformer's 
house. "Unlucky disturber," 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."| 

On the 21st of May the conference opened. Eck and 
Faber, 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 

* Si periclitaberis, periclitaEImur omnes tecum. Zw. Epp. p. 312. 
f Ich bin in sechs Wochen nie in das Beth Komrnen. Plater's Leben, 
p. 263. 

Sie verstundeu sich bas auf Kuh malken. Ibid. 
Mit Syden, Damast und Sammet bekloydet. Bu!l. Chr. i. 351. 



ECK AND CECOLAMFADIUS. 315 

ascended a pulpit spendidly decorated, while the humble 
CEcolampadius, meanly clothed, was forced to take his seat in 
front of his opponent 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 Wettingen provided 

them.* 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 CEcolampadius 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 procession, 
chanting litanies in order to ensure 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 
adversaries by sarcasm, and from time to time slipping out 
an oath.f But the president never caUed him to order. 

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.J 

CEcolampadius, on the contrary, with his calm features 
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 

Verbruchten vil wyn. Bull. Chr. i. 351. 
f So entwuscht imm ettwan ein Schwiir. Ibid. 
J Egg zablet mit fussen und hen den 
Fing an schelken und schenden, &c. 

Contemporary Poems by Nicholas Manuel of Beruo. 



316 THE DISCUSSION ZWINGLfi's SHARE. 

another: " Oh! that the tall sallow man were on our 

side."* 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."f 

(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 opponent ; but he had more 
real strength. When Haller had finished, CEcolampadius 
returned to the combat, and pressed Eck so closely, that 
the latter was compelled to fall back on the customs of the 
Church. " Custom," replied CEcolampadius, " has no force 
in our Switzerland, unless it be according to the constitution; 
now, in matters of faith, the Bible is our constitution." 

The third thesis on the invocation of saints ; the fourth on 
images ; the fifth on purgatory, were successively 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 discussion. 
The Romish party, which had appointed four secretaries, 
had forbidden all other persons to take notes 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 returning home, hastened to commit it 
to writing. Thomas Plater and Zimmerman of "Winterthur 
carried these notes to Zwingle every day, with letters from 
CEcolampadius, 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 

* O were der lange gal man uff unser syten. Bull. Chr. i. 353. 

t Domino suam gloriam, quam salvam cnpimus no utiquam deserturo. 
Zw. Epp. p. 511. 

J Man sollte eincm ohne aller welter Urtheilen, den Kopf abhauen, 
Thorn. Plateri Lebens Beschreib. p. 2G2. 



ROMISH BOASTS ABUSE OF A MONK. 317 

that these two messengers evaded the inquiries of the 
sentinels, v/ho could not understand why they were so 
frequently passing to and fro.* 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 
laboured more by his meditations, his sleepless nights, and 
the advice which he transmitted to Baden, than he would 
have done by discussing in person in the midst of his 
enemies." f 

During the whole conference, the Roman-catholics were 
in commotion, sending letters in every direction and loudly 
boasting of their victory. " (Ecolampadius," exclaimed they, 
u vanquished by Dr. Eck and laid prostrate in the lists, has 
sung his recantation ;J the dominion of the pope will be every- 
where restored." These statements were circulated through 
the cantons, and the people, prompt to believe everything 
they hear, gave credit to all the vaunts of the Romish 
partisans. 

When the dispute was finished, the monk Murner of Lu- 
cerne, 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, infidels, 
robbers, sacrilegers, gallows-birds, and such that every 
honest man must blush at having any intercourse whatever 

* 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. Plater's Autobio- 
graphy, p. 262. Leben's Beschrieb. 

f Quam laborasset disputando vel inter medios hostes. Osw. Myc. 
Vita. Zw. See also Zwingle's several writings having reference to the 
Baden disputation. Opp. ii. pp. 398-520. 

J CEcolampadius victus jacet in arena prostratus ab Eccio, herbam 
porrexit. Zw. Epp. p. 514. 

Spem concipiunt Isetam fore ut regnum ipaorum restituatur. Ibid. 613. 

VOL. III. 15 



318 END OF THE DISCUSSION. 

with them." Such was the abuse which at this time was 
honoured with the name of " Christian controversy," by 
doctors whom the Romish church should herself disavow. 

Great agitation prevailed in Baden ; the general impres- 
sion 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 per- 
sons, 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 Zwingle, the 
chief of this pestilent doctrine, had refused to appear, and as 
the ministers who had come to Baden had resisted all con- 
viction, they were all together cast out from the bosom of 
the catholic church.f 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Consequences at Basle, Berne, Saint 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 oli- 
garchs 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 dissipated. The 
mildness of his language had struck all impartial wit- 

* Die Evangelische weren wol uberschryen, nicht aber uberdisputierl 
worden. Hotting. Helv. K. Gesch. iii. 320. 
f Von gemeiner Kyrchen ussgestossen. Bull. Chr. p. 355. 



CONSEQUENCES AT BASLE AND 13EBNE. 31 if 

nesses, much more than the clamours of Dr. 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 AVord.* 

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 capital, than 
the Smaller Council had summoned him before them, and 
ordered him to celebrate the mass. Haller demanded per- 
mission 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 restored : " If I am required to per- 
form this ceremony," said the reformer, " I must resign my 
office ; the honour 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 emotion; the members of the council were affected; 
even some of his opponents burst into tears, f 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 violent enemies, 
Lewis and Anthony Diesbach, and Anthony d'Erlach, in- 
censed at this resolution, immediately withdrew 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.^: 

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 

Plebe Verbi Domini admodum sitiente. Zw. Epp. p. 518. 
t Tillier, Gesch. v. Bern., iii. 242 

J Profuit hie nobis Bernates tarn dextre in servando Berchtoldo suo 
ogisse. Ecol. ad Zw. Epp. p. 518. 



320 ZWIXGLE'S EXULTATION. 

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 ;* the images were re- 
moved 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 reformed themselves.^- 

At Mulhausen the Gospel was preached with fresh cour- 
age ; Thurgovia and the Rheinthal daily approximated 
more and more to Zurich. Immediately after the dispu- 
tation, Zurzach removed the images from its churches, 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 around 
him, gave glory to God. " We have been attacked in 
many ways," said he, " but the Lord is not only above their 
threats, but also the wars themselves. In the city and 
canton of Zurich there is an admirable agreement in favour 
of the Gospel. We shall overcome all things by prayers 
offered up with faith." J And shortly after, addressing 
Haller, Zwingle said : " Everything here belovf has its 
course. The rude north wind is followed 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 adversaries. At last we may 
welcome among us the Christian 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 acquisi- 
tion. 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. " t have long since renounced the pope," said 

* San Gallenses officiis suis restitutes. Zw. Epp. p. 518. 
t Kostbare Kleider, Kleinodien, Ring, Ketten, &c. freywillig verkauft. 
Hott. iii. p. 338. 
Fideli enim oratione omuia superabimus. Zw. Epp. p. Slfl 



DIET AT ZURICH THE SMALLEB CANTONS. 321 

he on arriving, " and desired to live to Jesus Christ." * 
Pellican, by his critical talents, became one of the most 
useful labourers in the work of the Reformation. 

Zurich, still excluded from the diet by the Romish cantons, 
wishing to take advantage of the more favourable disposi- 
tion 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, Schafl'hausen, Appenzell, 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 custom of our forefathers ; being assured 
that had they possessed this light of the Divine Word 
which we enjoy, they would have embraced it with more 
reverence than we their feeble descendants have done."-j- 
The deputies present 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 hem- 
ming in the mountains ; already it was invading them, and 
the primitive cantons, which were as the cradle, and are still 
the citadel, 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 rivers, are com- 
pelled all their lives to struggle against these formidable 
enemies, and to sacrifice everything to preserve the meadow 
in which their herds graze, and the cottage where they shel- 
ter themselves from the storms, and which the first inunda- 
tion sweeps away. Accordingly the conservative principle 
is strongly developed in them, and transmitted from age to 

* Jamdudum papse renuntiavi ct Christo vivere concupivi. Zw. F.pp. 
p. 455. 

t Mit hoherem Worth und mehr Datikbarkeit daua wir angenommen. 
Zurich. Archiv. Absch. Sonntag nach Lichtmesse. 



322 CONSERVATIVE TENDENCY. 

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 strug- 
gling 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 surrounding 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 re- 
cording, still more irritated against Berne than against Zu- 
rich, and trembling lest this powerful state should desert 
them, assembled their deputies in Berne itself a week after 
the conference at Zurich. They called on the council to de- 
pose the new teachers, to prosecute their doctrines, and to 
maintain the ancient and true Christian faith, as confirmed 
by past ages and confessed by the martyrs. " Convoke all 
the bailiwicks of the canton," 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 learnt with dismay 
that Ferdinand, brother of Charles V., was making prepara- 
tions against Zurich and all those who adhered to the Refor- 
mation.* 

" Berne to Zurich, Monday after Misericorde. Kirchhoff. B. Haller, 
p. 85. 



THE CKITICAL MOMENT. 323 

Circumstances were becoming more critical. A succession 
of events, more or less unfortunate, the excesses of the fa- 
natics, the disputes with Luther on the Eucharist, and 
others besides, appear to have seriously compromised the 
Reformation in Switzerland. The discussion at Baden had 
disappointed the hopes of the papal 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 preparing 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 Mor- 
tjarten and on the heights of Sempach, were ready to enter 
Switzerland with colours Hying, to re-establish the tottering 
power of Rome. The moment was critical ; it was no longer 
possible to hult between two opinions, and be neither " muddy 
nor clear." Berne and other cantons, which had long hesi- 
tated, were now to come to a decision. They must either 
promptly return to the papacy, or take their stand with fresh 
courage under the banners of Christ. 

A Frenchman from the mountains of Dauphiny, William 
Farel by name, at this time gave a powerful impulse to 
Switzerland, decided the Reformation of Roman Helvetia, 
still immersed in deep slumber, and thus turned the balance 
throughout the whole confederation in favour of the new 
doctrines. Farcl arrived on the field of battle like those 
fresh troops which, when the issue of the contest 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. 



BOOK XII. 

THE FRENCH. 1500 1528. 

CHAPTER I. 

Unirersality of Cliristianity 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. 

UNIVERSALITY is one of the essential characteristics of Cliris- 
tianity. It is not so with human religions. They are 
adapted to a certain people, and to the degree of cultivation 
they have attained ; they keep these nations stationary, or 
if by any extraordinary circumstance the people attain a 
fuller growth, their religion is left behind, and 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 man- 
kind. 

Its starting point in man is sin ; and this is a characteristic 
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 moderu 
cosmopolitism would do. It does better ; it sanctifies, en- 
nobles, and 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 had only 
been a history of nations ; now there is a history of man- 



UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 825 

kind ; and the idea of a universal education of the human 
race, accomplished by Jesus Christ, has become the his- 
torian's compass, the clue to history, and the hope of the 
nations. 

But Christianity exerts its influence not only on all na- 
tions, 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 rekindled 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 desolating 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 re- 
ligion carried by courageous mssionaries to those barbarous 
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 cha- 
racteristic of the Romish church ; and a renovation of religion 
became necessary. This Christianity accomplished at the 
epoch of which we arc treating. 

The history of the Reformation in the countries that we 
have hitherto surveyed has shown us the new doctrine re- 
jecting 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 from her bowels."* 

In France, the Reformation had to combat not only with 
infidelity as well as superstition, but there was a third an- 
tagonist which it had not yet encountered, at least in such 
* Genesh xxv. '2?. 
15* 



326 ENEMIES OF THE REFORM IN FRANCE. 

force, among the people of German origin : this was im- 
morality. The scandals in the Church were very great- 
debauchery sat on the throne of Francis I. and Catherine 
de Medicis ; and the austere virtues of the reformers irritated 
these " Sardanapaluses."* Everywhere, no doubt, but espe- 
cially in France, the Reformation was of necessity not only 
doctrinal and ecclesiastical, but moral also. 

Those violent enemies which the Reformation encountered 
simultaneously in France, gave it a character altogether 
peculiar. Nowhere did it so often dwell in dungeons, 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 else- 
where it could point to thrones and sovereign councils, 
here it might point to scaffolds and " hill-side" meet- 
ings. Whoever knows what constitutes 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 glittered 
on the stage of the world were born in the provinces where 
their minds first began to expand. Paris is a tree that pre- 
sents 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 length- 
ened 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 Pied- 
montese districts of Luzerne, Angrogne, and La Peyrouse. 
The truth, which Rome could not reach there, had spread 

* Sardanapalua (Henry II.) inter scorta. Calvin's Epp. MS. 



HERESY AND PERSECUTIONS IN DAUPHINY. 327 

from these valleys to the other side of these mountains, and 
along their base to Provence and Dauphiny. 

The year after the accession of Charles VIII., son of 
Louis 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 epi- 
gram of the times, Rome unanimously saluted him with the 
name of Father.* 

There was at that time on all the slopes of the Dauphin- 
ese 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 fojth new shoots in 
every direction." -j- Bold men called the Roman Church the 
church of devils, and maintained that it was as profitable 
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 (27th April) 
1487, Innocent VIIL, the father of the Romans, issued a 
bull against these humble Christians, " To arms," said 
the pontiff, " and trample these heretics under foot as venom- 
ous serpents." ; u 

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 hunted down like beasts of prey. 
At last the pope's satellites were worn out ; their strength 
was exhausted, their feet could no longer scale the steep re- 
treats of the " heretics," and their arms refused to strike. 

Octo nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas. 

Huuc rucrito poterit dicere Roma 1'atrem. 

t In Ebredunensi archiepiscopatu veteres Waldensium hsereticoruni 
fibraa repullularunt. Raynald, Annales Eccles. ad ann. 1487. 

J Armis insurgant, eosque veluti aspidea venenosos concnlcent. 

Bull of Innocent VI II. preserved at Cambridge. Leger, ii. 3. 



328 FAREL'S BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY. 

In these alpine districts, then disturbed by Romish fana- 
ticism, three leagues from the ancient town of Gap,* in the 
direction 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, towards the place 
where the Buzon take# its rise, stood and still stands a 
group of houses, half hidden by the surrounding trees, and 
which bears the name of Farel, or, in the dialect of the 
country, Fareau. j On an extensive terrace raised above 
"the neighbouring cottages might be seen a house of that 
class which is denominated Gentilhommiere, a manor-house. 
It was surrounded by an orchard which led to the village. 
Here, in these days of trouble, dwelt a noble family of esta- 
blished piety, known by the name of Farel. \ In 1489, the 
very year in which the papacy was employing its severest 
measures 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 servants of the 
papacy. " My father and mother believed everything," he 
tells us himself; " and accordingly they brought up their 
children in all the observances of Romish devotion." 

God had bestowed rare qualities on William Farel, such 
as were fitted to give him a great ascendency over his fel- 

* Chief town of the Hautes Alpcs. 

f- Revue du Dauphine', July 1837, p. 35. As you go from Grenoble to 
Gap, a quarter of 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 vil- 
lage of the Farcls. The site of the house inhabited by Farel's father u 
till shown. It is now occupied only by a cottage, but from its dimen- 
sions 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. 

J Gulielmum Farellum, Delphinatem, nobili familia ortum. Bezae 
Icones. Calvin, writing to Cardinal Sadolet, sets off Farel's disinterest- 
edness torti de si noble maison (sprung from so noble a family). Opus- 
cula, p. 148. 

Da Tray usage de la croix, par Guillaume Farel, p. 237. 



PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY CROSS. 329 

lows. Possessing a penetrating mind and lively imagina- 
tion, sincere and upright, having a greatness of soul that 
never allowed him, at whatever risk, to betray the convic- 
tions of his heart, he was remarkable also for ardour, 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 su- 
perstitious habits of his credulous family. " I am horror- 
struck," said he, " when I consider the hours, the prayers, 
and the divine honours, 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 Durance, 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.^ 
" 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," con- 
tinued 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 continues throwing out sparks of 
fire against the storm ; if it were not for this, nothing would 
be left upon earth ."J 

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 myself and 

* Du vray usage do la croix, by W. Farel, p. 232. 
f J'estoye fort petit et a pcine je savoye lire. Ibid. p. 237. Le pre- 
mier pelerinage auquel j'ay este" a este a la saincte croix. Ibid. p. 233. 
J Ibid. p. 235-239. 



330 IMMORALITY AND SUPERSTITION. 

tins man." The pilgrims turned their heads, and saw a 
strange-looking person standing near them. " It was fright- 
ful 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 sus- 
picion of criminal disorders with these superstitions. u There 
came up a young woman, intent on other devotion 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 lov- 
ingly than these two did. But such was our blindness, that 
neither their looks nor their gestures, even when they had 
behaved in an unseemly manner before us, appeared other- 
wise 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." f 

Such is a faithful picture of religion and morals in France 
at the commencement of the Reformation. Morality and 
belief were alike poisoned, and both required a powerful re- 
novation. The greater the value attached to external works, 
the farther men were removed from sanctification of heart ; 
dead ordinances had been everywhere substituted for a 
Christian life, and a strange but not unnatural union had 
taken place between the most scandalous debauchery and 
the most superstitious devotion. Theft had been committed 
before the altar, seduction practised in the confessional, 
poison mingled with the consecrated elements, adultery 
perpetrated at the foot of the cross. Superstition, by de- 
stroying belief, had destroyed morality. 

There were, however, numerous exceptions in the Chris- 
tianity of the middle ages. Even a superstitious faith might 
be sincere, and of this William Farel is an example. The 

* Du *ray usage de la croix, par Cuillaume Farel, p. 237. 
+ Ibid. p. 238. J Ibid. p. 235. 



WILLIAM DESIRES TO STUDY. 331 

same zeal that afterwards urged him to travel to so many dif- 
ferent places to spread the knowledge 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 
surrounded 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 rearing their sharp 
peaks to heaven, there stretching their immense and jag- 
ged ridges high above the clouds, as if an island was sus- 
pended in the air ; all these wonders of creation, which were 
at this time elevating the soul of Ulrich Zwingle in the 
Tockenburg, were appealing also in mute but powerful lan- 
guage to the heart of William Farel among the mountains 
of Dauphiny. He thirsted for life, for knowledge, and for 
light ; he aspired to be something great ; he asked permis- 
sion to study. 

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 trumpeting the prowess 
of a young countryman of William Farel's, 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 signal 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 !" Accordingly, Farel's father opposed the taste which 
William manifested for learning. But the young man was 
not to be shaken. God destined him for nobler conquests 
than those of Bayard. He persevered, in his entreaties, and 
the old gentleman gave way at last.f 

Farel immediately applied to study with surprising ardour. 
The masters whom he found in Dauphiny were of little help 

" The burning spring, the cisterns of Sassenage, the manna of Brian- 
9on, &.c. 

f Cum a parentibus vix impetrassem ad literas concessum. (Farel, 
Natali Galeoto, 1527. MS. letters belonging to the consistory of Neuf- 
ohatel.) 



332 FAREL GOES TO PARIS. 

to him, and he had to contend with bad methods and the in- 
capability of his teachers.* These difficulties excited instead 
of discouraging him, and he soon surmounted these ob- 
stacles. His brothers followed his example. Daniel after- 
wards entered on the career of politics, and was employed in 
important negotiations concerning religion.f Walter gained 
the entire confidence of the Count of Furstemberg. 

Farel, eager in the pursuit of knowledge, having learnt all 
that could be acquired in his province, turned his eyes else- 
where. 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. 



CHAPTER II. 

Louis XII. and the Assembly of Tours Francis and Margaret Learned 
Men Lefevre His Courses at the University Meeting between Le- 
fevre and Farel FarePs Hesitation and Researches First Awakening 
Lefevre's Prophecy Teaches Justification by Faith Objections 
Disorder of the Colleges Effects on Farel Election Sanctification 
of Life, 

ONE day in the year 1510, or shortly after, the young Dau- 
phinese 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 Germany, from a small city. 
All the movements that agitate the people proceed from the 

* A prraceptoribus prsecipue in Latina lingua ineptissimis institutus. 
Farelli Epist. 

t Vie de Farel. MS. at Geneva. 

t Universitatem Parisiensem matrem omnium scientiarum specu 

lam fidei torsum et politmn Prima Apellat. Universit. an. 1396, Bu 

loeus, iv. p. 8QU. 



LOUIS XII. FRANCIS AND MARGARET. 333 

metropolis. A concurrence 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 neighbourhood 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 convoked 
the representatives of the French clergy to meet at Tours. 
This prince seems to have anticipated the times of the Re- 
formation ; so that had this great revolution 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 waging war on the pope, and of en- 
forcing the decrees of the Council of Basle. These measures 
were the object of 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 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 
honour literature. 

By the side of Francis was his sister Margaret, his senior 
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 education, and the most 
learned men in the kingdom hastened to acknowledge her as 
their patroness. 

Already, indeed, a group of illustrioiis men surrounded 
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, 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 
* Mezeray, vol. iv. 127. f Brant., Dames illustres, p. 331. 



LEARNED MEN LEFEVKE. 

scouring the fields and forests with his dogs ;* 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 Pon- 
cher, bishop of Paris, by Louis Ruze, the civil lieutenant, 
and by Francis de Luynes, and already protected by the two 
young Valois, resisted the violent attacks of the Sorbonne,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 Avas to be preceded by 
the revival of letters. But in France the hands that thus 
prepared the materials were not destined to construct the 
edifice. 

Among all the doctors who then adorned the capital, was 
observed a man of veiy diminutive stature, of mean appear- 
ance, and humble origin,f whose intellect, learning, and 
powerful eloquence had an indefinable attraction for all who 
heard him. His name was Lefevre ; and he was born about 
1455 at Etaples, a village in Picardy. He had received 
a rude, or as Theodore Beza calls it, a barbarous education; 
but his genius had supplied 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 doctor 
of divinity, was professor in the university of Paris. He 
immediately occupied a distinguished rank, and, in the esti- 
mation of Erasmus, was the first. 

Lefevre saw that he had a task to perform. Although 
attached to the practices of the Romish Church, he resolved 
to attack the barbarism then prevailing in the university ;|| 

* His wife and sons came to Geneva in 1540, after his death. 

f Homunculi unius neque genere insignis. Bezae Icones. 

J In his Commentary on 2 T hessalonians ii. will be found a curious ac- 
count of Mecca and its temple, furnished to him by some traveller. 

Fabro, viro quo vix in multis millibus reperias vel integriorem vel 
humaniorem, says Erasmus. Epp. p. 174. 

|| Barbariem nobilissimae academia .... incumbentem detrudi. Bcza 
Icones. 



LECTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY. 335 

he began to teach the various brandies of philosophy with a 
clearness hitherto unknown. He endeavoured to revive the 
study of languages and learned antiquity. He went farther 
than this ; he perceived that, as regards a work of regenera- 
tion, philosophy and learning are insufficient. Abandoning, 
therefore, scholasticism, 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 eloquence, his can- 
dour, his amiability, captivated all hearts. Serious and fer- 
vent in the pulpit, he indulged in a sweet familiarity with 
his pupils. " He loves me exceedingly," wrote Glarean, one 
of their number, to his friend Zwingle. " Full of candour 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 sim- 
plicity of a child to every observance of the Church. 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, though it be within 
the wide circuit of a capital, they tend to draw near each 
other. In his pious pilgrimages, young Farel soon noticed 
an aged man, and was struck by his devotion. He pros- 
trated himself before the images, and remained long on 
his knees, praying with fervour 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. William Farel immediately desired to become ac- 
quainted with him; and could not restrain his joy when 
he found himself kindly received by this celebrated man. 
William 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 

* Supra modum me amat totus integer et candidus, mecum cantillat, 
ludit, disputat, ridct mecum. Zvr. Epp. p. 26. 
t Ep. de Farel a tous seigneurs, peuplea et pasteurs. 



336 FAREL'S DEVOTION TO THE POPE. 

lessons, and to kneel with him devoutly before the same 
shrines. Often might the aged Lefevre and bis young dis- 
ciple 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 coacert the fervent prayers they 
offered up to Mary.* 

Farel's 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 Dau- 
phinese from his obscurity. He soon acquired a reputation 
for zeal ; and many devout rich persons in Paris intrusted 
him with various sums of money intended for the support of 
the poorer students.f 

Some time elapsed ere Lefevre and his disciple arrived 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 
Fare! to the pope ; those vulgar ties were not made for 
souls like his. To him the pope was the visible head of the 
Church, a sost 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 confusion." " I believe," said he, -" in 
the cross, in pilgrimages, 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 himself de- 
scribed this condition in energetic language : " Alas ! how 

* Floribus jubebat Marianum idolurn, duin una soli murmuraremus 
preces Marianas ad idolum, ornari. Farel to Pellican, anno 1556. 

f Geneva MS. J Ep. de Farel. A tous seigneurs, &c. 

Quo plus pergere et promovero adnitebar, eo amplius retrocedebam. 
Farcllus Galeoto, MS. Letters at Ncufcliatel. 



HESITATION AND INQUIRY FIRST AWAKENING. 337 

I shudder at myself and at my faults," said he, " \vhen I 
think upon it ; and how great and wonderful 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 finding no food 
there, he began to meditate on the lives of the saints ; in- 
fatuated as he was before, these legends only made him 
still more so.* He then attached himself 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 philosophers, and expected to learn from Aristotle 
how to be a Christian ; again his hopes were disappointed. 
Books,- images, relics, Aristotle, Mary, and the saints all 
proved unavailing. His ardent soul wandered from one 
human wisdom to another, without finding the means of 
allaying its burning thirst. 

Meantime the pope, allowing the writings of the Old and 
New Testaments to be called The Holy Hiblc, Farel began 
to read them, as Luther had done m the cloister at Erfurth ; 
he was amazed-}- at seeing that everything 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." | A 
terrible straggle 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. " 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." 

* Q,UJB de sanctis conscripta offendebam, verura ex stulto insanmu 
faciebant. Farellus Galeoto, MS. Letters at Neufcbatel. 
t Farel. A tous seigneurs, &c. J Ibid. 

Oculos demittens, visis uon credebam. Farellus Natali Galeoto. 



338 THE PANTHEON LEFEVRE's PROPHECY. 

One day, as he was reading the Bible, a doctor who hap- 
pened to come in rebuked him sharply. " No man," said 
he. " ought to read the Holy Scriptures before he has learnt 
philosophy and taken his degree in arts." This was a pre- 
paration the apostles had not required ; but Farel believed 
him. " I was," says he, " the most wretched of men, shut- 
ting my eyes lest I should see."* 

From that time the young Dauphinese had a return to his 
Romish fervour. The legends of the saints inflamed his 
imagination. The greater the severity of the monastic rules, 
the greater was the attraction he felt towards them. In the 
midst of the woods near Paris, some Carthusians 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 a troop of mediators, saviours, 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 Le- 
fevre'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 !"-} Farel 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 produce 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 

* Oculos a luce avertebara. Farellus Natali Galeoto. 

+ A tous seigneurs. See also his letter to Pellican. Ante annos plus 
minus quadraginta, me mauu apprehensum ita alloquebatur : " Golielme, 
oportet orbem immutari et tu videbis !" 



THE LEGENDS AND THE WORD OF GOD. 339 

names are found in the calendar. Two months had already 
been printed, when one of those beams of light which come 
from heaven, suddenly illuminated 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 " brim- 
stone fit to kindle the fire of idolatry."* He abandoned his 
work, and throwing these legends aside, turned ardently 
towards 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 the 
commencement of the Reformation. 

In effect, Lefevre, weaned from the fables of the Breviary, 
began to study the Epistles of St. Paul ; the light increased 
rapidly in his heart, and he immediately imparted to his dis- 
ciples 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 understand 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 overthrew by 
a single blow the subtleties of the schoolmen and the ob- 
servances 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 re-echoed such strange sounds, " it is God alone, who 
by his grace, through faith, justifies unto everlasting life.J 

* A tous seigneurs, peuples et pasteurs. 

f 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 Bibliotheqno 
Royale of Paris. The second edition is that from which I quote. Tiro 
learned Simon says (Observations on the New Testament), that "James 
Lefevre deserves to be ranked among the most skilful commentators o* 
the age." We should give him greater praise than this. 

Solus enim Deus est qui hanc justitiam per fidem tradit, qui sola 
gratia ad vitam justificat ffiternam. Fabri Comm. in Epp. Pauli, p. 70. 



340 JUSTIFICATION HY FAITH OBJECTIONS. 

There is a righteousness of works, there is a righteousness 
of grace ; the one cometh from man, the other from God ; 
one is earthly and passcth 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."* 

" 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 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 jus- 
tified by works, it is in vain that we perform them," replied 
some. The Paris doctor answered, and the other reformers 
would not perhaps have altogether approved of this reply : 
" Certainly not ! they are not in vain. If I hold a mirror to 
the sun, its image is reflected ; the more I polish and clear 
it, the brighter is the reflection ; but if we allow it to become 
tarnished, the splendour of the sun is dimmed. It is the 
same with justification 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 strongly 
of the Bishop of Hippona. Those who lead an unholy life 
have never received justification, 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 sal- 
vation, and 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, formerly 
preached in Gaul by Pothinus and Irenscus, was heard there 
again. From this time there were two parties, two people 
in this great school of Christendom. Lefevre's lessons and 

* Ilia umbratile vestigium atque signum, hsec lux et veritas est. Fabri 
Comm. in Epp. Pauli, p. 70. 



DISORDEKS IN THE COLLEGES UPROAR. 341 

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 learn- 
ing their parts in comedies, in masquerading, and in mounte- 
bank farces, than in studying the oracles of God. In these 
plays the honour of the great, of the princes, of the king 
himself, was frequently attacked. The parliament in- 
terfered about this period; and summoning the principals 
of several colleges before them, forbade those indulgent 
masters to permit such dramas to be represented in their 
houses.* 

But a more powerful diversion than the decrees of par- 
liament 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 evangelical 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 con- 
demned 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 justification 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." { 

Farel listened earnestly to this teaching. These words of 
salvation by grace had immediately an indescribable charm 

" Crevier, Hist, de 1'Universite, v. 95. 

t Opera signa vivas fidei, quam justificatio sequitur. Fabri Comm, in 
Epp. Pauli, p. 73. 

t Sod radius desuper a sole vibratus, justificatio est. Ibid. 
VOL. ill. 16 



342 EFFECTS ON FARKL THE CKOSS ELECTION. 

for him. Every objection fell : every struggle ceased. No 
sooner had Lefevre put forward this doctrine than Farel em- 
braced it with all the ardour of his soul. He had undergone 
labour and conflicts enough to be aware that he could not 
save himself. Accordingly, immediately 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 everything came from grace : which I believed 
as soon as it was spoken."* Thus by a conversion as 
prompt and decisive as that of St. Paul was Farel led to the 
faith, that Farel who (as Theodore Beza says), undismayed 
by difficulties, threats, abuse, or blows, won over to Jesus 
Christ Montbelliard, Neufchatel, Lausanne, Aigle, and finally 
Geneva.f 

Meanwhile Lefevre, continuing his lessons, and delighting, 
as Luther did, in employing contrasts and paradoxes con- 
taining weighty truths, extolled the greatness of the mysteries 
of redemption : " Ineffable exchange," 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 put to shame is covered with glory ."J The 
pious doctor, going still deeper, acknowledged that all sal- 
vation proceeds 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 election, 
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." 

But Lefevre did not confine himself to doctrines alone : if 
he gave to God the glory, he required obedience from man, 
and urged the obligations which proceed from the great 
privileges of the Christian. " If thou art a member of Christ's 

* Farel. A tous seigneurs. 

f Nullis difficultatibus fractus, nullis minis, convitiis, verberibus deni- 
que inflictis territus. Beza; Icones. 

. O ineffabilc commercium ! Fabri Comm. 145, verso. 

Incfficax est ad hoc ipsum nostra voluntas, nostra electio : Dei autem 
cloctio efficacissima et potentissima est, &c. Ibid. p. 89, verso. 



SANCTIFICATION OF LIFE. 843 

Church, thou art also a member of his hody," 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 
bodily. 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."* 

Lefevre perceived that the office of a teacher of the Word 
is a lofty station; and he exercised it with unshaken 
fidelity. The corruption of the times, and particularly 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 !} men deserving a severer punish- 
ment than Sardanapalus himself!" 



CHAPTER III. 

Farel 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 ? Leferre's Place. 

THUS taught Lefevre. Farel listened, trembling with emo- 
tion ; he received all, and rushed suddenly into the new path 
that was opening before him. There was, however, 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 

* Si de corpore Christi, divinitate repletus eg. Fabri Comm. p. 176, rerso. 
f Et virgunculas gremio tenentem, cum suaviis sermones miscentem. 
Ibid, p 200. 



344 FAREL AND TilE SAINTS THE UNIVERSITY. 

be invoked. " Religion has but one foundation," said Le- 
fevre, " one object, one Head, Jesus Christ, blessed for ever- 
more : alone hath He trodden the wine-press. Let us not 
then call ourselves after St. Paul, or Apollos, 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 Farel's 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 deserving of his worship. 
" Then," said he, " popery was 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 monarch of the 
Church, Louis XII. laid the book before the university in 
the month of February 1512. James Allmain, one of the 
youngest doctors, a man of profound genius and indefati- 
gable application, read before the faculty of theology a refu- 
tation of the cardinal's assertions, which was received with 
the greatest applause.f 

What impression must not such discourses have produced 
on the minds of Lefevre's young disciples ! Could they hesi- 
tate when the university seemed impatient under the papal 
yoke ? If the main body itself was in motion, 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." J He contemplated the abyss of supersti- 
tions in which he had been plunged. Standing on the brink, 

Farel. A tous seigneurs. 

t CreMer, Hist, de I'Univereite de Paris, v. 81. 

t Farel. A tous seigneurs. 



PEACE AND JOY. 345 

he once more surveyed its depth with an anxious eye, and 
shrunk back with a feeling of terror. " Oh ! what horror 
do I feel at myself and my sins, when I think of these 
things !" exclaimed he.* " 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 
honoured -thee as much as I have given my heart to the mass 
and to serve that enchanted wafer, giving it all honour! " In 
such terms did the youthful Dauphinese deplore 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 terrible storms.f 
" 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 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."^ 

Having escaped from so great an evil, he turned towards 
the Bible,** and began to study Greek and Hebrew with much 
earnestness.-]--}- He read the Scriptures constantly, with ever 
increasing affection, and God enlightened him from day to 
day. He still continued to attend the churches of the esta- 
blished worship ; but what found he there? loud voices, in- 
terminable chantings, and words spoken without understand- 
ing.ft Accordingly, when standing in the midst of a crowd 

* Farel. A tous seigneurs. 

f- Animus per varia jactatns, verum nactus portum, soli hsesit. Farel 
Galeoto. 

J Jam rerum nova fades. Ibid. 

?\otior scriptura, apertiores prophetic, lucidiores apostoli. Ibid. 

|| Aguita pastoris, magistri, et praeceptoris Christi vox. Ibid. 

U Farel. A tons seigneurs. 

** Lego sacra ut causam inveniam. Farel Galeoto. 

f+ Life of Farel, Geneva and Choupard MSS. 

JJ Clamores raulti, cantiones innumerze Farel Galeoto, Noufcbatcl 
MS. 



846 FAREL AND LUTHER. 

that was passing near an image or an altar, he would exclaim, 
" Thou alone art God ! thou alone art wise ! thou alone art 
good!* Nothing 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 ho 
now saw nothing in the world but God and his Word. The 
other doctors of Paris, ly their persecutions of Lefevre, had 
already fallen in his esteem ; but erelong Lefevre 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 struggles. Quick and 
ardent, men of conflict and strife, they underwent the severest 
trials before attaining peace. Farel is the pioneer of the Re- 
formation in France and Switzerland; he rushes into the 
wood, and hews down the aged giants of the forest with his 
axe. Calvin came after, like Melancthon, from whom he 
differs indeed in character, but whom he resembles in his 
part as theologian and organizer. These two men, who 
have something 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 approxi- 
mate in some of their features, we must acknowledge 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 Dau- 
phinese 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 fermented 

among the crowd who listened to his lectures, and in his 

* Vote tu solus Deus. Farel Oaleoto, Nenfchate! MS. 



DATE OF THE REFORM IN FRANCE. 347 

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 cen- 
tury, who afterwards translated 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 im- 
pression on the world, and was going to Rome on some 
trifling monkish business, at an epoch when Zwingle had 
not yet begun to apply himself earnestly to sacred learning, 
and was crossing the Alps with the confederates 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 prepared 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 Iso- 
crates sent forth the best orators, so from the lecture-room 
of the doctor of Etaples issued many of the best men of the 
age and of the Church."J 

The Reformation was not, therefore, in France a foreign 
importation. It was born on French soil; it germinated 
in Paris ; it put forth its first shoots in the university itself, 
that second authority in Romish Christendom. God planted 
the seeds of this work in the simple 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, was independent of the German Reformation ; 

* Biogr. Univ., art. Olivetan. Hist, du Calvinisme by Maimbourg, p. 53. 
t Et purioris religionis instaurationem fortiter aggressus. Beza I cones. 
J Sic ex Stapulensis anditorio prsestantissimi viri plurimi prodierint. 
Ibid. 
See Vol. 1 1. p. 281. 



348 SPONTANEOUS BIRTH OF REFORM. 

and in its turn the Reformation in France was independent of 
that of Switzerland and of Germany. The work commenced 
at the same time in different countries, without any com- 
munication one with the other; as in a battle all the divisions 
begin to move at the same moment, although one has not 
told the other to march, but because one and the same com- 
mand, issuing from a higher power, lias been heard by all. 
The time had come, the nations were prepared, 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 honour of 
havingbegun this work, although, hitherto, these two countries 
alone have contended for it. This honour belongs to France. 
This is a truth, a fact that we are anxious to establish, be- 
cause until now it may possibly have been overlooked. 
Without dwelling on the influence that Lefevre exercised 
directly or indirectly on many 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 
afterwards. 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 impos- 
sible, 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 reformer. 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 



CHARACTER OF FRAKCIS I. 349 

is to the end a sort of go-between, a mediator not altogether 
free from mystery, destined to remind us of the connexion 
between the old things and the new, which seemed for ever 
separated by an impassable gulf. Though rejected and per- 
secuted 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 century : he 
is the link connecting the ancient times with the modern, 
and the man in whom the transition is made from the theo- 
logy of the middle ages to the theology of the Reformation. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Character of Francis I. Commencement of Modern Times Liberty 
and Obedience Margaret of Valois The Court Bri9onnot, Count of 
Montbrun Lefevre commends him to the Bible Francis I. and "his 
Children " The Gospel brought to Margaret Conversion Adoration 
Margaret's Character. 

THUS the whole university was in a state of restlessness. 
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 everything would bend to his sovereign 
pleasure. Valour, a taste for letters, and a love of gallantry, 
are three terms that will express the character of Francis and 
the spirit of his age. Two other 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 tlicre had always existed in 
the nation elements of holiness and Christian elevation 

16* 



350 COMMENCEMENT OF MODERN TIMES. 

we may say that these three great monarchs of modem 
France have in some measure stamped upon their subjects 
the impress of their own peculiarities, or rather that they 
themselves were the faithful images of the character of their 
people. If the Gospel had entered France with the most 
illustrious of the Valois family, it would have brought the 
nation what it does not possess, a spiritual tendency, 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 reign of Francis I. that France and Europe 
passed from the middle ages to modern times. The new 
world, which was then in the bud, grew up and entered 
into possession. Two classes of men imposed their influ- 
ence 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 writers, friends of the world 
and of vice, who by the freedom of their principles contri- 
buted as much to the depravation 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 tw,o classes of com- 
batants, the antagonists of the pope and the opponents of 
the Gospel, were mixed up together; and as they both 
claimed liberty, they appeared to employ the same arms 
against the same enemies. 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 ex- 
tremes of impiety, and pusning Christian society into a 
frightful abyss ; the papacy itself was helping towards this 
terrible catastrophe, and accelerating by its ambition and its 
disorders the destruction of the remnants of truth and life 
still surviving ia the Church. But God raised up the lie- 
formation, and Christianity was saved. The reformers who 



MARGARET OF VALOIS. 351 

had shouted liberty, soon called for obedience. The very 
men who had cast down the throne whence the Roman 
pontiff issued his oracles, fell prostrate before the "Word of 
God. Then a clear and definite separation took place ; nay 
more, the two bodies engaged 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 Reforma- 
tion became the most formidable enemy of that incredulity 
towards which Rome is often so lenient. After restoring 
liberty to the Church, the reformers restored religion 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 Alcncon, 
whom Francis tenderly loved, and always called " sa mig- 
nonnc" his darling, as we learn from Bran tome.* 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 affec- 
tions. In the world, in the gay entertainments at the court 
of the king and of the emperor, she shone like a queen, charm- 
ing, surprising, and captivating all hearts. Passionately 
fond of letters, and endowed with a rare genius, she would 
retire to her closet, and there indulge in the sweet pleasures 
of thought, study, and learning. But her ruling passion 
was to do good and prevent evil. When ambassadors 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 glowing report of her to their own 
countrymen." And the king would often refer matters of 
importance to her, " leaving them solely to her dccision."-J- 

This celebrated princess was distinguished for the strict- 
ness of her morals ; but while many confine this strictness to 
their lips, and are lax in their behaviour, Margaret did the 
contrary. Irreproachable in conduct, she was not altogether 
free from censure in her writings. Instead of being surprised 
at this, we might rather wonder that a woman so dissolute 

* Vie des Dames illustres, p. 333. La Haye, 1740 
t Ibid. p. 337. 



S52 THE COURT BRICONNET. 

as Louisa of Savoy should have a daughter so pure as Mar- 
garet. While visiting different parts of the country with the 
court, she amused herself with describing the manners of the 
time, and particularly the disorders of the priests and monks. 
" I have heard her," says Brantome, " thus narrating tales 
to my grandmother, who always accompanied her in her 
litter, as lady-in-waiting, and who had charge of her 
ink horn."* 

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 the religious movement then beginning 
in France. But how could the Duchess of Alen<jon be 
reached by the Reformation in the midst of so 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 appeared in Rome already counted 
followers in the house of Narcissus and in the court of Nero,-f- 
penetrated rapidly, at the period of its renovation, 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 illustri- 
ous head, by which they were immediately reflected on the 
Duchess of Alencon. 

Among the most distinguished noblemen at the court was 
William of Montbrun, son of Cardinal Brionnet of St. Malo, 
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 Lodeve 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 every- 
where beginning to move. Farel, then master of arts, was 
lecturing in the celebrated college of the Cardinal Lemoine, 
one of the four principal colleges of the theological faculty in 
Paris, equal in rank to the Sorbonne. Two fellow-countrymen 
of Lefevre, Arnaud and Gerard Roussel, with several others, 

Vie des Dames illustres, p. 346. 
t Romans xvi. 1 1 ; Philip, iv. 22. 



BRIC.ONNET READS THE BIBLE. 353 

increased the circle of liberal and generous minds. Bri<jon- 
net, fresh from the gay entertainments and festivities of 
Rome, was astonished at what had taken place in Paris dur- 
ing his absence. Thirsting for the truth, he renewed his 
ancient relations with Lefevre, and passed many precious 
hours with the doctor of the Sorbonne, with Farel, the two 
Roussels 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 bene- 
volence, from which I am exiled by my demerits." His mind 
was dazzled, as it were, by the brilliancy 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." -} 

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 religion of Jesus Christ is 
renovated. Bric,onnet read the Bible. " Such is the sweet- 
ness of this Divine foad," 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 inex- 
haustible sweetness ? But the dwelling extends according 
to our desire to entertain the good guest. Faith is the 
quartermaster 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 Reformation restored to the world, held in so little 
estimation at court, in the city, and among the people, 

Histoire de la Revocat. de 1'edit. de Nantes, i. 7. Maimbourg, Hist. 
duCalv. p 12. 

f This passage is taken from a manuscript in the Bibliotheque Royala 
at Paris, entitled Leltres de Marguerite, reine de Navarre, and marked 
S. F. 337. I shall have frequent occasion to quote the manuscript, which 
I had great difficulty in deciphering. Ibid. 



354 FRANCIS I. AND HIS CHILDREN. 

exclaimed : " Oh singular and most worthy innovation, and 
yet to my fellow-men most unacceptable !" 

It is in this way that evangelical opinions made their way 
into the midst of the frivolous, dissolute, and literary court 
of Francis I. Many of the men who composed it, and who 
enjoyed the entire confidence of the king, as John du Bellay, 
Budseus, Cop the court physician, and even Petit the king's 
confessor, appeared favourably disposed towards the senti- 
ments of Briconnet and Lefevre. Francis, who loved learn- 
ing, who invited into his states learned men inclined to 
Lutheranism, and who thought (as Erasmus says) " in this 
manner to adorn and illustrate his age in a more magnificent 
manner than he could have done by trophies, pyramids, or 
by the most pompous structures," was himself carried away 
by his sister, by Briconnet, and by the literary men of his 
court and universities. He would often be present at the 
discussions of the learned, listening with delight to their 
conversation at table, and calling them " his children." He 
prepared the way for the Word of God by founding Hebrew 
and Greek professorships. And hence Theodore Beza, when 
placing his portrait at the head of the reformers, says: 
" Pious spectator ! do not shudder at the sight of this adver- 
sary! Ought he not to have a part in this honour, who 
expelled barbarism from the world, and with firm hand sub- 
stituted 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 par- 
ticular, which seemed prepared to receive the evangelical 
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 learnt what the new doctors were 

* Neque rex potentissime pudeat quasi atriensea hujus sedis futuras. 

Bezae Icones. Disputationibus eorum ipse iuterfuit. Flor. Kaemuudi 
Hist, de ortu hseresum, vii. 2. 



MARGA.RET RECEIVES THE GOSPEL. 355 

teaching; they lent her their writings, their little books, 
called in the language of the time, " tracts ;" and spoke to 
her of the " primitive Church, of the pure Word of God, of 
worshipping 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 princess 
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 accom- 
plished one of those conversions of the heart which, although 
not thoroughly evangelical, are not the fruit of a mere 
aesthetical religion. Margaret subsequently recorded 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 1 

This corruption, of which she had so long been ignorant, 
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 fruit, f 

Yet amidst 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. 

* Maimbourg, Hist, du Calvinisme, p. 17. 

+ Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses. Lyon. 1547, tome i. 
Miroir de 1'ame pecheresse, p. 15. The copy I have used appears, to 
have belonged to the Queen of Navarre herself, and some notes that it 
contains are said to be in her own handwriting. It ia now in the 
possession of a friend of the author's. 

J Ibid. pp. 18, 19. 



856 ADORATION. 

And erelong a sense of the love of God in Christ was shed 
abroad in her heart. 

Margaret had found faith, and her enraptured soul in- 
dulged 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 the Duchess 
of Alenc,on : 

Though poor, and weak, and ignorant I be. 
How rich, how strong, how wise I am in Thee !f 

But the power of sin was not yet subdued in her. She 
found a struggle, a discord in her soul that alarmed her :| 

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 might ex- 
press tire 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 turns wher- 
ever he goes." She added this device : 

A r on inferiora 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 icill live godly in Jesus 
Christ shall suffer persecution. At the court, they talked 
of Margaret's new opinions, and the surprise was great. 

* Marguerites, &c. Discord do 1'esprit et de la chair, p. 73. (The 
translator has endeavoured to preserve the quaintncss of the original, both 
in rhyme and rhythm). 

+ Ibid. Miroir de 1'ame, p. 22. J Ibid. Discord de Pesprit, p. 71. 

| Vie des Femmes illustres, p. 33. || Ibid. 



MARGARET'S CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. 367 

What! 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 was very kind, mild, gracious, chari- 
table, affable, a great alms-giver, 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 convictions, 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 between her brother and her Saviour, 
and could not resolve to sacrifice either. We cannot re- 
cognise 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 present 
her parallel. She is a star, slightly clouded no doubt, but 
shedding an indescribable and gentle radiance, 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 Reforma- 
tion, that his frightened sister will screen her holy faith 
from the light of day. But 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 
understanding and of her heart, plead the cause of the 
Gospel at the court of France much better than any 
preacher could have done. The gentle influence of woman 
* Vic deb Femmes illustrefe, p. 34). 



358 ENEMIES OF THE REFORMATION. 

gained admission 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 followed 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 serious misfortune to the Reforma- 
tion to count a Navarre and a Conde among its ranks. 



CHAPTER V. 

Enemies of the Reformation Louisa Duprat Concordat of Bologna 
Opposition of the Parliament and the University The Sorbonne 
Beda His Character riis Tyranny Berqnin,the most learned of the 
Nobility The Intriguers of the Sorbonne Heresy of the three Mag- 
dalens Luther condemned at Paris Address of the Sorbonne to the 
King Lefevre quits Paris for Meaux. 

THUS already had the Gospel made illustrious conquests in 
France. Lefevre, Briconnet, Farel, and Margaret joyfully 
yielded in Paris to the movement that was already begin- 
ning to shake the world. Francis I. himself seemed at that 
time more attracted by the splendour of literature, than re- 
pelled by the severity of the Gospel. The friends of the Word 
of God were entertaining the most pleasing expectations ; they 
thought that the heavenly doctrine would be disseminated 
without 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 centuries by its per- 
secutions, 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 reformed Christians meet with more merciless 
adversaries on the verv spot where they raised the standard 



LOUISA DUPRAT THE CONCORDAT. 359 

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 Margaret, 
notorious for her gallantries, absolute in her will, and sur- 
rounded by a train of ladies of honour whose licentiousness 
began at the court of France a long series of immorality and 
scandal, naturally took part against the Word of God . she 
was the more to be feared as she had always preserved an 
almost unbounded influence over her son. But the Gospel 
met with a still more formidable adversary in Louisa's favour- 
ite, Anthony Duprat, who was nominated chancellor of the 
kingdom by her influence. This man, whom a contemporary 
historian calls the most vicious of all bipeds,* was more ra- 
pacious than Louisa was dissolute. Having first enriched 
himself at the expense of justice, he desired subsequently to 
increase 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 persons, 
who, being both devoted to the pope, endeavoured to conceal 
the disorders of their lives by the blood of the heretics.-j- 

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 councils to give it to the 
pope; and depriving the churches of their right to fill up 
the vacant bishoprics and livings, conferred it on the king. 
After this, Francis I., supporting the pontiffs train, pro- 
ceeded to the minster-church of Bologna to ratify this ne- 
gotiation. 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. 

* Bipedum omnium iieqnissimns. Belcarius, xv. 435. 

t Sismondi, Hist, des Fraucais. xvi. 387. J Matliieu, L 16. 



360 RESISTANCE OF THE PARLIAMENT AND UNIVERSITY. 

The parliament vigorously resisted the concordat. The king 
made its deputies wait several weeks at Amboise, 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 com- 
manded them to depart before sunset. Evangelical liberty had 
nothing to hope from such a prince. Three days after, the 
high-chamberlain 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 1518, a solemn procession, at which all the 
students and the bachelors with their hoods were present, 
repaired to the church of Saint 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 exalted personages who 
were publishing and carrying out the said concordat by the 
king's orders."-}- The university eventually tolerated the 
execution of this edict; but without revoking the resolu- 
tions on which it had declared its opposition ; and from that 
time, says the Venetian ambassador Correro, " the king 
began to give away the bishoprics with a liberal hand at 
the solicitation of the court ladies, and to bestow abbeys on 
his soldiers; so that at the court of France a trade waa 
carried 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 Gallican 
Church, a fanatical and powerful party was forming 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 scholastic Sorbonne and 
a profligate court were now to march forward hand in hand 
against the confessors of Jesus Christ. In the early daya 
of the Church, the unbelieving Sadducecs and the hypocri- 
tical Pharisees were the fiercest enemies of Christianity ; and 

Crevier, v. 110. t Fontaine, Hist. Cathol., Paris, 1.5C2, p. 16. 

X llaumer, Ge&ch. Europ. i. 270. 



THE SORBONNE BEDA. 361 

so they have remained through every age. Erelong from 
the darkness of the schools emerged the most pitiless ad- 
versaries of the Gospel. At their head was Noel Bcdier, 
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 
scholasticism, matured in the theses and antitheses of the 
Sorbonne, having a greater veneration for the distinctions 
of the school than for the Word of God, he was trans- 
ported with anger against those whose daring mouths 
ventured to put forth other doctrines. Of a restless dis- 
position, unable to enjoy any repose, always requiring new 
pursuits, he was a torment to all around him ; 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 university with stupid and 
violent declamations against literature, against the innova- 
tions of the age, and against all those who were not, in his 
opinion, sufficiently earnest 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 secured 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 
burning of Merlin, vicar-general of Paris, for having en- 
deavoured to justify Origen. But when he saw the new 
doctors 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 absur- 
dities of Beda himself?" 

In effect, the very invectives that frightened weak minds, 
disgusted more generous spirits. At the court of Francis I. 

In uno Beda stint tria millia monachorum. Erasm. Epp. p. 373. 
t Talibus Atlantibus nititur Ecclesia Romana. Ibid. p. 1113. 



362 LOUIS DE BERQUIN. 

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 knowledge, which pro- 
cured him the title of " the most learned of the nobles,"f 
the openness of his disposition, his tender care for the poor, 
and his unbounded attachment to his friends, distinguished 
him above his equals.^ There was not a more devout ob- 
server of the ceremonies of the Church, fasts, festivals, and 
masses ; and he held in the greatest horror all that was 
denominated heretical. It was a matter of astonishment to 
witness so much devotion at the court. 

It seemed as if nothing could make such a man incline to 
the side of the Reformation ; there -were, however, one or 
two features in his character that might lead him to the 
Gospel. He abhorred every kind of dissimulation, 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 persecutions, filled his generous 
soul with indignation ; and as he never did tilings by halves, 
he was accustomed wherever he went, in the city or at the 
court, " even among the highest personages in the king- 
dom, "|| to inveigh 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 Berquin 
to inquire after truth. He desired to know that holy Scrip- 
ture, so dear to the men against whom Beda and his crea- 
tures were raging ; and he had scarcely begun to read the 
book, before it won his heart. Berquin immediately joined 
Margaret, Lefevre, Briconnet, and all those who loved the 
Word, and in their society tasted of the purest joys. He felt 
that he had something more to do besides opposing the 

* Ut ne rumusculus quidem impudicitiae sit unquam in ilium exortus. 
Er. Epp. p. 1278. t Gaillard, Hist, do Frai^ois I. 

J Mirere benignus in egenos ct amicos. Er. Epp. p. 1238. 

Constitutionum ac rituum ecclesiasticorum observantissimus. Ibid. 

|| Actes des Martyrs deCrespin, p. 103. 

If Ut maxime omnium time metueudos crabrones in ipsie eorum cavia 
fiezse Icones. 



THE RINGLEADERS OF THE SORBONNE. 363 

Sorbonne, and would have loved to communicate the con- 
victions of his soul to all France. He immediately began 
to write and translate several Christian books into French. 
It seemed 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 
Sorbonne, less prudent, and less skilful, he had in his favour 
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 Theodore 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 governed by a few intriguing and 
fanatical leaders, who cleverly took advantage of the insigni- 
ficance or vanity of their colleagues, to infect them with 
their own prejudices. 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."-]- Did any one give utter- 
ance 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, lastly, those who are 

* Gallia fortassis alterurn esset Luterum nacta. Bezse Icones. 
f* Hie, inquiunt, apparebit qui sint Lutherans? factionis, Er. Epp. 
p. 889. 



364 SERVILITY OF THE UALLICAN CLERGY. 

always carried away by the clamour of others, all became 
the willing recruits of Beda and his satellites. Some were 
silent, others shouted, all submitted to that influence which 
d proud and tyrannical mind exercises over vulgar souls. 
Such was the state of this association, which was regarded 
as so venerable, and which was at that time the most violent 
enemy of evangelical Christianity. It would often be suffi- 
cient 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 ap- 
plauded Allmain's aspirations after independence, abruptly 
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 independence has never 
existed among the Gallican clergy. They have never done 
more than oscillate between servility to the court and servility 
to the pope. If under Louis XII. or Louis XIV. they had 
some appearance of liberty, it was because their master in 
Paris was at strife with their master at Rome. And thus 
we have an explanation of the change we have pointed out. 
The university 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 Le- 
fevre; the renown of the Picard doctor's lectures irritated 
his compatriot and ruffled his pride ; he would gladly have 
silenced him. Once already Beda had attacked the doctor 
of Etaples, and as yet little able to distinguish the evangeli- 
cal 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 Saint Luke speaks in the seventh 
chapter of his Gospel, were three distinct persons. The 
Greek fathers had distinguished them : the Latin fathers 
had confounded them together. This terrible heresy of the 
three Magdalens set Beda and all his host in motion ; Christ- 
endom was roused; Fisher, bishop of Rochester, one of 
the most distinguished prelates of the age, wrote against 
Halliard, Hist, do Frau?ois I. iv. 228. 



LUTHER CONDEMNED AT PARIS. 365 

Lefevre, and the whole Church then declared against an 
opinion now admitted by every Roman-catholic. Already 
Lefevre, 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 re- 
former, 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 latter university against 
the concordat, no doubt led him to hope that he should find 
impartial judges in its members. But the times we're 
changed, and the more decided the theological faculty had 
been against the encroachments 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 
Luthef 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 sen- 
sation in France. The universities, which were then truly 
catholic institutions, to which students resorted from every 
country in Christendom, brought Germany, France, Switzer- 
land, and England, into closer and speedier relation with each 
other, as regards 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, Bricon- 
net, and Farel. Each of his victories increased their courage. 
Many of the Sorbonne doctors were struck by the admirable 
truths they found in the writings of the Wittemberg monk. 
There had already been many a bold confession ; but there 
had also been a terrible resistance. "All Europe," says 

* It vras formerly the custom in the university of Paris to classify its 
members into four nations : viz. France, Picardy, Normandy, and Ger- 
many. Tr. 

VOL. It! 17 

#' 



366 THE SORBONNE ADDRESSES THE KINO. 

Crevier, " was waiting for the decision of the university of 
Paris." The contest appeared doubtful. At length Beda 
prevailed; and in April 1521, the university decreed that 
Luther's works should be publicly burnt, and the author 
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, " the uni- 
Tersity was filled with foreigners, who, because they knew 
a little Hebrew and more Greek, acquired a reputation, in- 
sinuated themselves into the houses of persons of quality, 
and claimed an insolent liberty of interpreting the Bible."* 
The faculty, therefore, appointed a deputation to bear their 
remonstrances to the king. 

Francis I., caring little for the quarrels of theologians, was 
continuing his career of pleasure ; and passing 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 troublesome observation of the 
citizens of the capital. He thus made his progresses through 
Brittany, Anjou, Guienne, Angoumois, and Poitou, leading 
the same sumptuous 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 entertain- 
ments, and banquets, which even those of Lucullus (as 
Brantome says) could not equal.f 

For a moment, however, he interrupted the course 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 before a few fanatical doctors ? He 
replied : " I will not have these people molested. To perse- 
cute those who teach us, would prevent able scholars from 
coming into our country."! 

The deputation left the king's presence in great wrath. 
What will be the consequence ? The disease grows stronger 
every day ; already the heretical opinions are denominated 

Hist, du Cahinisme, p. 10. f Vie des Hommes illustres, i. 326. 
i Maimbourg, p. 11. 



LEFEVRE RETIRES TO MEAUX. 367 

" the sentiments of men of genius ;" the devouring flame is 
stealing into the most secret recesses ; erelong the conflagra- 
tion 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 permission 
to erect their scaffolds, resort to persecutions of a more invi- 
dious nature. There was no kind of annoyance to which the 
evangelical teachers were not subjected. Fresh reports and 
fresh denunciations followed each other daily. The aged 
Lefevre, tormented by these ignorant zealots, longed for re- 
pose. The pious Bric.onnet, who was unremitting in his 
veneration for the doctor of Etaples,* offered 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. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Brtyonnet visits his Diocese Reform The Doctors persecuted in Paris 
PhLliberta of Savoy Correspondence between Margaret and Bri9onnet. 

THUS Paris was beginning to rise against the Reformation, 
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. 

* Pro innumeris beneficiis, pro tantis ad studia commodis. Epist. dedi- 
catoria Epp. Pauli. 

j- About this time (1579) a popular society, more violent in its 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. 



368 BRIQONNET REFORMS. 

Brigonnet, 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 ap- 
pear again in the churches until the time for another collec- 
tion has arrived. The only business of these shepherds is 
to shear their sheep.f 

The majority of the parish priests spent their stipends at 
Paris. " Alas !" exclaimed the pious bishop, finding a pres- 
bytery deserted that he had gone to visit, " are they not trai- 
tors who thus desert the service of Jesus Christ ?"J Bri- 
c.onnet resolved to apply a remedy to these evils, and con- 
voked a synod of all his clergy for the 13th of October 1519. 
But these worldly priests, who troubled themselves but little 
about the remonstrances 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 
Bric,onnet could approve upon examination. 

Worldly-minded priests, imbecile curates, monks who 
thought only of their belly ; such was then the condition of 
the Church. Bric,onnet interdicted the Franciscans from en- 
tering the pulpit ;$ published a mandate on the 27th of Oc- 
tober 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 

* Ea solum doceri quse ad coenobium illorum ac ventrem explendum 
pertiuerent. Acta Mart. p. 334. 

f- MS. of Meaux. I am indebted to the kindness of M. Ladeveze, pastor 
at Meaux, for a copy of this manuscript, which is preserved in that city. 

MS. of Meaux. Eis in uuiversa diocesi sua pr&dicatioiiem 

interdbut. Act. Mart. p. 334. 



PERSECUTIONS IN PARIS. 369 

others who were found to be capable, and gave them to the 
poor sheep, ransomed by the most holy blood of Jesus 
Clirist ;"* and feeling convinced that the only means of pro- 
viding able ministers for his diocese was to train them him- 
self, he determined to establish a theological school at MeauXj 
under the direction of pious and learned doctors. It was 
necessary to find them, and Beda soon provided them. 

This fanatic and his band did not relax their exertions ; 
and, bitterly complaining of the toleration of their govern- 
ment, declared that they would make war on the new doc- 
trines 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 in the city, with pro- 
fessors and priests, students and citizens, he boldly main- 
tained the cause of the Reformation. Others, inspirited by 
his example, were inculcating the Gospel more openly. A 
celebrated preacher, Martial Mazurier, president of St. 
Michael's college, threw aside all reserve, depicted the dis- 
orders of the age in the darkest and yet truest colours, 
and it seemed impossible to resist the torrent of his elo- 
quence.-]- 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 France 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. JThe 
Bishop of Meaux entreated his friends to come and join Le- 
fevre ; and these excellent men, hunted down by the Sor- 
bonne, and hoping to form, under Briconnet's protection, a 
sacred phalanx for the triumph of the truth, accepted the 
bishop's invitation, and repaired to Meaux.f Thus the light 

* Histoire Genealogique de la maison des Brifonnets, by Eug. Briton- 
neau, published in 1G'21, and quoted in the Semeur of 4th May 1842. 

+ Frequentissimas de reforinandis hominum moribus condones habuit, 
Lannoi, Navarrso gymnasii Hist. p. 261. 

Ce fut la persecution qui se suscita contre cux & Paris en 1521, qui 
les obligea a quitter cette Tille. Vie de Farel, par Choupard, 



370 PHILIBERTA OF SAVOY. 

of the Gospel was gradually withdrawn from the capital, 
where Providence had kindled its earliest sparks. And this 
is the condemnation, that light is come, into the icorld, and men 
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil* 
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 Briconnet, 
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. Philiberta, whom the King 
of France had given in marriage to Julian the Magnificent, 
brother to Leo X., in confirmation of the concordat, had re- 
paired to Rome after her nuptials, when the pope, delighted 
at so illustrious an alliance, had expended 150,000 ducats in 
sumptuous festivities 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 influ- 
ence 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 salva- 
tion. But Philiberta was too inexperienced to support her 
friend. Margaret often trembled as she thought of her ex- 
ceeding weakness. If the love she bore the king and the 
fear she had of displeasing him led her to any action con- 
trary to her conscience, trouble immediately entered into her 
soul, and turning sorrowfully towards the Lord, she found in 
him a brother and a master more compassionate and dearer 
to her heart than Francis himself. It was then she said to 
Jesus Christ : { 

Sweet brother, who, when thou might'st justly elude 
Thy foolish sister, tak'st her to thy side ; 
And grace and love giv'st her in recompense 
Of murmurings, injury, and great offence. 

John iii. 19. + Guichemon, Hist. gen. do Savoie, ii. 180. 

t Miroir de 1'ame ptcheresse. Marguerites de la Marguerite, i. 36, 



MARGARET TO BRICONNET REPLY. 371 

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 Everything appeared to be deserting her again. Her 
husband, the Duke of Alenc,on, was setting out for the 
army ; her youthful aunt Philiberta was going to Savoy. 
The duchess turned to Brigonnet. 

" 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 accord- 
ing to His holy will, M. d'Alencon, who by command of 
the king is setting out as lieutenant-general in his army, 
which I fear will not be disbanded without a war. And 
thinking that, besides the public weal of the kingdom, you 
have a good title in whatsoever concerns 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 much 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 honour of God." * 

Michael of Aranda, whose aid Margaret sought, was a 
member of the evangelical society of Meaux, and who sub- 
sequently exposed himself to many dangers in preaching 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. Bric,onnet, to encourage her, replied, : 
" It is the war which the gentle Jesus told us in the Gospel 

he came to send on earth and also the fire the great 

fire that transformed! earthliness into heavenliness. I desire 
with all my heart to aid you, madam, but from my own 
nothingness expect nothing but the will. Whoso hath faith, 
hope, and love, hath all he requires, and needeth not aid or 

Letters of Margaret, Queea of Navarre, iu the Royal Library at 
Paris. S.F. 337(1521). 



872 BRICONNET TO MARGARET PHILIBERTA. 

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." * 

The Bishop of Meaux was beginning to know by personal 
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 such vio- 
lence that his brother, the Bishop of St. Malo, came to Paris 
to inquire into the matter. { Hence Margaret was the more 
touched by the consolations that Brigonnet addressed to her, 
and she replied with offers of assistance. 

" If in anything," she wrote, " you think that I can 
pleasure you or yours, I pray you believe that every trouble 
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 yoitr daughter, 

MARGARET." J 

It is to be lamented that Briconnet did not die in the con- 
test. Yet he was then full of zeal. Philiberta of Nemours, 
respected by all for her sincere devotion, her liberality to- 
wards the poor, and the great purity of her life, read with in- 
creasing interest the evangelical writings transmitted to her 
by the Bishop of Meaux. " I have all the tracts that you 
have sent me," wrote Margaret to Briconnet, " 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 wedJing, which is no slight 
loss to me ; wherefore I beseech you have pity on my lone- 
liness." Unhappily Philiberta did not live long enough to 
declare herself openly in favour of the Reformation. She 

* Lettres de Marguerite, MS. S. F. 12th June 1521. 

+ MS. de Meaux. 

t MS. S. F. 227, de la Bibl. Royale. 



THE ONLY ONE AND SOLITUDE. 373 

died in 1524 at the castle of Virieu le Grand, in Bugey, at 
the age of twenty-six.* This was a severe blow to Margaret. 
Her friend, her sister, she who could fully comprehend her, 
was taken from her. There was perhaps 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/t* 

Margaret, feeling her inability to resist her grief and the 
seductions of the court, entreated Bric,onnet 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 infinite mercy 
visit your heart, exhorting you to love him 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 kindles ; and by warmth he 
attracts to follow him, enlarging 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 

suffer a painful and ignominious 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 

* Guichemon, Hist, de la maison de Savoie, ii. 181. 
f Chanson spirituelle apres la inort du Roi. Marguerites, L 473. 
17* 



374 THE STRAY SHEEP THE FOREST. 

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 vouchsafe 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 whatever 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 Bric.onnet, " wandering 
about, not knowing where to find its pasture, through lack 
of knowing its new shepherds, naturally lifts its head to catch 
the breeze from that quarter where the chief shepherd was 
once accustomed 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 this 
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 salvation under the figure 
of a wood : " The sheep entering the forest, led by the Holy 
Ghost," said he, " is immediately enchanted by the good- 
ness, 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 $ and moving rapidly through its depths, 
finds it so pleasant, that the way is life, and joy, and con- 
solation." The bishop then shows her the sheep searching 
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 endeavours to scale, finding everywhere 
"inaccessible and incomprehensible infinity." He then teaches 
her the road by which the soul, inquiring after God, sur- 

" MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. 337, dated 10th July, 
t Ibid. $ Allan Christ 

SMS. S. F. 337. Bibl. Roy. 



FIKE AND ICE. 375 

mounts all these difficulties ; he shows how the sheep in the 
midst of the hirelings finds " the cabin of the great Shep- 
herd," 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 his 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 if the royal family were 
enlightened, all the people would be so, and the priests, 
stirred to rivalry, would at last awaken from their lethargy. 
" Madam," wrote he to Margaret, " I humbly entreat Al- 
mighty 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 from you there may go forth a light burning 

and shining 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 indifference and world- 
liness of those around her, she said : " The times are so cold, 
my heart so icy;" and signs her letter, " your frozen, thirsty, 
and hungry daughter, 

" MARGARET." 

This letter did not discourage Brigonnet, but it made him 
ponder ; and feeling how much he, who desired to re-ani- 
mate others, required to be animated himself, he commended 
himself to the prayers of Margaret and of Madam de Ne- 
mours. " Madam," wrote he, with great simplicity, " I be- 
seech you to awaken the poor slumberer with your prayers."f 

Such in 1521 were the sentiments interchanged at the 
court of France. A strange correspondence, no doubt, and 
which, after more than three centuries, a manuscript in the 

* Studio veritatis aliis declaraudae inflammatus. Act. Martyrum, p. 334 
t MS. Bibl. Royale. 



876 BEGINNING OP THE CHURCH AT MEAUX. 

Royal Library has revealed to us. "Was this influence of 
the Reformation in such high places a benefit to it or a mis- 
fortune? The sting of truth penetrated the court; but per- 
haps 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. 



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 before the 
Bishop The Monks before the Parliament Bri9onnet 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 
aublime defender* of the Gallican system against the auto- 
cratic 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 labourers 
were prodigal of their exertions and their seed, and where 
already the ears were falling before the reapers. Briconnet, 
less sunk in slumber than he had said, was animating, in- 
specting, .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 France. 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.-}- Every 

* Bossuet. 

f Reges, principes, magnates omnes et subinde omnium nationum 

populi, ut nihil aliud cogitent ae Christum. Fabri. Comm. in Evang. 

Praef. 



THE WORD OP GOD ALL-SUFFICIENT. 377 

priest should resemble that archangel whom John saw in 
the Apocalypse, flying through the air, holding the ever- 
lasting Gospel in his hand, and carrying it to every people, 
nation, tongue, and king. Come near ye pontiffs, come ye 

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."-]- 

Such in truth was the motto of that school : THE WORD 
OF GOD is ALL-SUFFICIENT. In this device the whole Refor- 
mation 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." { 

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 October 1522, he pub- 
lished a French translation of the four Gospels; on the 6th 
November, the remaining books of the New Testament ; on 
the 12th October 1524, all these books together, at the house 
of Colliu 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 
Scriptures 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 French- 
men, that when they sought to know Divine things, doubt 
and obscurity encompassed them on every side. In how 
many moments and perhaps years in their lives had they 
been tempted to regard the most certain truths as mere 

* Ubivis gentium expergiscimini ad Evangelii lucem. Fabri Comm. 
in Evang. Prsuf. 

t Verbum Dei sufficit. Ibid. 

J Hsee est universa et sola vivifica Theologia Christum et vcrbnm 

cjus esse omnia. Ibid, in Ev. Johan. p. 271. 

Le Long. Biblioth. sacree, 2d edit. p. 42. 



378 THE ARTISANS AND THE BISHOP. 

delusions ! We need a ray from heaven to enlighten our 
darkness. Such was the ejaculation of many a soul at the 
epoch of the Reformation. With longings such as these, num- 
bers received the sacred writings from the hands of Lefevre; 
they were read in their families and in private ; conversa- 
tions on the Bible became frequent ; Christ appeared 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. Sundays and holidays especially were devoted to the 
reading of Scripture, and inquiring into the good pleasure of 
the Lord."* 

Bric,onnet rejoiced to see piety take the place of super- 
stition in his diocese. " Lefevre, aided by the renown of 
his great learning," says a contemporary historian, " con- 
trived so to cajole and circumvent Messire Guillaume Bri- 
onnet 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 pes- 
tilent doctrine, where it has so marvellously 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 Fran- 

* Act. des Mart. p. 182. 

t Histoire Catholique do notre temps, par Fontaine, de 1'ordre de St. 
Francis. Paris, 1562. 



EVANGELICAL UAKVEST. 379 

ciscan 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 doctrine ; on 
the other, Brigonnet, Lefevre, Farel, 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 distinguished himself among the new Christians. 
James Pavanne, a learned and youthful Picard, " a man of 
great sincerity and uprightness," whom Bric,onnet had in- 
vited to Meaux, showed an ardent zeal for the Reformation. 
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 exa- 
mining 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 labourers flocked thither 
from the surrounding countries. Resting 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 har- 
vests. Many peasants from Thierache, and particularly 
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 renown of this great 
blessing spread through France," says the chronicler.-}- Bri- 
c,onnet himself proclaimed the Gospel from the pulpit, and 
endeavoured 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 enlightens him, raises him by adop- 
tion to the dignity of a son of God."} He besought his 

* These particulars are derived from some old aud much discoloured 
papers, found in the church of Landouzy-la-Ville, in the department of 
Aisne, by M. Colany, while pastor of that place. 

t Act. Mart. p. 182. -J MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. No. 337. 



880 BRIQONNET'S FOREBODINGS PRESENT TO THE KING. 

flock to lend no ear to those who would turn them aside 
fromthe Word. " 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 
seemed to indicate the possibility of such a misfortune. 
" Not only was the Word of God preached," says the chro- 
nicle, " but it was followed ; all works of charity and love 
were practised there ; the morals were reformed and super- 
stitions laid low." -f- 

Still clinging to the idea of gaining over the king and 
his mother, the bishop sent to Margaret " the epistles 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," continued 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." J 

What more welcome message could Margaret receive ? 
The moment seemed favourable. 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 Brigonnet should pre- 
sent 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 Gospel 
which they were afterwards to persecute. We do not find 

* Hist. Catholique de Fontaine. f Act. Mart. p. 182. 

J MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. No. 337. 

g Par le commandement de Madame a qny il a lyvre quelque chose 
de la saiuctc Escripture qu'elle desire parfaire. Ibid. || Ibid. 



MARGARET'S STRUGGLES. 381 

that this Word produced any salutary effect 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 
\vorldliness by which she was everywhere surrounded. 
Her tender affection towards her brother, the obedience she 
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. Some- 
times Margaret's soul, assailed by so many adversaries, and 
stunned by the noise of the world, turned 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 Francis and the young lords, the companions of 
his debauchery, filled the royal palaces in the midst of their 
entertainments and festivities : 

Left you I have, to follow pleasure's voice, 

Left you 1 have, and for an evil choice, 

Left you I have, and whither am I come ? * 

Then turning towards Meaux, Margaret would exclaim 
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 in- 
fluence of the court would then be changed into a holy in- 
fluence, and France would acquire a moral strength that 
would render her the benefactress of the world. 

But, on their side, the friends of Rome had taken the 
alarm. Among those at Meaux was a Jacobin monk 
named Roma. One day, as Lefevre, Farel, and their friends 

* Les Marguerites, i. 40. + MS. Bibl. Roy. S. F. No. 337. 



382 ROMA THE MONKS AND THE BISHOP. 

were talking with him and some other of the papal par- 
tisans, Lefevre could not suppress his anticipations. " 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 com- 
pared 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 language. 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 teachers are heretics," said they ; 
" they attack the holiest observances, and deny the most 
sacred mysteries." Then growing bolder, the m.ost incensed 
among them issued from their cloister, and proceeded to the 
bishop's residence. On being admitted, they said to the pre- 
late : " Crush this heresy, or else the pestilence, which is 
already desolating the city of Meaux, will spread over the 
whole kingdom." 

Bric.onnet was moved, and for an instant disturbed by 
this attack, but he did not give way; he felt too much con- 
tempt for these ignorant monks and their interested clam- 
ours. He went into the pulpit, justified Lefevre, and called 
the monks pharisees and hypocrites. Still this opposition 
had already excited trouble and conflict 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 mystical language, " we arrive at a 
vivifying death, and by "continually mortifying life, we die 
* Farel, Epitre au Due de Lorraine, Gen. 1634. 



THE MONKS AXD THE PARLIAMENT. 383 

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 unfavourable re- 
ception by the bishop, resolved to carry their complaints be- 
fore a higher tribunal. An appeal lay open to them. If 
the bishop will not give way, he may be reduced to com- 
pliance. Their leaders set out for Paris, and concerted 
measures with Beda and Duchesne. They hastened before 
the parliament, and denounced the bishop and the heretical 
teachers. " The city and all the neighbourhood," 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 arras, 
arms that were to be stained with blood. Christianity 
had taught mankind that there are duties and rights an- 
terior to all civil associations; it had emancipated the re- 
ligious 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 cor- 
rupted them; for the despotism of the prince it had sub- 
stituted the despotism of the priest ; and not unfrequently 
it had raised both prince and priest against the Christian 
people. A new emancipation was needed ; it took place in 
the sixteenth century. Wherever the Reformation esta- 
blished itself, it broke the yoke of Rome, and the religious 
mind was 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 ; destined, like its founder, 
to be bandied from one despotism to another, to pass from 
Caiaphas to Pilate, and from Pilate to Caiaphas. 
M.S. Bibl. Roy. S. F. No. 337. 



384 BEIJONNET'S FALL. 

Bric.onnet had not the courage necessary for resistance. 
He would not yield everything, but what he did concede 
satisfied Rome. " Wo may well do without Luther's writ- 
ings," he thought, " if we keep the Gospel ; we may easily 
accede to a certain invocation of the Virgin, 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 satisfied. But the sacrifice which Bri- 
Bonnet 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, already alarmed, shaken, and cast down, he 
was still further led astray by treacherous advisers : if the 
evangelical 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 pre- 
vailed; he gave way, and, on the loth of October 1523, 
published three mandates, the first of which enjoined 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 Luther's works, and ordered 
them to be torn in pieces, to be scattered to the winds, or to 
be burnt ; and the last established in express terms the 
doctrine of purgatory. Then, on the 13th of November in 
the same year, Bric.onnet forbade the parish priests and their 
curates to permit the " Lutherans " to preach.* This was 
not all. The first president of the Parliament of Paris, and 
Andrew Verjus, councillor in the same court, and before 
whom Bri^onnet had shortly afterwards to appear, arrived at 
Meaux during Lent 1524, no doubt to satisfy themselves of 
the bishop's proceedings. The poor prelate did all he could 
to please them. Already on the 29th of January he had 
taken the images of the saints under his especial protection ; 
he now began to visit his churches, to preach, and to struggle 
hard in the presence of the first president and of councillor Ver- 
jus to " weed out the heresies that were there shooting up."-}- 

* Hist. Gcnealogique de Bri9onnot, ad annum. 
+ MS. Bill. Roy. S. F. No. 337. 



LEFEVRE AND FAREL PERSECUTION. 385 

The deputies of the Parliament returned to Paris fully satis- 
fied. This was Brigonnet's first fall. 

Lefevre was the special object of hostility. His commen- 
tary on the four Gospels, and particularly the " Epistle to 
Cliristian Readers," prefixed to it, had inflamed the anger of 
Beda and his allies. They denounced this writing to the 
faculty. " Does he not dare to recommend all the faithful to 
read the Scriptures ?" said the fiery syndic. " Does he not 
tell therein that whoever loves not Christ's Word is not a 
Christian ; * and that the Word of God is sufficient to lead 
to eternal life?" 

But Francis I. looked on this accusation as a mere theo- 
logical squabble. He appointed a commission ; and Lefevre, 
having justified himself before it, came off from this attack 
with all the honours of war. 

Farel, who had not so many protectors at court, was com- 
pelled to leave Meaux. It would appear that he first re- 
paired to Paris ;f and that, having unsparingly attacked 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 Wittemberg, where 
Luther resided. This was in January 1523. 

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 Babylon," may still 
be seen the walls of the " apostolic palace," which the popes 
and cardinals had long filled with 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, sometimes 
enlivened by a beautiful, amiable, and laughing boy, who 

* Q,ui verbum ejus hoc modo non diliguut, quo pacto hi Christiani 
cssent. Prscf. Comm. in Evang. 
t Farel, apres avoir subsists tant qu'il put a Paris. Beza, Hist. Eccl. i. C 



386 FRANCIS LAMBERT HIS NOVICIATE. 

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 irre- 
ligion and crimes of these prelates, " crimes so numerous 
and so enormous," says he, " that I cannot describe them."-|- 
He became habituated 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 
education, and, according to the custom of the times, in- 
trusted 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 heaven. The monks worked 
upon this disposition, and Francis, attracted by them, assumed 
the cowl at the age of fifteen. " 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 everything went on 
smoothly ; he was studiously kept in the dark ; but no sooner 
had he pronounced his vows, than the monks showed them- 
selves in all their deformity, and the halo of sanctity that he 
had discovered around their heads faded away, and he re- 
mained incensed, alarmed, and 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 

* In palatio saepe versatus, quod genitor meus legationis ejus secretariua 
esset. Lamb. Epistola ad Galliae Regem. 

f Impietates et horrenda scelera tarn multa et enormia. Ibid. 

J Olim seductus et peccator. Ibid. 

Rationes propter quas minoritarum conversationem, habitumque re- 
jecerit. Wittenberg, 1523. 

|| Urgebat me veheraenter latens qusedam vis (confido non aliena a 
Domini spiritu) ad sacrarum studia literarum. Exegesis in S. Johannis 
Apocalypsia, prsef. 



LAMBERT S APOSTOLIC LABOURS. 387 

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 conver- 
sion whom the fire and sincerity of his language drew around 
him in crowds. But when, after spending several months 
in passing through the Comtat Venaissin and the sur- 
rounding 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 rail- 
lery, 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 certain 
town, with a gravity quite apostolic and the vivacity 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 obscene 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 inveighed against 
their lubricity and theft. Abashed at being discovered, they 
sunk their heads, gave up the picture, but swore to be re- 
venged.* 

Lambert, surrounded with debauchery, and become an ob- 
ject of hatred to the monks, felt from time to time an ardent 
desire to return into the world, which appeared to him infi- 
nitely more holy than the cloister : but he found something 
still better. Luther's works, carried to the fairs of Lyons, 
descended the Rhone and reached his cell. They were soon 
* Lambert von Avignon, by Professor Baum. 



388 



LAMBERT S STRUGGLES HE QUITS AVIGNON. 



taken from him and burnt ; but it was too late. The spirit 
that animated the Augustine of Wittemberg had passed into 
the Franciscan of Avignon: he was saved. Vainly until 
then had he resorted to frequent fasting ; vainly had he slept 
sitting on a stool;* vainly had he shunned the looks of 
woman, worn haircloth next his skin, scourged himself, and 
so weakened his body that he could scarcely hold himself 
upright, 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 ap- 
pointment, 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 imagi- 
nation, disturb the peace of families, and fill society with in- 
numerable 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 floAV abundant and 
pure, and he will there plunge into them, and quench the 
fires that are consuming him.:}; Since all his efforts are 
unavailing, he will go to Wittemberg, to that great servant 
of God, whose name alone conjures and affrights the devil, 
in order that he may find peaee. 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 
Franciscan convent of Avignon in the spring of 1522, after 
twenty years of struggle. He ascended the Rhone, traversed 
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 touch- 

* Non aliter dormuisse multo tempore quam in ecamno nudo sedentem. 
Lamb, de sacro conjugio. 

T Donee secundum altissimi jussionem conjux factus est. Ibid. 

J Urebar tamen etiamsi nescirent alii. Ibid. 

Tametsi non habeam scorta et multis modis niterer ad continentiam, 
nuuquam pacem liabui. Ibid. 



LEFEVRE AND fA&EL PEESECUTED. 389 

ing the ground. We have already seen him pass through 
Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, and Zurich.* In the beginning 
of 1523, he was at Wittemberg, and embraced Luther. But 
let us return to France and to the Church of Meaux. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

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 Rescued by 
Francis I. Mazurier's Apostacy Fall and Remorse of Pavaune 
Metz Chatelain Peter Toussaint becomes attentive Leclerc breaks 
the Images Leclerc's Condemnation and Torture Martyrdom of 
Chatelain Flight. 

LEFEVRE intimidated, Brigonnet drawing back, Farel com- 
pelled to fly here was a beginning of victory. They already 
imagined at the Sorbonne that they had mastered the move- 
ment ; the doctors and monks congratulated 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 doctors, the reading 
of the Bible, and some tracts, had instructed in the Christian 
doctrine,-}- signalized himself by his zeal and facility in ex- 
pounding Scripture. He was one of those men whom the 
Spirit of God fills with courage,! 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 re-established by Luther 

* Vol. II. p. 381. 

f Aliis pauculis libellis diligenter lectis. Beta loQOCS. 
J Animosa fidei plenus. Ibid. 
YOU HI. 18 



390 THE LUTHERAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 

in the sixteenth century.* 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 Romish and the Reformed Churches. Among 
the Lutherans, everything proceeded from the pastor or the 
priest ; and nothing was counted valid in the Church that 
did not flow regularly through its chiefs. But the Reformed 
Churches, while they maintained the Divine appointment of 
the ministry, which some sects deny, approached nearer to 
the primitive condition of the apostolical communities. From 
the times of which we are speaking, they recognised 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 whence 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 employ 
the gift he has received for the good of all ; and that a certain 
gift, necessary to the edification of the Church, may be re- 
fused 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 accomplished. In other countries, the re- 
formers were almost exclusively pastors and doctors ; but in 
France men of learning had 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-comber. 

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 midst 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. He wrote a proclamation against 
See Vol. II. p. 97. 



LECLERC S PLACARDS THE BRANDING. 891 

the Antichrist of Rome, announcing that the Lord was 
about to destroy it by the breath of his mouth. He then 
boldly posted his " placards " on the gates of the cathedral.* 
Presently all was in confusion around that ancient edifice. 
The faithful were amazed ; the priests exasperated. What 1 
a fellow whose employment is wool-combing dares measure 
himself with the pope ! The Franciscans were outrageous, 
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 
Brigonnet himself, who was now to witness and tolerate 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 executioners 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 martyr'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 
unhappy man by her looks and words : she was his mother. 

At last, on the third day, when the blood-stained proces- 
sion was ended, they halted with Leclerc at the usual place 
of execution. The hangman prepared the fire, heated 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 adversaries tremble : " Glory to Jesus Christ 
and to his witnesses !"-j- Thus did that Frenchwoman of the 

* Get heretiqno ecrivit des pancartes qu'il attacha aux portes de la 
grande eglise de Meaux (MS. de Meaux). See also Bezae Icones; Cres- 
piu Actes des Martyrs, &c. 

t Ilh-t. Eccles. de Th. de Bcze, p. 4. Hist, des Martyrs de Crespin. 
p. 82, 



392 A MOTHER'S CRY MEETINGS OF BELIEVERS. 

sixteenth century 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 pun- 
ishment ; but this Christian mother had appalled the hearts 
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 regain 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 Theodore 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 
re-captured 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 Chris- 
tians 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 vineyard or in a wood. There, he 
amongst them who was most versed in the Holy Scriptures 
exhorted the rest ; and this done, they all prayed together 
with great courage, supporting each other by the hope that 
the Gospel would be revived in France, and that the 
tyranny of Antichrist would come to an end." -J- 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 wool- 
comber, the second was a gentleman of the court. It was 
necessary to frighten the nobles as well as the people. 
Their reverences of the Sorbonne 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 

Actes des Martyrs, p. 1 83. 



BERQUIN'S ZEAL A DOMICILIAKY VISIT. 393 

hornets of the Sorbonne" in certain epigrams, had openly 
accused them of impiety.* 

Beda and Duchesne, who had not ventured to reply in 
their usual manner to the witticisms of the king's gentleman, 
changed their mind, as soon as they discovered serious 
convictions latent behind these attacks. Berquin had become 
a Christian : his ruin was determined on. Beda and Duchesne, 
having seized some of his translations, found in them matter 
to burn more heretics 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.f 
He inveighs 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. Berquin's 
study was like a bookseller's shop, whence works of corruption 
were circulated through the whole kingdom. The Common- 
places 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 bookseller It was essential to check this for- 
midable torrent at its very source. 

One day, as Berquin was quietly seated at his studies, 
among his beloved books, his house was suddenly surrounded 
by the sergeants-at-arms, who knocked violently at the door. 
They were the Sorbonne and its agents, who, furnished with 
authority from the parliament, were making a domiciliary 
visit. Beda, the formidable 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, ordered 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 Carlstadt ; farther on, a work of Luther's. Here were 
heretical books translated from Latin into French by Berquin 

* Impietatis etiam accusatos, turn voce, tum scriptis. Bezao Icones. 
f Incongrue beatara Virginem invocari pro Spiritu Sancto. Erasm. 
Kpp. 1-273. 



894 BERQUIN BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT. 

himself; there, others of his own composition. AH the 
works that Beda seized, except two, were rilled with Lutheran 
errors. He left the house, carrying off his booty, and more 
elated than ever was general laden with the spoils of van- 
quished 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 burnt as heretical, and ordered that Berquin should abjure 
his errors. The parliament 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 par- 
liament 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.-\- Every fall proves that 
the previous conversion has been only apparent or partial ; 
but Berquin's conversion was real. He replied with firm- 
ness 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 1st of August 1523. 
On the 5th the parliament handed over the heretic to the 
Bishop of Paris, in order that this prelate might take cog- 
nizance of the affair, and that, assisted by the doctors and 
councillors, he should pronounce sentence on the culprit. 
He was transferred to the episcopal prison.^ 

Thus was Berquin passed from court to court and from 
one prison to another. Beda, Duchesne, and their cabal had 

* Gaillard Hist, de Francois I. iv. 241. Crevier, Univ. do Paris, 
v. 171. 

+ Hebrews vi. 4 ; 1 John Y. 18. 

J Ductus cst in carcerem, reus hrereseos periclitatus. Erasmi Epp. 
1279; Crevier ; Gaillard ; loe. cit. 



DELIVERED BY FRANCIS I. ERASMUS AND BERQUIN. 395 

their victim in their grasp; but the court still cherished 
a grudge against the Sorbonne, and Francis was more 
powerful than Beda. This transaction excited great in- 
dignation 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 L; " of blaming the 
custom of invoking the Virgin in place of the Holy Ghost ? 
But Erasmus and many others blame it likewise. Is it for 
such trifles that they imprison a king's officer?* This 
attack is aimed at literature, true religion, the nobility, chi- 
valry, nay the crown itself." The king was glad to have 
another opportunity of vexing the whole company. He 
issued letters transferring the cause to the royal council, and 
on the 8th of August an usher appeared at the bishop's 
prison 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 Sor- 
bonne submitted to the affront, and Berquin being restored 
to liberty appeared before the king's council, by which he 
was acquitted.-J- 

Thus did Francis I. humiliate the Church. Berquin im- 
agined that France, under his reign, might emancipate her- 
self from the papacy, and had thoughts of renewing the war. 
For this purpose he entered into communication with Eras- 
mus, who at once recognised him as a man of worth.J But, 
ever timid and temporizing, the philosopher said to him : 
" Beware of treading on a hornet's nest, and pursue your 
studies in peace. Above all, do not mix me up with your 
affair ; that would neither serve you nor me."|| 

This rebuff did not discourage Berquin ; if the mightiest 
genius of the age draws back, he will put his trust in God 

* Ob hujusmodi ncenias. Erasm. Epp. 1279. 

- At judices, ubi viderunt causam esse nullins moment!, absolTcrunt 
hotninem. Ibid. 

* Ex epistola visus eel mihi fir bonus. Ibid. 

Sinerct crabrones et suis se studiis oblectaret. Ibid. 
| Deinde ne me hivoheret sure causan. Ibid. 



396 MAZURIER'S APOSTACY. 

who never falters. God's work will be done 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 doc- 
trine. Martial Mazurier had been one of the most zeal- 
ous preachers. He was accused of teaching very erroneous 
opinions,-)- and even of having committed certain acts of vio- 
lence while at Meaux. " This Martial Mazurier, being at 
Meaux," says a manuscript of that city, 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 apprehenJed, 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 pros- 
pect of the stake, and decidedly of opinion that in France 
the victory would remain on the side of Rome, he easily 
persuaded himself that he would enjoy more influence and 
honour by returning to the papacy. Accordingly he re- 
tracted what he had taught, and caused doctrines the very 
opposite of those he had previously held to be preached in 
his parish ; and subsequently joining the most fanatical 
doctors, and particularly the celebrated Ignatius Loyola, he 
became from that time the most zealous supporter of the 
papal cause. || From the days of the Emperor Julian, 
apostates, after their infidelity, have always become the 

* Ille, ut habebat quiddam cum palma commune, adversus detorrcntem 
t )llebat animos. Ibid. There is probably an allusion to Pliny's Natural 
History, xvi. 42. 

f Hist, de 1'Universite, par Crevier, v. 203. 

j Gaillard, Hist, de Fran?ois I. v. 234. 

" Coinnic il e'tait homme adroit, il esquiva la coiidamnation," !ya 
Crevier, v. 203. 

|| Cum Ignatio Loyola init amicitiam. Launoi, Navarra gymnuti 
historia, p. 621. 



FALL AND CONTRITION OP PAY ANNE. 397 

most merciless persecutors of the doctrines they had onco 
professed. 

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, amiability, 
learning, and uprightness of Pavanne, created a general in- 
terest in his favQiir, and Mazurier imagined that be would 
himself be less culpable, if he could persuade Master James 
to follow his example. He visited him in prison, 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 repeated 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, agi- 
tated, and shaken, sunk at last under these perfidious 
attacks, and publicly retracted his pretended errors on the 
morrow of Christmas-day 1524. But from that hour a 
spirit of dejection and remorse was sent on Pavanne by the 
Almighty. A deep sadness preyed upon him, and he was 
continually sighing. " Alas ! " repeated he, " there is 
nothing but bitterness for me in life." Sad wages of un- 
belief! 

Nevertheless, among those who had received the Word of 
God in France, were men of more intrepid spirit than Ma- 
zurier and Pavanne. About the end of the year 1 523, Leclerc 
had withdrawn to Metz in Lorraine, and there, says Theodore 
Beza, he had followed the example of Saint Paul at Corinth, 
who, while working at his trade as a tentmaker, persuaded 
the Jews and the Greeks.f Leclerc, still pursuing his 
occupation as a wool-carder, instructed the people of his 
own condition ; and many of them had been really con- 
verted. Thus did this humble artisan lay the foundation 
of a church which afterwards became celebrated. 

Leclerc was not the first individual who had endeavoured 

Actes des Martyrs, p. 99. 

t Acts of the Apostles, xviii. 3, 4. Apvstoli apud Corinthios exem- 
plum secutus. Beza; Icones. 

18* 



,398 METZ- AORIPFA AKD CHATELAIN. 

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 learned 
clerk, of small stature, who had spent much 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 procured Luther's works, 
and communicated them to his friends,-}- and among others 
to Master John, priest of Sainte-Croix, himself a great clerk, 
and with whom Master 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,^ 
and already in March 1522, an evangelical placard extolling 
what Luther 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 perpetually 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 re- 
inforcement. " 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 people (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 grent animosity was stirred up." || 

* Les chroniques de la ville de Metz. Metz, 1838. 
f Apud Metensea mihi nonnulla Lutherana eommunicare diguatus sis. 
Amiens ad Agrippam, Epp. lib. iii. ep. 10. 
J Lambert von Avignon, by Prof. Baum, p. 59. 
Chroniques de Metz, anno 1523. 
|| Ibid. p. 808. 



LAMBERT AT WTTTEMBERO. 399 

John Chatelain, an Augustine monk of Tournay, and 
doctor of divinity, had been brought to the knowledge of 
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 poor 
artisan, who laid aside the comb with which he carded his 
wool, to explain a French version of the Gospel. 

Everything was fermenting in Metz during that famous 
Lent of 1524, when a new character appeared on the 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 recom- 
mend 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 month 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 Luther and other doctors. He was 
not the only Frenchman at Wittemberg : he there met with 
counts, knights, nobles, 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 

* Vocatus ad cognitionem Dei. Act. Mart. p. 180. 

+ Y Tient ung, se disant docteur, qui premier avail este" religieulx ct i 
present estait marie. Chroniques de Metz, p. 807. 

J Ob persecutionem exul atque pauper factus ; rnihi per omnia placet 
vir. L. Epp. ii. 302. 

Aliquid nostri Martini consilio exordiar, vel Oseam Prophetam, vel 
Psalmos, vel Lucam, vel aliquid tale. Schelhorn, Amcenitates Litt. iv. 336. 

H Veniunt passim Wittembergam Comites, Equites, Nobiles, et alii 
etiam e Gallia nostra ut te inclytum Ducem (the Elector) videant, et 
Prsefectum Operum, M. Lutherum. Comment, in Oseam praef. 



400 EVANGELICAL PRESS AT HAMBURG}. 

with emigrants, exaggerated the state of affairs, imagin- 
ing that a speedy revolution would lead to the triumph 
in 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 Wittembcrg: 
the printing of the pamphlets intended for their countrymen. 
" Would that I could find some one," exclaimed Lambert, 
" that could print not only in Latin, but in French and even 
in Italian." { This was the posture of affairs when certain 
strangers appeared : they were from Hamburg. " We come 
to ask you for some French treatises," said they to Lam- 
bert ; " for we have some one in Hamburg who will print 
them carefully."} 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," re- 
plied 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.\\ 

Yet this could not suffice; every Frenchman returning 
into France was to carry a few books with him, although 
the scaffold might be the reward of his enterprise. Now 
there is more talking, then 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 

* Gallia pene omnis commota est, et absquc magistro sinceros habet 
veritatis dilectores. Schelhorn, Amooii. ir. 

T Si inveuiatur qui imprimat non tautum Latino sed Gallice et Italice, 
haec atque alia tradam. Ibid. 

J Quod ad me ex Amburgo nuntii advenerint tractatus Galileos postu- 
lantea ; aiunt enim quod iliic sit qui ea lingua elimatissimoa posset cudere 
libros. Ibid p. 343. 

Q.UOS demum navigio in Galliam mittit. Ibid. 

H Isaiah xliii. 16. 



LAMBERT'S MARRIAGE LONGIXGS FOR FRANCE. 401 

treatises and letters which Lambert had written to many of 
the most conspicuous men of France and Savoy.* 

On the 13th of July 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 sufferings. Lambert told his Wittem- 
berg 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."-j- Lambert, 
all whose thoughts were in France, paid no attention to the 
reformer's advice.| 

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 flf 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 mak- 
ing known His will in the casting of lots.** He took two 
slips of paper ; on one he wrote France, on the other Swit- 
zerland ; he closed his eyes and drew ; the lot had fallen on 

* Occupatus multis scriptis potissimum qua pluribus in Gallia misi. 
Junior quippe nobilis Claudius de Tauro abiit. Ibid. 

f Potius ad nos illinc, quam ad vos hinc, cuiquam migrandum ease. 
L. Epp. ad Gerbellium Strasburg, ii. 438. 

Nee audit meum consilium, sic occupatus suo proprio. Ibid. 437. 

In gravissima perplexitate. Lambert de Fidelium vocatione, cap. 22. 

|| In priore voca tione erat pax et serenitas ; in alia vcro multa et eadem 
gravissima, etiam mortis pericula erant. 

51 Nulla erat misero requies, ut quidem vixdum somnium caperet, Ibid. 

** Oravit Dorainum, ut hanc contradictionem sort* dirimeret. Ibid. 



402 THE LOTS. 

France.* Again he fell on his knees : " God," said he, 
" if thou wilt not close these lips that desire to utter thy 
praise, deign to make known thy pleasure."-}- Again he 
tried, and the answer still was France. And some hours 
after, recollecting (said he) that Gideon, when called to march 
against the Midianites, had thrice asked for a sign from 
heaven near the oak of Ophrah,| 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, taking his wife with him, departed for Stras- 
burg, whence he repaired to Metz. 

He soon became intimate with Chatelain, whom he called 
" his Jonathan," and appearing before a meeting commis- 
sioned 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 messeig- 
neurs of justice, before whom Lambert had been called, were 
frightened at such a request, and refused permission ; and 
shortly after, the whole troop of Antichrist was in com- 
motion, said Lambert ; canons, monks, inquisitors, the 
bishop's officials, and all their partisans, endeavoured to seize 
and throw him into the dungeon of some cloister. The 
magistrates protected Lambert, but intimated that he had 
better leave the city. Lambert obeyed. " I Avill flee," said 
he to his Master, " but will still confess thy name ! When- 
ever 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 

* Et sors cecidit super vocatione secunda. Lambert de Fidelium voca- 
tione, cap. 22. 

+ Ut non clauderetur omnino os Deum laudare volentis. Ibid. I agree 
with Professor Baum in thinking that Lambert's narrative refers to this 
circumstance. 

J Judges vi. 20-40. 

Sed mox insanavit tola Antichristi Conors, nempe canonici, raonachi, 
Inquisitor, officialis, et reliqui qui sunt ex parte eorum et me capers volu- 
erunt. Epistola ad Franciscum regein. 



PETER TOU8SAINT. 403 

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 playing an 
important part in Germany, as reformer of Hesse. He re- 
turned 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 amuse- 
ments 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 : " Anti- 
christ 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 atten- 
tion, and he recollected them long after. Peter Toussaint 
was no longer a child when the doctor of theology and the 
wool-comber were preaching the Gospel at Metz. His rela- 
tions and friends, surprised at his youthful 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. J The Cardinal 
John of Lorraine, son of Duke Rend, who maintained a large 
establishment, testified 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 
Leclerc be that of Elias ? It is true, Antichrist is already 

* In manu tua sum, sic fugio quasi non fugiam. Hsec est fuga omnibus 
perfectissimis conveniens. De vocatione fidelium, cap. 15. 

t Cum equitabam in arundine longa, memiui sfepe audisse me a raatre 
\renturum Antichristum cum potentia magna, perditurumque eos qui essent 
d Eliae prsedicationem conversi. Tossanus Farcllo, 4th September 1525, 
MS. in the conclave of Neufchatel. 

t Ibid. 21st July 1525. 



404 D'ESCH THE IMAGES. 

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 re- 
spected, and the dean's intimate friend, had just been con- 
verted.f The friends of the Gospel rejoiced. " The knight, 

our worthy master," repeated Peter, adding with noble 

candour ; " if, however, we are permitted 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 superstitions, and Leclerc's 
heart was vexed at seeing this great city plunged in " idola- 
try." 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 coun- 
try, and whither all the inhabitants of Metz were in the 
habit of making a pilgrimage 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: 
Thoii shalt not low down to their gods ; but thou shalt utterly 
overthrow them, and quite break down their images ? Leclerc 
thought that this command was addressed to him, and with- 
out consulting either Chatelain, Esch, or any of those whom 
he might have suspected would have dissuaded him, 
quitted the city in the evening, just as night was coming 
on, and approached the chapel. There he pondered a while 
sitting silently before the statues. He still had it in his 

* Levemus interim capita nostra ad Dominum qui vcniet et non tar- 
dabit. Tossanus Farello, 4th September 1525. 

t Clarissimum ilium equitem cui multum familiaritatis et amicitiae, 

cum primicerio Metensi, patruo moo. Ibid. 2d Aug. 1524. 

J Ibid. 21st July 1525. MS. of Neufchatel. 

Exodus xx. 4 ; xxiii. 24. 



THE IMAGES BROKEN THE PROCESSION. 405 

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 he 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 prit, 
Aliens y du vrai Dieu soutenir 1'interet ; 
Aliens fouler aux picds ce foudre ridicule, 
Dont arme un bois pourri ce peuple trop credule ; 
Allons en eclairer l'avuglement fatal, 
Allons briser ces dieux de pierre et de metal ; 
Abandounons 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 frag- 
ments 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 returned to Metz, 
which he entered at daybreak, unnoticed save by a few per- 
sons 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 ; they recited 
prayers or sung hymns to the saints they were going to 
adore ; crosses and banners moved on in due order, and in- 
struments of music or drums responded to the voices of the 
faithful. At length, after nearly an hour's march, the pro- 
cession reached the place of pilgrimage. But what was 
the astonishment of the priests, when advancing, censer in 

What many admire iu verse they condemn in history, 
t Divini spiritus afflatu impulsus. Bezse Icones. 
J Mane apud urbis portas deprehensus. 



406 LECLERC CONDEMNED AND TORTURED. 

hand, they discovered the images they had come to worship 
mutilated and covering the earth with their fragments. 
They recoiled with horror, and announced this sacrile- 
gious act to the crowd. Suddenly the chanting ceased, the 
instruments were silent, the banners lowered, and the 
whole multitude was in a state of indescribable agitation. 
The canons, priests, and monks endeavoured to inflame their 
minds, and excited the people to search for the criminal, 
and demand his death.* But one cry burst from every lip : 
" Death, death to the sacrilegious wretch ! " 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 daybreak 
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 language still further ex- 
asperated the fury of the multitude, who 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 burnt 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 
heating pincers that were to serve as the instruments of 
their rage. Leclerc, firm and calm, heard unmoved the 
wild yells of the monks and people. They began by cutting 
off his right hand ; then taking up the burning pincers, 
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 brcasts.f While his enemies were in 
this manner wreaking their vengeance on his body, Leclerc's 
mind was at rest. He recited solemnly and with a loud 
voicej these words of David : Their idols are silver and 

* Totam civitatem concitarunt ad anctorcm ejus facinoris qusercndum. 
Act. Mart. Lat. p. 189. 

t Naso candentibus forcipilws abrepto, iisdcmqne brachio utroque 
Ipsisque mamrais crn<Ie!issime pemstis. Hozse Iconefc ; MS. de Meaux 
Crespin, &o. * AltiFBtma voce m-itane. liozso Icones. 



THE MARTYR'S COURAGE CHATELAIN BURNT. 407 

gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, lut they 
speak not ; eyes have they, but they see not ; they have ears, 
lut they hear not ; noses have they, but they smell not ; they 
hare 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. Israel, trust thou in the Lord ; he is 
their help and their shield. (Psalm cxv. 4-9). The sight 
of such fortitude daunted the enemies, and strengthened 
the faithful ;* the people, who had before shown so much 
anger, were astonished and touched with compassion.-j- 
After these tortures Leclerc was burnt by a slow fire, in 
conformity with his sentence. 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 endeavoured to shake the constancy of Chatelain. 
" He is deaf as an adder," said they, " and refuses to hear 
the truth." J He was seized by the creatures of the Cardinal 
of Lorraine and carried to the castle of Nommeny. 

He was then degraded by the bishop's officers, who stripped 
him of Iiis priestly vestments, and scraped his fingers with a 
piece of glass, saying : " By this scraping, we deprive thee of 
the power to sacrifice, consecrate, and bless, which thou re- 
ceivedst by the anointing of hands." Then, throwing over 
him a layman's dress, they surrendered him to the secular 
power, which condemned him to be burnt alive. The pile 
was soon erected, and the minister of Christ consumed by 
the flames. " Lutheranism 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, shuddered 

* Adversariis territis, pii" magnopere confirmatis. Bezse Icones. 
t Nemo qui nou cormnoverctur, attonitus. Act. Mart. Lat. p. 1-89. 
J In?tar aspidis serpentis aurcs onjiii surditate afi'ectas. Ibid. p. 183. 
Utriusqne nianu.* <!i^itos lamina vitn-a crasit. Ibid. p. 66. 



408 FAREL AND HIS BROTHERS. 

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 increased their thirst : 
more scaffolds would erelong be raised. Peter Toussaint, the 
knight Esch, and many others, hastily quitted Metz, and 
sought refuge at Basle. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Farel and his Brothers Farel expelled from Gap He preaches in the 
Fields The Knight Ancmond of Coct The Minorite Anemond 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 Reformation 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 labouring with great activity. It was of little moment 
to him to enjoy the sweets of domestic life in the bosom of 
his family. The rumour 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 besought them with all the im- 
petuosity 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 persecution arose, they courageously sacrificed their 
friends, their property, and their country to worship Jesus 

* Choupard MS. 



FABKL EXPELLED FROM GAP RURAL PREACHINO. 409 

Christ in freedom.* 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 brethren ; he 
proclaimed the truth to his relations and friends at Gap and 
in the neighbourhood. It would even appear, if we may 
credit a manuscript, that, profiting by the friendship of 
certain clergymen, he began to preach the Gospel in several 
churches ;{ but other authorities positively declare that he did 
not at this time ascend the pulpit. However this may be, 
the doctrine he professed caused great agitation. The mul- 
titude and the clergy desired to silence him. " What new 
and strange heresy is this?" said they ; "must all the prac- 
tices of piety be counted vain ? He is neither monk nor 
priest : he has no business to preach." J 

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 exclaimed. 
Farel was summoned to appear, harshly treated, and vio- 
lently 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 I sere many souls that stood in 
need of the Gospel? and if he incurred any danger, could 
he not find an asylum in those forests, caverns, and steep 
rocks that he had so often traversed in his youth? 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 

* Farel, gentilhomme de condition, doue de bons moyens, lesquels il 
perdit tous pour sa religion, aussi bien que trois autres siens t'reres. 
Geneva MS. 

f- II precha IVvangile publiquement avec une grande liberte". Choupard 
MS. J Ibid. ; Hist, des Eveques de Nismes, 1738. 

II fut chasse, voire fort rudement, tant par 1'eveque que par ceux de 
la ville. Choupard MS. 

[| Olim errabundus in silvis, in nemoribus, in aquis vagatus sum. Fare 
*d Capit. de Bucer. Basil, 25th Oct. 152f. MS. letter at Neufchatd. 



410 ff&. ANEMOND DE COCT. 

in which God trained him for other labours. " The crosses, 
persecutions, and machinations of Satan, of which I was 
forewarned, 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 received the truth from 
his lips. Thus the persecution that had driven Farel from 
Paris and from Meaux, contributed to the spread of the Re- 
formation in the provinces of the Saone, of the Rhone, and 
of the Alps. Every age has witnessed the fulfilment of the 
saying of Scripture : They that icere scattered abroad rccnt 
everywhere preaching the Word.-\- 

Among the Frenchmen who were at that time gained over 
to the Gospel was a gentleman of Dauphiny, the chevalier 
Anemond de Coct, younger son of the auditor of Coct, lord 
of Chatelard. He was active, ardent, and lively, sincerely 
pious, and a foe to relics, processions, and the clergy ; he 
received the evangelical doctrine with great alacrity, and 
was soon entirely devoted to it. He could not endure forms 
in religion, and would gladly have abolished all the cere- 
monies 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 Christianity is comprised in these words : John truly bap- 
tized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost ; yc must put on the neio wan. v | 

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 Aquinas, Juvenal, and 
the Bible ! His style was abrupt, passing suddenly from one 
idea to another. Ever in motion, 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 

* Non defuero crucea, persecutio, et Satanaa machinamenta. Farel 
Galeoto. t Acts viii. 4. 

J Nunquam in exteruis quievit spiritus meug. Coctns Farello MS. in 
the conclave of Neufchatel. 



ANEMOND'S FAMILY THE MINORITE FRIAK. 411 

learning," said Zwingle at a later period, " but more distin- 
guished still for piety and affability."* Anemond is the 
type of many of the reformed Frenchmen. Vivacity, simple- 
heartedness, zeal sometimes carried even to imprudence, are 
the qualities often found in those of his fellow-countrymen 
who embraced the Gospel. But at 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 Aneraoud received the knowledge of Jesus 
Christ from Farel,f 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 temper, disdainfully 
repelled him. Lawrence, the youngest of the family, and 
who loved him sincerely, seemed but half to understand him. 
Anemond, finding himself rejected by his own kindred, 
turned his activity to another quarter. 

Hitherto the awakening in Dauphiny had been confined 
solely to the laity. Farel, Anemond, and their friends, de- 
sired to see a priest at the head of this movement, 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 attracting to him.J Sebville soon be- 
came aware that there is no infallible teacher but the Word 
of God ; and, abandoning the doctrines that are supported 
on human testimony alone, he determined in his own mind 
to preach the Word " purely, clearly, and holily." 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, 

* Virum est genere, doctrinaque clarum, ita pictatc humanitateque 
longe clariorem. Zw. Epp. p. 31.9. 

j- In a letter to Farel he subscribes himself : FiKus tuut hunrilis. 2d 
September 152-1. 

Pater ccelestis animum sic tuum ad se traxit. Zwinglius Sebvillas, 
Epp. p. 320. 

Nitide, pure, sancteque prredicare in animum inducia. Ibid. 



iliJ ANEMOND QUITS FRANCE AND VISITS LUTHER. 

and thought that their own presence would henceforward be 
less necessary. 

The more the awakening spread, the more violent became the 
opposition. Anemoftd, desirous of becoming acquainted with 
Luther and Zwingle, and of visiting those countries where the 
Reformation had originated, and indignant at the rejection of 
the Gospel by his fellow-countrymen, resolved to bid farewell 
to his home and his family. He made his will, disposing of 
his property, at that time in the hands of his elder bro- 
ther, the lord of Chatelard, in favour of his brother Law- 
rence ;* and then quitting Dauphiny and France, he made 
his way with all the impetuosity of the south, through coun- 
tries which it was no easy matter in that age to traverse, and 
passing through Switzerland, hardly stopping at Basle, he 
arrived at Wittemberg, where Luther was residing. This 
was shortly after the second Diet of Nuremberg. The French 
gentleman accosted the Saxon doctor with his usual viva- 
city; talked with him enthusiastically about the Gospel, 
and eagerly laid before him the plans he had formed for the 
propagation of the truth. The gravity of the Saxon smiled 
at the southern imagination of the chevalier ;f and Luther, 
notwithstanding certain prejudices against the French char- 
acter, was fascinated and carried away by Anemond. He 
was affected by the thought that this gentleman had come 
from France to Wittemberg for the sake of the Gospel. J 
" Assuredly," 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 resist them. Accordingly, as he could 



* 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 Spalatm. Epp. ii. 340 ; 
Sehr brtinstig in der Herrlichkeit des Erangelii, said he to the Duke of 
Savoy. Ibid. 401. 

J Evangelii gratia hue profectus e Gallia. L. Epp. ii. 340. 

Hio Gallus eques . ... optimus vir est, eruditus ac pius. Ibid. 



ASEMOKD AND LUTHER LUTHER TO THE DUKE OF SATOY. 413 

not prevail on them to go thither, he begged them at least 
to write. In particular, he requested Luther to address a 
letter to Duke Charles of Savoy, brother to Louisa and Phili- 
berta, and uncle to Francis I. and Margaret. " This prince," 
said he to the doctor, " feels 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 understand you ; for his motto is this : Nihil deest 
timentibus Deum,^ 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 France. Write to him, I beseech 
you." 

Luther was wholly German in character, and would have 
found himself 511 at ease out of Germany; yet, animated 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. 

" Assuredly," replied he to Anemond's request, " a love 
for the Gospel is a rare gift, and an inestimable jewel in a 
prince."! And ne addressed a letter to the duke, which 
Anemond probably carried as far as Switzerland. 

" 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 Gospel ; for I can- 
not see that glorious light rising and shining 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 

* Em grosser Liebhaber der wahren Religion und Gottseligkeit. L, 
Epp. ii. 401. 

t Nothing is wanting to those who fear God. Hist. Gen. de la Maisou 
de Savoie, par Guichenon, ii. 228. 

J Eiueseltsame GabeuudhohesKleinodunterdenFiirsten. 
401. 

VOL. III. 19 



414 LUTHER'S FAITH AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

to set our doctrine before you We believe that the com- 
mencement of salvation and the sum of Christianity is faith 
in Christ, who by his blood alone, and not by our works, has 
made atonement for sin, and put an end to the dominion of 
death. We believe that this faith is a gift of God, and that 
it is created by the Holy Ghost in our hearts, and not found 
by our own labours. For faith is a living thing,* which spi- 
ritually begetteth the 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 labours 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 conclusion, 
" 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 Anti- 
christ, in order that, as Daniel says (chap. viii. ver. 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 house 
of Savoy, as in former times from the house of Joseph ; -{ 
may all France be consumed like stubble before that fire ; 
may it burn, blaze, and purify, so that this illustrious king- 
dom may truly be called most Christian, for which it is in- 
debted, up to this hour, solely to the rivers of blood shed in 
the service of Antichrist." 

Der Glaube 1st ein lebeudig Ding. L. Epp. ii. 402. The Latin ia 
w wiling, 
t Daw em Feuer von dem Hause Sophoy ausgehe. L. Epp. ii. 406. 



FAREL QUITS FKANCK. 415 

Thus did Luther endeavour to diffuse the Gospel in France. 
We are ignorant o.f the effect produced on the prince by this 
letter ; but we do not see that he ever showed any desire to 
separate from Rome. In 1522, he requested Adrian VI. to 
stand godfather to his eldest son ; and, shortly after, the 
pope promised a cardinal's hat for his second son. Anemond, 
after making an effort to see the court and the Elector of 
Saxony, and having received a letter from Luther for this 
purpose,* returned to Basle, more decided than ever to ex- 
pose his life for the Gospel. In his ardour, 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 God." 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 had he 
lost his way. At last he reached Switzerland at the begin- 
ning 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 Romande,\ and 
to give it a new and powerful impulse in other parts of the 
confederation and in the whole world. 

* Vult videre aulam et faciem Principis nostri. L. Epp. ii. 340. 

f Quidquid sum, habeo, ero, habebove, ad Dei gloriam insumere mena 
est. Coot. Epp. MS. of Neufchatel. 

The French part of Switzerland, comprising the cantons of Geneva, 
Vaud, Neufchatel, and part of those of Friburg, Berne, and Valoia. 



416 CATHOLICITY OF THE KEVORMATIOS, 



CHAPTER X. 

Catholicity of the Reformation Friendship between Farel and CEcolan- 
padius -Farel and Erasmus Altercation Farel demands a Disputa- 
tion Theses Scripture and Faith Discussion. 

THE catholicity of the Reformation is a noble feature in ita 
character. The Germans pass into Switzerland ; the French 
into Germany ; in latter times men from England and Scot- 
land pass over to the continent, and doctors from the con- 
tinent into Great Britain. The reformers in the different 
countries spring up almost independently 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 jointed to- 
gether."* 

Many refugees from France and Lorraine at this time 
formed at Basle a French 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 to- 
gether. (Ecolampadius charmed by his mildness, 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 a Luther and Melancthon. 
CEcolampadius received Farel into his house, gave him an 

' Ephes. iv. 16. 

t Amicum semper habui a primo colloquio. Farel to Bulling. 27th 
May 1556. 



FRIENDSHIP OF CECOLAMPADIUS AND FABEL. 417 

humble chamber, a frugal table, and introduced him to his 
friends ; and it was not long before the learning, piety, and 
courage of the young Frenchman gained every heart. Pelli- 
can, Imcli, Wolfliard, and other ministers of Basle felt them- 
selves 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 reason 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 
ground-work of an undying affection. " my dear Farel," 
said he, " I hope that the Lord will make our friendship 
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 I 

Farel's arrival was for Switzerland evidently a succour 

from on high. 

But while this Frenchman was delighted with (Ecolam- 
padius, he shrank coldly and with noble pride from a man 
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 Reformation 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 

* Fortasse in mediis Turcis felicius docuissem. Zw. et Ecol. Epp. 
p. 200. 

f- Mi Farelle, spero Dominum conservafurum aimcitiara nostram im- 
mortalem ; et si hie conjungi nequimus, tauto beatius alibi apud Chris- 
tun? erit contuberuium. Ibid. p. 201. 



418 FAREL A3D ERASMUS. 

between the two great doctors of the age, and at every enter- 
tainment the guests would take part with Erasmus against 
Lefevre, and Lefevre against Erasmus.* 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 evangelical Christians. Eras- 
mus 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. " Fro- 
benius's 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 conflagration, 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 Luther 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 humour on Farel ; 
besides, by attacking so notorious a heretic, he was clear- 
ing 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 overflowing with 
malice." But the anger of Erasmus was not confined to 
Farel ; it was directed against all the French 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 ex- 
alted might be his genius. They were possibly wanting in 

* Nullnm est pene convivium. Er. Epp. p. 179. 
f" Concilium quo sic extinguatur incendium Lutheranum. Ibid. 
$ Quo nihil vidi mcndacius, virulentius, et seditiosius. Ibid. 798. 
Acidse lingua 1 et vanissiiuus. Ibid. 2129. 



VEXATION AND ANGER OP ERASMUS. 419 

some measure in the suavity of the Gospel ; but their 
fidelity reminds us of the vigour of the ancient pro- 
phets; and it is gratifying to meet with men who do 
not bow down before what the world adores. Erasmus, 
amazed at this lofty disdain, complained of it to every one. 
" What!" wrote he to Melancthon, " shall we reject pontiffs 
and bishops, to have more cruel, scurvy, and furious tyrants 

in their place; for such it is that France has sent us."* 

" Some Frenchmen," wrote he to the pope's secretary, in a 
letter accompanying his book on Free Wilt, " are still more 
out of their wits than even the Germans. They have five ex- 
pressions always in their mouths: Gospel, Wordof God, Faith, 
Christ, Holy Ghost ; and yet I doubt whether they be not urged 
on by the spirit of Satan." -f- Instead of Farellus he would 
often write Fallicus, 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, resolved 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 ?" | 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 
having lost his temper, he quickly turned the conversation 

* Scabiosos rabiosos nam nuper nobis misit Gallia. Er. Epp. 

p. 350. 

t Non dubitem quin agantur spiritu Satanse. Ibid. 

Diremi disputationem. Ibid. p. 804. 

Ut diceret negotiatorem querndara Dupletum hoc dizisse. Ibid. p. 
2129. 






420 THE SAINTS FAREL ASKS FOE DISCUSSION. 

to another subject. " Why," said he to Farel, " do yon 
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 Erasmus, 
" I call upon you to prove by Scripture that we onght to 
invoke the Holy Ghost." Farel made this simple and true 
reply : " If He is God, we must invoke Him." * " I dropt 
the conversation," says Erasmus, "for night was coming *m."-f- 
From that hour, whenever 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 ticry 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 Stb'r pastor of Liestal, had 
maintained some thests against them. Farel thought it his 
duty also to profess in Switzerland the great principle of the 
evangelical school of Paris and of Meaux : The Word of God 
is all-sufficient. He requested permission 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 council 
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 
forhade all priests and students to be present at the dis- 
putation; but the council sent out a proclamation to the 
contrary effect. 

* Si Deus est, inquit, invocandus est. Er. Epp. p. 804. 

+ Omissa di^putatioue, r.am htminebat nox. Ibid. p. 804. We hara 
only Erasmus's account of this conversation ; he himself informs us that 
Farel reported it very differently. 

Damit er gelehrt werde, ob er irre. Fussli Beytr. iv. 244. 

Aus Eingiessunft des heiligen Geistes em christlicher Menach uad 
Brudcr. Ibid. 



THESES SCRIPTUKE AND FAITH. 421 

The following are some of the thirteen propositions put 
forth by Farel : 

" Christ has given us the most perfect rule of life : no one 
has the right to take anything from it, or to add anything 
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 minister- 
ing of the Word ; and for them there is no higher dignity. 

" To deprive the glad-tidings of Christ of their certainty, 
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.-}- It was 
a child of the mountains of Dauphiny, brought up in Paris 
at the feet of Lefevre, who thus boldly set forth in that 
illustrious university of Switzerland, and in the presence of 
Erasmus, the great principles of the Reformation. Two 
leading ideas pervaded Farel's theses : one, that of a return 
to Holy Scripture ; the other, of a return to faith : two 
things which the Papacy at the beginning of the 18th cen- 
tury distinctly condemned as impious and heretical in the 
famous constitution Unigenitus, 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 follows 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 of 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 
vanished at a single blow the triple delusion of meritorious 
works, human traditions, and false unity ; and this is the 
sum of Roman-catholicism. 

* Gulielmns Farellus Christianis lectoribus, die Martis post Re- 
miniscere. Fiissli Beytr. iv. 247. Fussli does not give the Latin text. 
+ Scbedam conclusionum a Gallo illo. Zw. Epp. p. 333. 
19* 



422 THE DISPUTATIONS-MEEKNESS AND IMPETUOSITY. 

The disputation began in Latin.* Farel and GEcolam- 
padius set forth and proved their articles, calling repeatedly 
on their adversaries to reply ; but not one of them appeared. 
These sophists, as (Ecolampadius terms them, acted the 
braggart, but in dark holes and corners.^ 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 French- 
man combine so much learning and piety, and already began 
to anticipate the noblest triumphs, " He is strong enough," 
said they, " to destroy the whole Sorbonne single-handed." 
His candour, sincerity, and frankness captivated every heart.|f 
But amidst all his activity, he did not forget that every 
mission should begin with our own souls. The gentle 
(Ecolampadius made a compact with the ardent Farel, by 
which they mutually engaged to practise humility and meek- 
ness in their familiar 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 im- 
petuosity 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 in- 
troducing 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. 

In the month of May 1524, Farel, with some friends 

* Schedam conclusionum Latine apud nos disputatam. Zw. Epp. p. 333. 

t Agunt tamen magnos interim thrasones sed in angulis lucifugae. Ibid. 

t Incipit tamen plebs paulatim illorum ignaviam et tyraunidem verbo 
Dei agnoscere. Ibid. 

Ad totam Sorbonicam afEigendam si non et perdendam. CEool. 
Luthero, Epp. p. 200. 

II Farello nihil candidiua est. Ibid. 

II Verum ego virtutem illam admirabilem et non minus placiditate, a 
tempestive fuerit, necessariam. Ibid. 

'-. ~ ' 



FAREL AT STRASBURG. 423 

from Lyons, visited Schaffhansen, 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 persecuted. " It is thus we exer- 
cise hospitality," said the indignant CEcolampadius, " we 
true children of Sodom !"* 

At Basle, Farel had contracted a close friendship with the 
Chevalier Esch, who resolved to bear him company, and they 
set out with letters for Luther and Capito from (Ecolampa- 
dius, to whom the doctor of Basle commended Farel as " that 
William who had toiled so much in the work of God."-j- At 
Strasburg, Farel formed an intimacy with Capito, Bucer, 
and Hedio ; but it does not appear that he went so far as 
Wittemberg. 



CHAPTER XI. 

New Campaign FarePs Call to the Ministry An Outpost 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 dispersed by the enemy, but im- 
mediately rallied, they were turning round and marching 
forward in the name of the Lord. It was not only on the 

* Adeo hospitura habemus rationem, veri Sodomitse. Zw. Epp. p. 434. 
t Gulielmus ilia qui tarn probe r.ava vit operam. Zw. et (Ecol. Epp. 
p. W. 



424 NEW CAMPAIGN FAEEL CALLED. 

frontiers that these friends of the Gospel were assembling ; in 
France also they were regaining courage, and preparing to 
renew the attack. The bugles were already sounding the 
reveille' ; the soldiers were girding on their arras, and gather- 
ing 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 en- 
thusiasm ; and everything 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 labourer 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 reformers ; his misfortunes bad proved salutary to 
him; and he took delight in the Gospel.* (Ecolampadius 
intimated 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 Lord. He did 
not lightly and of his own prompting enter the service of the 
Church. " Considering my weakness," said he, " I should 
not have dared preach, waiting for the Lord to send more 
suitable persons."-]- But God at this time addressed him in 
a threefold call. As soon as he had reached Basle, (Ecolam- 
padius, touched with the wants of France, entreated him to 
devote himself 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 then 
own tongue, that they may better understand the Scriptures?"} 
At the same time, the people of Montbeliard invited him 
among them, and the prince gave his consent to this call. 

Le prince qni avoit cognoissance de 1'Evangile. Farel, Summairs, 
o'est a dire, brieve declaration de G. Farel, in the concluding part. 

t Ibid. J Ibid. 

Etant requis et demande du peuple et du consentement da prince. 
Sunuuaire. 



THE MINISTKY THE GOSPEL AND NOT THE FATHERS. 425 

Was not this a triple call from God? " Tdid not think," 

said he, " that it was lawful for me to resist. I obeyed in 
God's name."* Concealed in the house of (Ecolampadius, 
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 (Ecolampadius set him apart, 
calling upon the name of the Lord,-|- and addressing his 
friend in language full of wisdom. " The more you are in- 
clined to violence," said he, " the more should you practise 
gentleness ; temper your lion's courage with the meekness 
of the dove."J 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 Rome 
imperatively requires in a valid ordination the imposition of 
the hands of a bishop who descends from the apostles in un- 
interrupted succession, it is because she places human tradi- 
tions 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 
they cannot find in God himself? If we do not speak in the 
name of Jesus Christ, is it not something at least to speak 
5n the name of Saint John or of Saint Paul? He who 
speaks in the name of antiquity is stronger than the ration- 
alist who speaks only in his own name. But the Christian 
minister has a still higher authority: he preaches, not be- 
cause he descends from St. Chrysostom or St. Peter, but 
because the Word that he proclaims comes down from God 
himself. The idea of succession, venerable as it may appear, 
is not the less a human system, substituted for the system 
of God. In Farel's ordination there was no human succes- 
sion. Nay more : we do not see in it that which is neces- 
sary in the Lord's fold, where every thing should be done 
decently and in order, and whose God is not a God of con- 

* Farel, Summaire. 

+ Avec 1'invocation du nom de Dieu. Ibid. 
t Leoninam magnanimitatem columbina modestia frangaa. 
Epp. p. 198. 

$ See vol. I. page 2 



426 AN ADVANCED POST. 

fusion. He was not regularly ordained by the Church : but 
extraordinary times justify extraordinary measures. At this 
memorable epoch God himself interposed. He consecrated 
by marvellous dispensations those whom he called to the 
regeneration of the world. In Farel's 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 consecration of the heart, and a solemn ap- 
pointment 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 ad- 
vanced post. Behind him, Basle and Strasburg supported 
him with their advice and their printing-presses ; before him 
lay the provinces of Franche Comic", Burgundy, 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 immediately 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 
stratagems. Beginning, long before Calvin, the work that 
this reformer was to accomplish on a much larger scale, 
Farel was at Montbeh'ard, like a general on a hill whose 
piercing eye glances over the field of battle, cheering those 
who are actively engaged with the enemy, rallying 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-catholic friends, that a 
Frenchman, escaped from France, was making a great dis- 
turbance in these regions.-j- 

Farel's labours were not unfruitful. " On every side," 
wrote he to a fellow-countryman, " men are springing up 
who devote all their powers and their lives to extend Christ's 

* This comparison is employed by one of Farel's friends during his stay 
at Montbeliard. Streimum et oculatum imperatortm, qui iis etiain ani- 
mum facias qui in acie versantur. Tossanus Farello, MS. in the conclave 
of Neufchatel, 2d September 1524. 

f Tumultuatur et Burgundia nobis proxima, per Phallicum quemdam 
Gallnm qiii e Gallia profugus Er. Epp. p. R09. 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL LYONS. 427 

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 Erasmus 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 evan- 
gelical 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 with his mother, 
his sister, and the court. Margaret brought with her many 
gentlemen devoted to the Gospel. " All other people she 
had removed from about her person," says a letter written at 
this time. While Francis I. was hurrying through Lyons 
an army composed of 14,000 Swiss, 6000 French, and 
1500 lances of the nobility, to repel the invasion of the 
imperialists into Provence ; while this great city re-echoed 
with the noise of arms, the tramp of horses, arid the sound 
of the trumpet, the friends of the Gospel were marching to 
more peaceful conquests. They desired to attempt in Lyons 
what they had been unable to do in Paris. Perhaps, at a 
distance from the Sorbonne and from the parliament, the 
Word of God might have freer course ? Perhaps the second 
city in the kingdom was destined to become the first for the 
Gospel. 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 everything 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 century, were 
beginning more courageously to handle " the sword of the 
Spirit, which is the Word of God." 

* Suppullulare qui omnes conatus afferant, quo possit Christi regnum 
quam latissime patere. Neufchatel MS., 2d August 1524. 

f Quod in Galliis omnibus sacrosanctum Dei verbum in dies magis a 
magis elucescat. Ibid. 

Factio crescit iu dies latius, propagata in Sabaudiam, Lothoringiam, 
Franciam. Erasm. Epp. p. 809. 

De SebTille to Coot, 28th December 1524. Neufchatel MS. 



428 AKANDE, PAPILLON, VAUGRIS, DU BLET. 

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 Avith 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 favour in which the preaching and the preacher 
were held by the king's beloved sister.* 

Anthony Papillon, a man of highly cultivated mind, an 
elegant Latin scholar, a friend of Erasmus, " the first in 
France for knowledge of the Gospel,"-}- accompanied the 
princess also. At Margaret's request he had translated Lu- 
ther's work on monastic VOAVS, " in consequence of whieh he 
had much ado with those Parisian vermin," says Sebville ; J 
but Margaret had protected him against the attacks of the 
Sorbonne, and procured him 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 de- 
votedness than by his prudence. A merchant, named Vau- 
gris, and especially a gentleman named Anthony du Blet, a 
friend of Farel's, 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 I. 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 seve- 
ral points at the same time ; and the Christians of Lyons 
encouraged by their exertions and their labours all those 
who confessed Christ in the surrounding provinces. They 
did more : they went and proclaimed it in places where it 
was as yet unknown. The new doctrine ascended the Saone, 

* Elle a ung docteur de Paris appelfe maitre Michel, Eleymosinarins, 
lequel ne prSche devant elle que purement 1'evangile. Neufchatel MS. 
t Ibid. J Ibid. Ibid. 



THE SAONE AND MACON SEBVILLE AT GRENOBLE. 429 

and an evan??.-ist 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 per- 
mission 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. -J- 

After exploring the districts of the Saone, the Christians 
of Lyons, ever on the watch, extended their incursions 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 would go and encourage 
his brethren of Grenoble and Gap. Papillon and Du Blet 
repaired thither. \ A violent storm had just broken out 
there against Sebville and his preachings. The Dominicans 
had moved heaven and earth ; and maddened at seeing so 
many evangelists escape them (as Farel, Anemond, and 
Maigret), they would fain have crushed those who remained 
within their reach. They therefore called for Sebville's 
arrest. j| 

The friends of the Gospel in Grenoble were alarmed ; must 

Sebville also be taken from them! Margaret interceded 

with her brother ; many of the most distinguished personages 
at Grenoble, the king's advocate among others, open or secret 

* Arandius precbea Mascon. Coct to Farel, December 1524, Neuf- 
chatel MS. 

f After the taking of Macon in 1562, the governor, St. Pont, amnsed 
the dissolute women who were invited to his table, by taking several 
Huguenots from prison and compelling them to leap (sauter) from 
the bridge over the Saone into the river. It is 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. 

J II y a eu deux grands personages a Grenoble. Neufchatel MS. 
The title of Messire, given to Du Blet in Coct's letter, indicates a person 
of rank. I am inclined to think that the epithet negotiator, elsewhere 
applied to him, refers to his activity ; it is possible, however, that he may 
have been a great merchant of Lyons. 

Coiijicere potes ut post Maoretum et me in Sebvillam exarserint. 
Anemond to Farel, 7th September 1.524. Neufchatel MS. 

|| Les Thomistes ont votilu proceder contre raoi par inquisition et cap- 
tion de personne. Letter from Sebville. Ibid. 



430 FONDNESS FOR SYMBOLS CONVENTICLES. 

friends to the Gospel, exerted themselves in behalf of the 
evangelical grayfriar, and at length their united efforts res- 
cued him from the fury of his adversaries.* 

But if Sebville's life was saved, his mouth was stopped. 
' ; Remain silent," said they, " or you will be led to the scaf- 
fold." " Silence has been imposed on me," he wrote to 
Anemond de Coct, " under pain of death." -J- These threats 
alarmed even those of whom the most favourable hopes had 
been entertained. The king's advocate and other friends of 
the Gospel now showed nothing but coldness. \ Many re- 
turned to the Romish worship, pretending to adore God 
secretly in their hearts, and to give a spiritual signification 
to the outward observances of Romanism. A melancholy 
delusion, leading from infidelity to infidelity. There is no 
hypocrisy that cannot be 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 philo- 
sopher will be able, by a little ingenuity, to find in an abom- 
inable 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. 
These pious men would meet secretly with Sebville at each 
other's houses, and talk together about the Gospel. They 
repaired to some secluded 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 Papillon 
arrived at Grenoble. Finding that Sebville had been silenced, 

* Si ce ne fut certains amis secrets, je estoia mis entre les mains des 
Pharisiens. Letter from Sebville, Neufchatel MS. 
t Ibid. 

Non solum tepidi sed frigid!. ' Neufchatel MS. 
Tuo cognato, Amedeo Galberto exceptis. Ibid. 
Mais de en parler publiqnement, il n'y pend que le feu. Ibid. 



PREACHING AT LYONS MAIGRET IMPRISONED. 431 

they exhorted him to go and preach the Gospel at Lyons. 
The Lent of the following year would present a favourable 
opportunity for proclaiming the Gospel to a numerous 
crowd. Michael d'Arande, Maigret, and Sebville, proposed 
to fight at the head of the Gospel army. Everything was 
thus preparing for a striking manifestation of evangelical 
truth in the second city of France. The rumour of this 
evangelical Lent extended as far as Switzerland. " Sebville 
is free, and will preach the Lent sermons at Saint Paul's in 
Lyons," wrote Anemond to Farel.* But a great disaster, 
which threw all France into confusion, intervened and pre- 
vented 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 be- 
gun early in the winter to preach salvation by Jesus Christ 
alone, in despite of the strenuous opposition of the priests 
and monks of Lyons.-j- 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 flesh," was alone pro- 
claimed. The old heresies of the poor men of Lyons are re- 
appearing, it was said, and in a more dangerous form than 
ever ! But notwithstanding this opposition, Maigret con- 
tinued 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 Grenohle. 
Maigret was arrested, notwithstanding Margaret's protection, 
dragged through the streets, and cast into prison. The mer- 
chant Vaugris, who then quitted the city on his road to Swit- 
zerland, spread the news everywhere on his passage. All 
were astonished and depressed. One thought, however, 
gave confidence to the friends of the Reformation : " Mai- 

* Le samedi des Quatre-Temps. Deo. 1524. Neufchatel MS. 
f Pour vray Maigret a prechJ a Lion, maulgre' les pritres et moiaes. 
Ibid 



432 . MARGARET INTIMIDATED. 

gret is taken," said they, " but Madame d'Alengon is there ; 
praised be God I "* 

It was not long before they were compelled to renounce 
even this hope. The Sorbonne had condemned several of this 
.faithful minister's propositions.-}- Margaret, whose position 
became daily more difficult, found the boldness of the partisans 
of the Reformation and the hatred of the powerful increas- 
ing side by side. Francis I. began to grow impatient at the 
zeal of these evangelists: he looked upon them as mere 
fanatics whom it was good policy to repress. Margaret, 
thus fluctuating between desire to serve her brethren and 
her inability to protect them, sent them word to avoid 
running into fresh dangers, as she could no longer intercede 
with the king in their favour. The friends of the Gospel 
believed that this determimuion 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 sup- 
port 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. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The French at Basle Encouragement of the Swiss Fears of Discord- 
Translating aud Printing at Basle Bibles and Tracts disseminated 
in France. 

THE exertions of the friends of the Gospel in France were 
paralyzed. The men in power were beginning to show their 
hostility to Christianity; Margaret was growing alarmed; ter- 
rible 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 labours, were there not soldiers 

* Neufchatel MS. f Histoire de Fran9ois I. par Gaillard, iv. 233. 
J Peter Toussaint to Farel, Basle, 17th December 1524. Neuf- 

chatel MS. 



THE FRENCH AT BASLE ENCOURAGED BY THE SWISS; 433 

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 de- 
scendants 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 Saint 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.j 

Farel, Anemond, Esch, Toussaint, and their friends formed 
an evangelical society in Switzerland with the view of rescu- 
ing their country from its spiritual darkness. Intelligence 
reached them from every quarter, that there was an increas- 
ing thirst for God's Word in France ; J it was desirable to 
take advantage of this, and to water and sow while it was 
yet seedtime. (Ecolampadius, Zwingle, and Oswald My- 
conius, were continually 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 
schoolmaster 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 acted 
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 themselves be struck down ; 
all then will be well for us, provided we have been faithful to 
Christ Jesus." 

The General Committee of the Evangelical Society of Geneva, which 
sends a hundred missionaries and colporteurs into France, is composed 
almost entirely of the descendants of French refugees. 

t Hebrews xii. 28. 

Gallis verborum Dei sitientibus. Coct to Farel, 2d Sept. 1524, Neuf- 
chatel MS. 

Non ionge abest enim, quo in portum tranquillum perveniamus, &c, 
Osw. Myc. to Coct. Ibid. 



434 FEARS AUD DIVISIONS. 

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 escaped 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 con- 
ciliate these divided 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.* 
The French, whose discernment was correct and prompt, 
saw immediately that these rising dissensions would check 
the work of the Reformation. " All things would go on 
more prosperously than many persons imagine, if we were 
but agreed among ourselves. Numbers would gladly come to 
the light ; but when they see these divisions among the 
learned, they stand hesitating and confused." -j- 

The French were the first to suggest conciliatory advances. 
" Why," wrote they from Strasburg, " is not Bucer or some 
other learned man sent to Luther? The longer we wait 
the greater will these dissensions become." Their fears 
grew stronger every day.J At length, finding all their 
exertions of no avail, these Christians mournfully turned 
their eyes away from Germany, and fixed them solely upon 
France. 

France the conversion of France, thenceforth exclusively 
occupied the hearts of these generous men whom history, 
that has inscribed on her pages the names of so many 
individuals vainly puffed up with their own glory, has for 
three centuries passed over in silence. Thrown on a foreign 

* Neufchatel MS. 21st Dec. 1525. t Ibid. 

J Multis jam christianis Gallis dolet, quod a Zwinglii aliornmque de 
Eucharistia sententia diasentiat Lutherus. Toussaint to Farel, 14th July 
1525. 



TRANSLATION AND PRINTING AT BASLE. 435 

land, they fell on their knees, and daily, in silence and 
obscurity, invoked God in behalf of the country of their 
forefathers.* Prayer was the power by which the Gospel 
spread through the kingdom, and the great instrument by 
which the conquests of the Reformation 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 Bentin, a refugee like himself, resolved to unite 
their zeal, their talents, their resources, and their labours. 
Bentin wished to establish a printing press at Basle, and the 
chevalier, to profit by the little German he knew, to translate 
the 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 everywhere, 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 1" f 

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 faithful to the Gospel ; 
he requested them to send him some assistance ;J but that 
did not suffice ; the French wished to establish several 
presses at Basle, that should be worked night and day, so as 
to inundate France with the Word of God. At Meaux, at 
Metz, and in other places, were men rich and powerful 

* Quam sollicite quotidianis precibus commendem. Toussaint to Farel, 
2d Sept. 1524, Neufchatel MS. 

f Opto cnim Galliam Evangelicis voluminibus abundare. Coct to 
Farel, Neufchatel MS. 

Ut pecunise aliquid ad me mittant. Ibid. 

Ut prsela multa erigere possimus. Ibid. 



436 TRACTS DISTRIBUTED IN FRANCE. 

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 real- 
ized, 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 introduced into 
France with unceasing activity. One of the first writings 
sent by this Religious Tract Society was Luther's Explana- 
tion of the Lord's Prayer. " We are retailing the Pater 
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 books 
that appeared or that arrived from Germany ; at one time 
a work on the appointment of Gospel ministers, at another 
a treatise on the education of children. | Farel examined 
these works ; he composed, translated or got others to trans- 
late them into French, and seemed at one and the same time 
entirely devoted to active exertions and to the labours of 
the study. Anemond urged on and superintended the print- 
ing; and these epistles, prayers, books, and broadsheets, 
were the means of the regeneration of the age. While pro- 
fligacy descended from the throne, and darkness from the 
steps of the altar, these unnoticed writings alone diffused 
throughout the nation beams of light and seeds of holiness. 

But it was especially God's Word that the evangelical 
merchant of Lyons was calling for in the name of his fel- 
low-countrymen. These people of the sixteenth century, so 
hungering for intellectual food, were to receive in their own 
tongue those ancient monuments of the first ages of the 
world, in which the new breath of primitive humanity re- 
spires, and those holy oracles of the Gospel times in which 
shines forth the fulness of the revelation of Christ. Vaugris 

* An censes inveniri posse Lugdunse, Meldse, aut alibi in Galliis qui 
nos ad hscc juvare velint. Coct to Farel, Neufchatel MS. 

f Vaugris to Farel, Basle, 29th August 1524. Neufchatel MS. Tha 
value of the florin is about Is. 9d. sterling. 

J Mitto tibi librum de institurndis ministris ecclesiso cum libra de in- 
sUtuendis pueris. Coct to Farel. 2d September 1524. Ibid. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT COLPOKTAGE. 437 

wrole to Farel : " I beseech you, if possible, to have the 
New Testament translated by some person who can do it 
efficiently : it would be a great blessing for France, Bur- 
gundy, 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 detached 
portions, the books of the New Testament in French. Vau- 
gris wished for some one to revise it thoroughly, and to 
superintend a complete edition. Lefevre undertook to do so, 
and he published it, as we have already seen, on the 12th of 
October 1524. An uncle of Vaugris, named Conrard, also a 
refugee at Basle, immediately procured a copy. The Che- 
valier Coct happening to be at a friend's house on the 18th 
of November, 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 opposi- 
tion to the traditions of the Church, which Rome still con- 
tinues to present to her. " How can we distinguish 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 submit everything to the 
rule of Scripture." 

Such were the principal means by which these writings 
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 Tranche 
Cerate*, 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."-J- 
Thus as early as 1524 there existed in Basle a Bible society, 
a tract society, and an association of colporteurs, for the 
benefit of France. It is a mistake to conceive that these 
* Neufchatel MS. t Vaugris to Farel, Neufchatel MS. 

VOL. in. 20 



438 PROGRESS AT MONTBELIARD. 

efforts date only from our own age ; they go back in essen- 
tials not only to the times of the Reformation, but still 
farther to the primitive ages of the Church. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Progress at Montbeliard Resistance and Commotion Tonssaint leaves 
CEcoJampadius The Image of Saint Anthony Death of Anamoud 
Strasburg Lambert's Letter to Francis I. Successive Defeats. 

THE attention which Farel bestowed on France 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 CEcolampadius) began to ap- 
pear. Farel 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 intelligence, 
ran with his usual vivacity to Peter Toussaint. " I shall 
set off to-morrow to visit Farel," said he hastily. Toussaint, 
more calm, was writing to the evangelist of Montbeliard : 
" Be careful," said he to Farel ; " you are engaged in an 
important cause ; it must not be polluted by the counsels of 
men. The mighty ones promise you their favour, their 

support, and heaps of gold But to put your trust in 

these things, is deserting Christ and walking in darkness."-}- 
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 
nobles were alarmed, and said as they looked contempt- 
uously at Farel : " What does this sorry fellow want with 
us ? Would to God he had never come ! He cannot stay 

* Animum autem immutare, divinnm opus est. CEcol. Epp. p. 200 
t A quibus si pendemus, jam a Christo defeciraus. Ncufchatel MS. 



RESISTANCE EXHORTATION TO MILDNESS. 439 

here, for he will ruin us all, as well as himself." The lords 
who had taken refuge with the duke at Montbeliard, feared 
that the disturbance, which everywhere accompanied the 
Information, would attract the attention of Ferdinand and 
Charles V., 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 Besanc.on had 
hastened to Montbeliard, 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 or to retract his charges. The Franciscan 
adopted the last alternative, and an official 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 
he expelled the money-changers from the temple and over- 
threw 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 Avere perfect types of two char- 
acters diametrically opposed to each other, and yet both 
worthy of admiration. " You were sent," wrote CEcolam- 
padius 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 like- 
wise gain over the adversaries. If the wolves are driven 
from the sheepfold, let the sheep at least hear the voice of 
the shepherd. Pour oil and wine into the wounds, and 

" Der Christliche Handel zn Mlinipelgard, verloffen mit griindlichen 
Wahrheit. 



410 CONSPIRACY AGAINST TOUSSAINT. 

conduct yourself as an evangelist, not as a judge or a 
tyrant." * 

The report of these labours spread into France and Lor- 
raine, and the Sorbonne and the Cardinal Guise were begin- 
ning to be alarmed at this meeting of refugees at Basle and 
Montbeliard. They would willingly have broken up a trouble- 
some 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 rejoicing over shameful defections ; but if 
they could succeed 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 mansion, 
deplored the sad fate of Peter Toussaint, who had once pro- 
mised so fair. He is at Basle, said they, in the house of 
CEcolampadius, living with one of the leaders of this heresy I 
They wrote to him with fervour, 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 
recognising in them the marks of sincere affection.-}- 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, bear- 
ing 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 of the monks ;"J the 

* Quod Evangelistam, non tyrannicum legislatorem prsestes. CEcol. 
Epp. p. 206. 

t Me in dies divexari legendis amicorum literis qui me ab institute 

remorari nituntur. Toussaint to Farel, 2d Sept. 1524, Neufchatel MS. 

:}' Jam capulo proxima. Xeufchatel MS. 



HE LEAVES (ECOLAMPADIUS. 441 

* ">" 

priests crowded round her, frightening and persuading her 
that her son had committed crimes that they could not men- 
tion 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. "Oh! wretched mother!" said she, "Oh! un- 
natural son ! cursed be the breasts that suckled thee, and the 
knees that bare thee!"* 

The unhappy Toussaint was distracted : What should he 
do ? He could not return into France. By leaving Basle 
and going to Zurich or Witfemberg, beyond the reach of his 
family, he would only add to their sorrow. (Ecolampadius ad- 
vised a middle course : " Leave my house," said he.f With 
a heart full of sadness, he adopted the suggestion, and went 
to live with an ignorant and obscure priest,^ one well adapted 
to reassure his relations. What a change for Toussaint! 
He never met his host save at meals, at which times they 
were continually discussing matters of faith 5 and as soon 
as the repast was over, Toussaint 'retired to his chamber, 
where alone, far from noise and controversy, he carefully 
studied the Word of God. " The Lord is my witness," said 
he, " tjjat in this valley of tears I have but one desire, that 
of seeing Christ's kingdom extended, so that ah 1 with one 
mouth may glorify God." 

One circumstance occurred which consoled Toussaint. 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 Vosges, and 
reached the place where Leclerc had laid down his life, 
carrying with him several books with which Farel had pro- 
vided him. || 

It was not only to Lorraine that these Frenchmen turned 

* Literas ad me dedit plenas lacrymis quibus malcdicit et uberibus 
quse me lactaruni, &c. Keufchatel MS. 

f Visum est CEcolampadio consultum ut a se secederem. Ibid. 

% Utor domo cujusdam sacrificuli. Ibid. 
Ut Christi regnum quam latissime pateat. Ibid. 
H Qu'il s'en retourne a Metz, li ou les ennemis de Dieu s'elevent jour- 
uellement coutre I'Evangile. Toussaint to Farel, '7th Dec. 1524. Ibid. 



442 A MESSAGE FROM DAUPHINY IDOLATRY. 

i i ' . N 

their eyes. The Chevalier de Coct received letters from one 
of Farel's brothers, depicting the state of Dauphiny in the 
gloomiest colours. 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 horseback at Montbeliard with commissions for 
Anemond and Farel. The chevalier, with his usual vivacity, 
immediately resolved on returning to France. " If Peter has 
brought any money," wrote he to Farel, " 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 
France 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 Farel, whose purse was always 
open to his friends. There was more zeal than discretion in 
the chevalier's desire to re-enter France. He was of too 
imprudent a character not to expose himself to certain death. 
This Farel no doubt explained to him. He left Basle, and 
withdrew to a small town, where he had " great hopes of ac- 
quiring the German language, God willing."! 

Farel continued preaching the Gospel in Montbeliard. 
His soul was vexed as he beheld the majority of the people 
in this city entirely given up to the worship of images. It 
was, in his opinion, a revival of the old pagan idolatry. 

Yet the exhortations of (Ecolampadius, and the fear of 
compromising the truth, would perhaps have long restrained 
him, but for an unforeseen circumstance. One day about 
the end of February (it was the feast of Saint Anthony) 
Farel was walking on the banks of a little river that runs 
through the city, beneath a lofty rock on which the citadel 

* Accepi ante horam a fratre tuo epistolam quam hie nulli maniiestavi, 
terrerentur enim infirmi. Coct to Farel, 2d Sept. 1524. 
t Coct to Farel, Dec. 1525, Neufchatel MS. 
J Ibid. Jan. J525. 



ST. ANTHONY THROWN INTO THE RIVER. 443 

is built, when, on reaching the bridge, he met a procession, 
which was crossing it, reciting prayers to St. Anthony, and 
headed by two priests bearing the image of this saint. Farei 
suddenly found himself face to face with these superstitions, 
without, however, having sought for them. A violent 
struggle took place in his soul. Shall he give way ? shall 
he hide himself? Would not this be a cowardly act of 
unbelief? These lifeless images, borne on the shoulders of 
ignorant 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, turn- 
ing to the awe-stricken crowd, he exclaimed : " Poor idola- 
ters, will ye never forsake your idolatry!"* 

The priests and people stood motionless with astonish- 
ment. A religious fear seemed to rivet them to the spot. 
But they soon recovered from their stupor. u The image is 
drowning," exclaimed one of the crowd ; and transports and 
shouts of rage succeeded their death-like silence. The mul- 
titude would have rushed on the sacrilegious wretch who had 
just thrown the object of their adoration into the water. 
But Farel, we know not how, escaped their violence.-{- 

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 more noble 
than that cold prudence so common 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 Leclerc. But his own conscience bore witness 
that he desired only to promote the glory of God, and this 
made him superior to all fear. 

* Revne du Dauphine, ii. p. 38 ; Choupard MS. 

f M. Kirchhofer, in his Life of Farel, gives this circumstance as an un- 
certain tradition ; but it is related by Protestant writers, and it appears 
to mo quite in harmony with Farel's character and the fears of CEcolam- 
paduis. We must not be blind to the weaknesses of the reformers. 



444 ANEMOND'S DEATH STRASBURG. 

After this affair of the bridge, which is a characteristic 
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 QEcolampadius ; but ever preserved 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 fugitive, 
his friend Anemond de Coct was seriously ill. Farel im- 
mediately sent him four gold crowns ; but a letter written by 
Oswald Myconius on the 25th of March, announced 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."-^ 

Thus did Anemond descend to a premature grave ; still 
young, full of activity and strength, willing to undertake 
every labour to evangelize France, and who was in himself 
a host. God's ways are not our ways. Not long before, and 
in the neighbourhood of Zurich, another chevalier, Ulrich 
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 intrepid enemy of the pope and of the 
monks. 

Shortly after Anemond's death, Farel, unable to remain 
in Basle, whence he had been once banished, joined his friend^ 
Capito and Bucer at Strasburg. 

Strasburg, an imperial city, at whose head was Sturm, one 
of the most distinguished men in Germany, and which con- 
tained many celebrated doctors within its walls, was as it were 
an advanced post of the Reformation, thrown beyond the 
Rhine, and in which the persecuted Christians of France and 
Lorraine took refuge, and from whence they hoped to win 
these countries to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lambert's 
pious ambition was to become for France what Luther was for 
Germany, and accordingly he had no sooner reached Stras- 
burg after quitting Metz, than he made his preparations, 

* Ingens affectus, qui me cogit Mumpelgsrdum amare.' Farelli Epp. 
f Quo Anemundi spiritum jam pervenisse sperainua. Myconiua to 
Farel, Neufchatel MS. 



LAMBERT TO FRANCIS I. 445 

waiting for the moment when he should be enabled to cany 
the sword of the Gospel into the very heart of that country 
which he loved so tenderly.* 

He first appealed to Francis I. " The pope," said he, " if 
he had his way, would change every king into a beggar. 
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. Oh, 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 ;{- thou seest lewd sports, immodest dances, and adul- 
tery multiply within thy walls, and all around thy fields are 
laid waste by daily hunting parties, and thy poor labourers 
oppressed. 

" most Christian king, thy people thirst for the Word of 
God." At the same time addressing the pope, he said, " Ere- 
long that powerful France which thou are wont to call 
thy arm will separate from thee."| 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, Ger- 
mans, Italians, and Spaniards cannot have it in theirs I 
Let God but speak to the nations in the language of the 
people, and the empire of pride will crumble into dust." 

These anticipations were not realised. At Montbeliard and 
Basle, as at Lyons, the ranks of the reformers had suffered. 
Some of the most devoted combatants had been 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 after- 

* Hie operior donee ad ipsos Metenses aut in aliquam urbem Galliee 
revoces. Ad Franc. Reg. Comment, in Cantic. 

+ Ab hseresis et impietatis latere legatum. Epistola ad Franciscum 
G. R. praef. Comm. de Sacra conjugis. 

J Eat autem in proximo ut aliena fiat a te potens Gallia quam bra- 
chium tuum appellare solebas. De Causis Excusationis, p. 76. 

g Epist. a'd Franc. R. Praef. Comment, in Cantic. Cantic. 
20* 



446 SUCCESSIVE DEFEATS PA VIA. 

wards at Basle, were dispersed in succession, there still re- 
mained combatants here and there, who in Lorraine, at Meaux, 
and even in Paris, struggled more or less openly to uphold 
the Word of God in France. Though the Reformation saw 
its columns 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 un- 
dertaken 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 ac- 
complishment of their task. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Francis made Prisoner at Pavia Reaction against the Reformation- 
Margaret's Anxiety for her Brother Louisa consults the Sorbonne 
Commission against the Heretics Bri9onnet brought to Trial Appeal 
to the Parliament Fall Recantation Lefevre accused Condemna- 
tion 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. 

DURING the latter period of Farel's sojourn at Montbeliard, 
great events were passing on the theatre of the world. 
Lannoy and Pescara, Charles's generals, having quitted 
France on the approach of Francis I., this prince had crossed 
the Alps, and blockaded Pavia. On the 24th of February 
1525, he was attacked by Pescara. Bonnivet, La Tremouille, 
Palisse, and Lescure died fighting round their sovereign. 
The Duke of Alencon, Margaret's husband, the first prince 
jf the blood, had fled with the rear-guard, and gone to die of 
dhaine and grief at Lyons ; and Francis, thrown from his 
horse, had surrendered his sword to Charles Lannoy, vice- 
roy of Naples, who received it kneeling. The King of 
France was prisoner to the emperor. His captivity seemed 
the greatest of misfortunes. " Nothing is left me but honour 



MARGARET'S ANXIETY FOR FRANCIS L 447 

and life," wrote the king to his mother. But no one felt a 
keener sorrow than Margaret. The glory of her country 
tarnished, France without a monarch and exposed to the 
greatest dangers, her beloved brother the captive of his 

haughty enemy, her husband dishonoured and dead What 

bitter thoughts were these ! But she had a comforter ; and 

while her brother to console himself repeated : " Tout est 
perdu, fors Vhonneur, all is lost save honour!" she was able 
to say : 

Fors Jesus seal, mon frere, fils de Dieu ! * 
Save Christ alone, dear brother, Son of God 1 

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 Alencon, having concealed the child's sickness from him, 
Francis, who no doubt suspected something, dreamed three 
several times that his daughter said to him : " Farewell, 
my king, I am going to paradise." 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 be 
blessed." f 

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 Montmorency, who had been taken 
prisoner along with the king. It is very probable that she 
speaks of herself and Bishop Brujonnet in the graceful 
allegory which serves as an introduction to her request : 

" Dear cousin, there is a certain very devout hermit 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 ot 
St. Paul, he will be delivered to the glory of God ; for He 

* Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, i. 29. 

t Lettres iuedites de la reine de Navarre, p. 170. 



448 REACTION AGAINST THE REFORM. 

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 Ghost, 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 
his promises never deceive. He has humbled you by cap- 
tivity, but he has not forsaken you, giving you patience and 
hope in his goodness, which is always accompanied by con- 
solation 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 imprisonment of the body. 
" Your good Cousin, MARGARET." 

In such language did Margaret of Valois, full of anxiety 
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 Piz- 
zighitone, where he was confined, afforded 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 (t. e. 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 coun- 
try was imputed to the Christians ; and fanatical cries were 
heard on every side calling for blood, as a means of averting 
still greater disasters. The moment, therefore, was favour- 
able ; it was not enough to have dislodged the evangelical 
Christians from the three strong positions they had taken ; 
it was necessary to take advantage of the general panic, to 
strike while the iron was hot, and sweep the whole king- 

* Lettres de la reine de Navarre a Francis, i. p. 27 



ACCUSATIONS AND MENACES. 449 

dom clear of that opposition which had become so formidable 
to the papacy. 

At the head of this conspiracy and of these clamours were 
Beda, Duchesne, and Lecouturier. These irreconcilable 
enemies of the Gospel flattered themselves they might easily 
obtain from public terror the victims that had been hitherto 
refused them. They instantly employed 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 adversaries, 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 con- 
text that might explain the passage quoted; substituted ex- 
pressions of their own for those of the doctors they criminated, 
and omitted or added, according as it was necessary to blacken 
their adversaries' characters.-}- We have this on the testi- 
mony of Erasmus himself. 

Nothing excited their wrath so much as the fundamental 
doctrine of Christianity and of the Reformation, salvation 
by grace. " When I sec these three men," said Beda, " Le- 
fevre, Erasmus, and Luther, in other respects endowed with 
so penetrating a genius, uniting and conspiring against me- 
ritorious works, and resting all the weight of salvation on 
faith alone,}: I am no longer astonished that thousands of 
men, seduced by these doctrines, have learned to say : ' Why 
should I fast and mortify my body?' Let us banish from 
France this hateful doctrine of grace. This neglect of good 
works is a fatal defusion from the devil." 

In such language did the Syndic of the Sorbonne endea- 
vour 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 moralists, who, devoted 

* Plus quam scurrilibus conviciis debacchantes. Er. Francisco Reig, 
p. 1108. 

f Pro meis verbis supponit sua, praetermittit, addit. Ibid. 887. 

J Cum itaque cerneram tres istos uno animo in opera meritoria 

ponspirasse. Natalis Bedae Apologia adversus clandestinos Lutheranos, 
fol. 41. 



450 JURISPRUDENCE AND THE GOSPEL. 

to the study of laws and forms of jurisprudence, regard Chris- 
tianity as no more than a system of legislation ; the Church, 
as a moral police ; and who, unable to adapt to those prin- 
ciples of jurisprudence which absorb their whole thoughts 
the doctrines of the spiritual inability of man, of the new 
birth, and of justification by faith, look upon them as fanci- 
ful 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 ex- 
cesses ; 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 them- 
selves called upon to do something in so overwhelming a 
catastrophe, presented an address to Louisa of Savoy, full 
of strong" retnonstrances on the conduct of the govern- 
ment 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 lamentations, 
threats, and maledictions ; prompt and exemplary punish- 
ments were loudly called for. Martial Mazurier was parti- 
cularly distinguished among the preachers of Paris; and 
endeavouring by his violence to efface the recollection of his 
former connexion with the partisans of the Reformation, he 
declaimed against the " secret disciples of Luther." " Do 
you know the rapid operation 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 parti- 
sans of the Reformation. Her daughter Margaret, the first 
personage of the court, Louisa of Savoy herself, who had 

* Mazurius contra occultos Lutheri discipuloa declamat, ac recentis 
veneni celeritatem vimqne denunciat. Lannoi, regii Navarras gymnasii 
Listoria, p. 621. 



LOUISA CONSULTS THE SORBONNK AND THE POPE. 451 

always been so devoted to the Roman pontiff, were pointed 
at by certain fanatics as countenancing Lefevre, Berquin, and 
the other innovators. Had she not read their tracts and 
their translations of the Bible? The queen-mother desired 
to clear herself of such outrageous suspicions. Already she 
had despatched her confessor to the Sorbonne to consult that 
body on the means of extirpating this heresy. " The damn- 
able doctrine 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 de- 
stroying 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 
constraint 'against the persons of these false doctors ; for 
those who resist the light must be subdued by torture and by 
terror. 11 * 

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 
favour 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 
Inquisition 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 arch- 
bishopric of Sens, and a rich abbey, laboured to respond to 
the favours of the court of Rome by the display of indefati- 
gable animosity against the heretics. Thus the pope, the 
* Histoire de 1'Univorsite, par CreYier, Y, 196. 



452 COMMISSION AGAINST THE HERETICS. 

regent, the doctors of the Sorbonne, the parliament, and the 
chancellor, with the most ignorant and fanatical part of the 
nation, were conspiring together to 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 campaign 
against this doctrine, and moreover, was it not their peculiar 
business, since the public safety was at stake ? Accordingly 
the parliament, " influenced by a holy zeal and fervour 
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, councillor, and Messieurs William Duchesne 
and Nicholas Leclerc, 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 declared 
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 burnt alive." -J- 

This is the language of a manuscript of the time. 

Such was the terrible commission of inquiry appointed 
during the captivity of Francis I. against the evangelical 
Christians of France on the ground of public safety. It 
was composed of two laymen and two ecclesiastics, and 
one of the latter was Duchesne, after Beda, the most fana- 
tical 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. 

t The manuscript in the library of Ste. Genevifeve at Paris, from which 
I have quoted this passage, bears the name of Lezeau, but that of 
Lef ebre in th catalogue. 



CHARGES AGAINST BRIC.ONNET. 453 

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, Bric,onnet, 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 sufficient reason, and the venerable 
bishop was impeached. 

It is true that Brionnet had given guarantees of submis- 
sion to Rome, to the parliament, and to the popular super- 
stitions ; 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 retractation 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 recanta- 
tion of his errors, or to inflict upon him a still more notorious 
punishment. The commission of inquiry eagerly collected 
the evidence against him. They took account of the kindly 
reception the bishop had given to the heretics ; they stated 
that, a week after the superior of the Cordeliers had preached 
in St. Martin's Church at Meaux, conformably to the instruc- 
tions of the Sorbonne, to restore sound doctrine, Bric,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 affront, he had, through his official, summoned 



454 THE FACULTY OF PARIS. 

the superior to appear before him in person.* It would even 
appear from a manuscript of the times that the bishop had gone 
much farther, and that in the autumn of 1524, accompanied 
by Lefevre of Etaples, he had spent three months in travel- 
ling through his diocese, and had burnt all the images, save 
the crucifix alone. Such daring conduct, which would prove 
Briconnet 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, Brigonnet could not fail of being guilty 
in the eyes of the enemies of the Gospel. He had not only 
attacked the Church in general ; he had grappled 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 Briconnet before the 
parliament, cried out, elevating his voice : " Against the 
Faculty, neither the Bishop of Meaux nor any private in- 
dividual 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 
to resist the wisdom of that holy society, which he should 
regard as aided of God.":}: 

* Hist, de PUniv. par Crevier, v. 204. 

f In the library of the pastors at Neufchatel there is a letter from 
Sebville, in which the following passage occurs : " Je te notifie que 
1'eveque de Meaux en Brie pres Paris, cum Jacobo Fabro Stapulensi, de- 
puis trois mois, en visitant 1'eveche, ont brule actu toutes les images, 
reserve le crucifix, et sont personellement ajournes a Paris, a ce mois de 
Mars venant, pour repondre coram supremd curid et universitate." 1 
am inclined to beneve this fact authentic, although Sebville was not 
on the spot, and that neither Mezeray, Daniel, nor Maimbourg allude 
to it. These Romanist authors, who are very brief, might 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. 

Hist, de ITniv. par Cr.vier, v. 204. 



ALARM OF THE BISHOP. 455 

In consequence of this requisition, the parliament issued a 
decree on the 3d 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 
Mcnagerand Andrew Verjus, councillors of the court, touch- 
ing the facts of which he was accused.* 

This decree of the parliament amazed the bishop. Bric,on- 
net, the ambassador of two kings Bric,onnet, a bishop and 
a prince, the friend of Louis XII. and Francis I. to sub- 
mit to an examination by two councillors of the court! 

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 
consoled her ; or, if she dares, she cannot. Quite recently 
she had written to Briconnet a letter full of pious out- 
pourings 4 " Oh ! that my poor, lifeless heart could feel 
some spark of love, with which I desire it were burnt to 
ashes."-}- But now it was a question of literal burning. 
This mystic language was no longer in season ; and who- 
ever now desired to confess his faith, must brave the scaf- 
fold. 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. 

Yet Brigonnet had stilt one hope : if he were permitted to 
appear before the assembled chambers of parliament, as be- 
came 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 his defence. He therefore entreated 

* Maimbburg, Hist, du Calv. p. 14. 

t MS. in the Royal Library (Paris) S. F. No. 337. 



456 APPEAL TO PARLIAMENT TEMPTATION. 

the court to grant him this favour; but his enemies had 
equally reckoned on the issue of such a hearing. Had they 
not seen Luther appearing before the German diet and shak- 
ing the most determined hearts ? On the watch to remove 
every chance of -safety, they exerted themselves to such 
effect that the parliament refused Brionnet this favour by 
a decree dated the 25th of October 1525, 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 instruments in 
the hands of the Sorbonne, would not be moved by those 
higher considerations to which the whole chamber 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. Brigonnet's conviction was therefore secured. 

"While the parliament was thus holding the sword over 
the head of the bishop, the monks, priests, and doctors were 
not idle ; they saw that Bric,onnet's retractation 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 apostacy would plunge them into 
the deepest discouragement. They went to work accord- 
ingly. They visited and entreated him, Martial Mazurier 
in particular endeavouring to make him fall, as he had done 
himself. There was no lack of arguments which might ap- 
pear specious to BriQonnet. 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 amount of good ? AVhat would become of his 
old friends, when he was no longer in power ? Might not 
his resistance 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 attract, on 

the contrary, by giving way I They, like himself, were 

anxious for a reform. All is advancing insensibly ; at the 

court and in the city and provinces, everything is moving for- 

" Maimbourg, Hist, du Calv. p. 15. 



THE BISHOP FALLS AWAY. 457 

ward 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 esta- 
blished order of the Church. Was it well in him, when 
France was labouring under so many reverses, to stir up 
new confusions? " In the name of religion, of your coun- 
try, of your friends, and of the Reformation itself, be per- 
suaded," said they. By such sophisms are the noblest 
causes ruined. 

Yet every one of these considerations had its influence on 
the mind of the bishop. The tempter, who desired to make 
our Saviour fall in the wilderness, thus presented himself to 
Briconnet in specious colours, but instead of saying with his 
Master: "Get thee behind me, Satan!" he listened, wel- 
comed, and pondered on these suggestions. From that hour 
his fidelity was at an end. 

Brigonnet 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 deprives them of that firm- 
ness 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, stupified, and distracted,-}- he stumbled against the 

stone which had been artfully placed in his path he 

fell, and instead of throwing himself into the arms of Jesus, 
he threw himself into those of Mazurier, J and by a shame- 
ful recantation sullied the glory of a noble faithfulness. 

Thus fell Briconnet, tfie friend of Lcfevre and of Marga- 
ret; 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 repre- 
sented to him as the salvation of his country, perhaps became 

* Crucis statim oblatse terrore pcrculsus. Bczse Icones. 

f- Dementatus. Ibid. 

J Ut Episcopus etiam desisteret suis consiliis effecit. Launoi, regii 
Navarrac gymnasii hist. p. 621. 

Nisi turpi palinodia gloriam hanc omnem ipse sibi invidisset. Bezaa 
Ccoues. 



458 CONSEQUENCES KFTRACTATION. 

its nun. What would have been the result if Brigonnet had 
possessed the courage of Luther ? If one of the first bishops 
of France, beloved by the king and by the people, had as- 
cended 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? 

Bric,onnet underwent a mere formal examination before 
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, endeavoured to bring back those 
who had forsaken the Romish worship, and wishing to leave 
no doubt of his reconciliation with the pope and the Sor- 
bonne, kept a solemn fast on the eve of Corpus Christi, and 
gave orders for pompous processions, in which he appeared 
personally, still further testifying his faith by his magni- 
ficence and by every kind of devout observance.* In his 
will he commended his soul to the Virgin Mary and to the 
heavenly choir of paradise, and desired that after his death 
(which happened in 1533) twelve hundred masses should be 
said for the repose of his soul. 

The fall of Briconnet is perhaps tfie 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 turn- 
ing round so suddenly against it : yet we must clearly under- 
stand his character and his fall. Brigonnet 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 ; 

:<-.> ,- ]:.7- 
" Mozeray, ii. 981 ; Daniel, vi. 544 ; Moreri, art. Briconnet. 



BKIQONNET AND FENELON LEFEVRE ACCUSED. 459 

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, however, 
be sure that Briyonnet was wholly untrue to the convictions of 
his faith ; at no period after his recantation did the Romish 
doctors place entire confidence in him. But he acted, perhaps, 
as the Archbishop of Cambray 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 convictions. Such weakness is incompatible with the 
principles of the Reformation. Bric,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 ac- 
commodate itself to the church in which it exists, whatever 
that church may be. 

Brionnet's guilty fall went to the hearts of his old friends, 
and was the sad forerunner of those lamentable apostacies 
which the spirit of the world so often obtained in France in 
another age. The man who seemed to hold the reins of the 
Reformation in his hand was suddenly 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 towards that heavenly Guide, whose faithfulness 
they knew could not be shaken. 

The Sorbonne triumphed ; this was a great stride towards 
the destruction of the Reform in France ; and it was im- 
portant to achieve another victory without delay. Lefevre 
stood next after Bric,onnet. Accordingly Beda had imme- 
diately turned the attack against him, by publishing a book 
against this illustrious doctor, full of 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, 
according to him, overturned the Church. " What 1" said he, 
" Lefevre affirms that whoever places his salvation in himself 



460 CONDEMNATION AND FLIGHT. 

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 ! Oh, what heresy ! to teach the in- 

efficacy of meritorious works! What a hellish error! what 

a deceitful snare of the devil! Let us oppose it with all 
our might!"* 

That engine of persecution which produces either retractation 
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 Bricon- 
net. His accusation was soon drawn up ; and a decree of 
the parliament (dated 28th August 1525) condemned nine 
propositions extracted from his commentaries on the Gospels, 
and placed his translation of the Scriptures in the list of pro- 
hibited books.-}- 

This was only the prelude ; and that the learned doctor 
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.\ Lefevre quitted Meaux, 
where, after the bishop's apostacy, 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 con- 
soled themselves with the thought that France was at least 
delivered from the father of the heretics. 

The fugitive Lefevre arrived at Strasburg under a bor- 
rowed name ; there he immediately united with the friends 

*Perpendens perniciosissmam dsemonis fallaciam Occurri quantum 

ralui. Nat. Bedae Apolog. adv. Lutheranos, fol. 42. 

f J. Lelong, Biblioth. sacree, 2d partie, p. 44. 

t Matthew x. 14, 23. 

Quod excussi sunt a facie Domini sicut pulvis ille cxcussus eet u pe- 
dibus. Faber in Ev. Matth. p. 40. 



LEFEVRE AT STKASBURG FAREL AND LEFEVRE MEET. 461 

of the Reformation ; 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 1 
lie seemed to have been born a second time to the Christian 
life. Gerard Roussel, one of those evangelical men who, 
like the doctor of Etaples, did not attain complete emanci- 
pation, had also been compelled to quit France. Together 
they followed the teaching of Capito and Bucer ;* 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.J But 
Lefevre was more occupied in contemplating the ways of God 
than with polemics. Casting his eyes over Christendom, 
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." 

One pleasure in particular awaited him in Strasburg; 
Farel 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 vigour of life, a Christian in 
all the energy of faith. Farel affectionately clasped that 
wrinkled hand which had guided his first steps, and he ex- 
perienced an indescribable joy at again meeting with his 
father in an evangelical city, and on seeing him surrounded 
with faithful men. Together they listened to the pure in- 
structions of illustrious teachers ; together they partook of 
the Lord's Supper in conformity with Christ's institution ; to- 
gether they received touching proofs of the love of their breth- 
ren. " Do you remember," said Farel, " what you once ob- 
served to me when we were both sunk in darkness : William, 
God will renew the world, and you will see it ! Here is the 

* Faber stapalensis et Gerardus Rufus, clam e Gallia profecti, Capi 
tonem et Bucerum audierunt. Melch. Adam. Vita Capitouis, p. 90. 
f- T)e omnibus doctrino; praecipuis locis cum ipsis disserueriut. Ibid. 
{; Missi a Margarctha, regis Francisci sorore. Jbid. 
Farel a tous seigneurs, peuplea, et pastenrs. 
VOL. III. 21 



A$2 A CITY OF REFUGE LOUIS BERQUIN. 

beginning of what you then told me." " Yes :" answeied tho 

pious old man, " God is renewing the world My dear son, 

continue 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 of 
Anthony Pilgrim, while Koussel 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.-j- 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 banks 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. 

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- 
Qonnet 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 Briconnet and Lefevre ; this was Louis Ber- 
quin. 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 fanati- 
cism. Living by turns at Paris and in the provinces, he 
collected and translated the writings of Luther and Eras- 
mus 4 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 

* Quod et pius senex fatebatur ; meque hortabatur perfterem in annun- 
tiatione sacri evangelii. Farel to Pellican. Hotting. H. L. vi. 17. 

f Nam Utero cupiunt et tarncu pueris noti sunt. Capito to Zwingle, 
Epp. p. 439. 

J Erasmus, Epp. p. 923. 



COMPLAINT OF THE PRISONER ERASMUS. 463 

into prison. " This one," said they, " shall not escape us like 
Bi iconnet or Lefevre." In effect, they kept him in close con- 
finement. In vain did the superior of the Carthusians 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."* 
Margaret, in consternation at what had happened to Bri- 
connet, dreaded to see Berquin dragged to that scaffold which 
the bishop had so shamefully escaped. Not daring to visit 
him in prison, she endeavoured to convey a few words of 
consolation to him; and it was perhaps for him that the 
princess composed this touching complaint of the prisoner, in 
which the latter, addressing the Lord, exclaims : f 

But yet, where'er my prison be. 
Its gates can never keep out Thee 
For instant where I am, Thou art with me. 

But Margaret did not stop here ; she instantly wrote to 
her brother, soliciting this gentleman's pardon. Happy 
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. Erasmus had taken up the 
pen against Luther ; but that was 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 doctor that can escape its vengeance ? Lecouturier, 
commonly known by his Latin name Sutor (cobbler), had 
already begun the attack, by launching from his solitary 
Carthusian cell a treatise overflowing with violence, in which 
he called his opponents theologasters and jackasses, charg- 
ing them with scandalous crimes, heresy, and blasphemy. 
Treating of subjects which he did not understand, he reminded 

* Actes des Martyrs, p. 103. 

t Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses, i. 445. 



464 ERASMUS ATTACKED HIS DEFENCE. 

his readers of the old proverb : Ne sutor ultra crcpidam, 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 
h<3 had commanded the greatest writer of the age to lay 
down, he made a collection of all the calumnies that the 
monks had invented against the illustrious philosopher, 
translated them into French, and composed a book that lie 
circulated in the city and at court, striving 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 Ecmond, exclaimed every time he went 
into the pulpit, " There is no difference between Luther and 
Erasmus, except that Erasmus is the greater heretic ;"J and 
wherever the Carmelite might be, at table, in coach, or in 
boat, he called Erasmus a heresiarch and forger. The 
faculty of Paris, excited by these clamours, prepared a cen- 
sure 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 corres- 
pondence more active 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 
complaints and remonstrances at the feet of the Sorbonne, of 
the parliament, of the king, and of the emperor himself. 
" What is it that has kindled this immense Lutheran confla- 
gration?" wrote he to those theologians of the Sorbonne, from 
whom he still expected some little impartiality ; " what has 

* Primum jubet ut desinam scribere. Erasm. Epp. 921. 
+ Ut tot am Galliam in me concitaret. Ibid. 886. 
Niai quod Erasmus esset major hacreticus. Ibid. 91S. 
Quoties in conviviis, in vchiculis, in navibus. Ibid. 



APPEAL TO THE KING AND THE EMPEROR. 4G5 

fanned it, if not the virulence of Beda and his fellows ?* 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 !" wrote he to the parliament, " when I was con- 
tending with these Lutherans, and while I was maintaining 
a severe struggle by order of the emperor, the pope, and 
otjier princes, even at the peril of my life, Beda and Lecou- 
turier 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- But now it is your duty to put an end 
to such injustice !" 

As 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 forewarned 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 
conspire 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 enemies, 
Erasmus invoked the protection of Charles V. " Invincible 
emperor," said he, " certain individuals who, under the pre- 
tence of religion, wish to establish their own gluttony and 

* Hoc gravissimum Lntheri incendinm, unde natum, unde hue pro 
gressum, nisi ex Ueddaicis iutemperiis. Er. Epp. p. 887. 

t Musarum viudicem adversus barbarorum iiicursiones. Ibid. p. 2070. 

J Nisi princeps ipsorum voluntati per omnia paruerit, dicetur fautor 
haereticorum et destitui poterit per ecclesiam. Ibid. p. 1108. 



466 PARIS AND LORRAINE ESCH IMPRISONED. 

despotism, are raising a horrible outcry against me.* 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 abandon 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, Lorraine applied to the 
task ; and then Paris resumed her labour, while Metz 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 eschcvin. Plans 
were already laid for throwing them into prison, when, fearful 
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.} These 
tidings overwhelmed the French refugees and the Swiss them- 
selves with sorrow. " heart full of innocence!" exclaimed 
GEcolampadius. " I have confidence in the Lord," added he, 
" that he will preserve this man to us, either in life as a 

Simulate religionis pr.ttextu, ventris tyrannidisque suse, negotium 
agentes. Er. Epp. p. 962. 

H- Chroniqnes de Metz, p. 823. 

Noster captus dctinetur in Bundamosa quinque millibus a Metis. 
CKcol. to Farel, Epp. 201. 



ESCH IMPRISONED SCHUCH AT NANCY. 467 

preacher of righteousness, to announce His name, or as a 
martyr to confess him in death."* But at the same time 
CEcolampadius disapproved of the impetuosity, enthusiasm, 
and imprudent zeal which distinguished the French refugees. 
" I 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 spread- 
ing his snares on every side. Nevertheless 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 
Renel, confessor to Duke Anthony the Good, a man devoid 
of shame, and not very commendable on the score of morals, 
gave this weak prince, who reigned from 1508 to 1544, great 
licence in his pleasures, 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 Ave" 
this prince, so well tutored by Renel, would say ; " the greater 
the doctor, the greater the disturbance." f 

Towards the end of 1524 the duke's court was informed 
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 Anthony 
the Good, " or else I will march against the city, and destroy 
it by fire and sword." 

Upon this the faithful pastor resolved to give himself up 
for his flock, and repaired to Nancy, where tlie 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 

Vel vivum confessorem, vel mortuum martyrem servabit. OEool. to 
fsrol, Epp. 201. 

t Nollem carissimos dominos meos Galles properare in Galliam, &C. 
Ibid. 

Actes des Martyrs, p. 97 Ibid. p. 95. 



4.68 HIS CONDEMNATION AND MARTYRDOM. 

with notes, he meekly yet forcibly confessed Christ cruci- 
fied. 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 violent cries, tore 
away the Bible from which he was reading this menacing 
language, " and like mad dogs," says the chronicler, " unable 
to bite his doctrine, they burnt it in their convent."* 

All the court of Lorrair.e resounded with the obstinacy 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, 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 van- 
quished nor confounded. Exasperated at such 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." -J- 
Schuch was instantly condemned to be burnt 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." J 

On the 19th August 1525 the whole 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 Cordeliers, 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 
honour 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 ! " 

* Actes des Martyrs, recueillis par Crespin, en Fran9ais, p. 97. 
f Hist, de Fran9ois I. par Gaillard, iv. 233. 
Psalm cxxii. 1. 



BEDA'S CONTEST WITH CAROLI. 469 

When the martyr reached the place of execution, his 
books were burnt before his face; he was then called 
upon to retract ; but he refused, saying : " It is thou, 
God, who hast called me, and thou wilt give me strength 
unto the end." * After this he began to repeat aloud the 
fifty-first psalm : " Have mercy upon me, Lord, according 
to thy loving kindness." Having mounted the pile, ho 
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 attention to 
their advice. The ashes of a heretic had been scattered to 
the winds at Nancy ; it was a challenge to the capital of 
France. What ! shall Beda and Lecouturier 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 beyond 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 purpose of the 
heart. 

Among the scholars whom Bric.onnet had attracted to his 
diocese, was a doctor of the Sorbonne, named Peter Caroli, 
a vain and frivolous man, not less quarrelsome and litigious 
than Beda himself. In the new doctrine Caroli saw the 
means of vexing Beda, whose ascendency 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 inde- 
fatigable struggle between the two doctors ; it was blow for 
blow, and trick for trick. Beda summoned Caroli before the 
Sorbonne, and Caroli summoned him before the bishop's 
court by way of reparation. The faculty continued the ex- 
amination, 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 

* Eum auctorem vocationis suse atque conservatorem, ad estremum 
asque spiritum recognovit. Acta Mart. p. 202. 
21* 



470 CONTEST WITH CAROLI PAVANNE's DEJECTION. 

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 begged permission to 
finish the explanation of the 22d Psalm, which he had just 
begun. Finally, on the refusal of his request, he posted the 
following placard on the college gates : " Peter Caroli, 
desirous of obeying the orders of the sacred faculty, lias 
ceased to lecture ; he will resume his lectures (whenever it 
shall please God] at the verse where lie left off : THEY HAVE 

PIERCED MY HANDS AND MY FEET." ThtlS Bcda 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 profane a spirit to be put to death. How could 
the judges capitally punish a man who made them lose their 
gravity. 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 Reformation 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 persecution a better 
hold of them than Caroli. Brigonnet, Erasmus, Lcfevre, and 
Farel had escaped him ; but since he cannot reach these dis- 
tinguished individuals, he will content himself with meaner 
persons. The poor youth, James Pavanne, after his abjura- 
tion 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 reproach- 
ing himself for having denied his Saviour and his God.-j- 

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 re- 
'apsed," was the cry ; " the dog is turned to his oicn vomit 
igain t and the sow that was washed to her icallo icing in the 

Gerdosius, Hist, seculi xvi. renovati, p. 52 ; D'Argcntre, Collectio 
judiciorum de novis erroribus, ii. 21 ; Gaillard, Hist, de Francois I. iv. 233. 

f- Animi factum suum destostantis dolorem, ssepe declaraverit. Acta 
Mart. p. 203. 

' ' 



mS JOY AND MARTYRDOM THE HERMIT. 471 

mire" He was immediately arrested, thrown into prison, 
and taken before his judges. This was all that the youthful 
James required. 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 candour 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 looks only served to 
harden their hearts. His trial was soon concluded : a pile 
was erected on the Greve, where Pavanne died rejoicing, 
strengthening by his example all those who in that large city 
believed openly or secretly 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 
Greve 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 people ; and such proofs will show more 
clearly than any edicts, that Louisa of Savoy, the Sorbonne, 
and the parliament, 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 abbey of the 
Augustines, dwelt a hermit, who in his excursions having 
met with some men of Meaux, had received the evangelical 
doctrine in his heart.-j- The poor hermit had felt himself 
rich in his retreat, when one day, returning 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 surrounding villages, and as soon as he had 

* Puram religionis Christianas confessionem addit. Acta. Mart. p. 203. 

f Cetle semence de Faber et de sea disciples, prise au grenier de 
Luther, germa dans le sot esprit d'un ermite, qni se tenait prfes la villa 
de Paris. Hist. oath, de notre tetaps, par S. Fontaine, Paris, 1562. 



472 THE HERMIT OF LIVBY. 

opened the doors of the poor peasants whom he visited in 
their humble huts, he spoke to them of the Gospel, of the 
perfect pardon that it offers to the burdened soul, and which 
is far better than absolutions.* Erelong the good hermit of 
Livry was known in the environs of Paris ; people went to 
visit him in his lowly cell, and he became a mild and fervent 
missionary for the simple souls of that district. 

The rumour 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 her- 
mitage, 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." 7 

In order to render the example more striking, it was 
determined that he should be burnt alive in the front of 
Notre-Dame, before that splendid cathedral, that majestic 
symbol of Roman-catholicism. All the clergy were con- 
voked, and as much pomp was displayed as on the most 
solemn festivals.^ They would, if possible, have attracted 
all Paris round the stake, " the great bell of the church of 
Notre-Dame (says an 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 declaring that his sole hope was in the 



* Lequel par les Tillages qu'il frequentait, sous couleur de faire saa 
quetes, tenait propos heretiques. Hist. cath. de noire temps, par 3. Fou- 
taine, Paris. 1562. 

t Ibid. 

Avne one grande ceremonie. Hist, des Egl. Ref. par Theod. do 
Beze, i. 4. Ibid. 



HIS MAKTYRDOM. 473 

pardon of God. The doctors of the Sorbonne, in the front 
ranks of the spectators, seeing his constancy, and the 
effect it was producing on the people, cried aloud : " He is 
damned: they are leading him to hell-fire I"* The great 
bell still continued 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 martyr 
having replied to the last questions of his enemies, that he 
was resolved to die in the faith of his Lord Jesus Christ, 
was burnt by a slow fire, according to the tenor of his sen- 
tence. And thus, in front of Notre-Dame, 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 " Hermit of Livry." 



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 Calvius Slanders 
The Reformation creates new Languages Persecution and Terror 
Toussaint put in Prison The Persecution more furious 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 confessors 
of Jesus Christ in France, God was preparing mightier ones 
to fill their places. Beda hurried to the stake an unassum- 
ing scholar, an humble hermit, and thought he was dragging 
almost the whole of the Reform along with them. But Provi- 
dence 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 

* Beza, Histoire des E#H.=es Ref. i. 4. 



474 A SCHOLAR OF NOYON. 

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 glimmering appears, the fore- 
runner of a great deliverance. At this time, when all human 
powers in France were arming 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 
intrepidity. In the midst of the persecutions and blazing piles 
that followed each other in close succession after Francis 
became Charles's prisoner, let us fix our eyes on a youth, one 
day to be called to the head of a great army in the holy war- 
fare 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 eye and animated looks 
announced a mind of no common sagacity.* His dress, ex- 
tremely neat but of perfect simplicity, betokened order and 
moderation.-}- This young man, by name John Cauvin or 
Calvin, was then studying at the college of La Marche, under 
Mathurin Cordier, a rector celebrated for his probity, erudi- 
tion, and peculiar fitness for the instruction of youth. 
Brought up in all the superstitions of popery, the scholar of 
Noyon was blindly submissive to the Church, cheerfully com- 
plying 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 of a timid and fearful 
disposition, and which he himself has styled soft and pusil- 
lanimous^ he possessed that uprightness and generosity of 
heart which lead a man to sacrifice everything to his con- 
victions. Accordingly, in vain had his youth been appalled 

* Statura fuit mediocri, colore subpallido et nigricante, oculis ad mortem 
usque liinpidis, quique ingenii sagacitatem testarentur. Bezae Vita Cal vini. 

f Cultu corporis neque culto nequo sordido sed qui singularem modes- 
tiam dsceret. Ibid. 

J Prime quidem quum superstitionibus Papatns magis pertinaciter 
addictus essem. Calv. Prscf. ad Psalra. 

Ego qui natura timido, molli et pusillo ammo me case fateor. Ibid. 



CHARACTER OF YOUNG CALVIN. 475 

by those frightful spectacles, in vain had murderous flames 
consumed the faithful disciples of the Gospel on the Greve 
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 character of 
young Calvin certain traits that announced what he would 
become. Strictness of morals in him led the way to strict- 
ness of doctrine, and the scholar of sixteen already gave 
promise of a man who would deal seriously with every prin- 
ciple 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 schoolfellows during the hours of recreation, 
holding himself aloof,* and filled with horror at sin, he would 
often reprimand their disorders with severity and even bit- 
terness.f And hence, as a canon of Noyon informs us, his 
fellow-students nicknamed him the accusative case.\ Among 
them he was the representative of conscience and of duty, so 
far was he from being as some of his calumniators have de- 
picted 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 schoolfellows. His great 
timidity sometimes prevented him from manifesting 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 everything with incon- 
ceivable facility; .he ran in his studies while his companions 

* Summam in moribus affectabat gravitatem et paucorum hominnm 
consuettidine utebatur. Rannundi Hist. Hseres. vii. 10. 
f- Severus omnium in suis sodalibus censor. Bezse Vita Caly. 
J Annaleg de TE^Hse do Noyon, par Levasseur, chanoine, p. 1158. 



476 CALVIN'S FATHER THE MOMMORS. 

were lazily creeping along, and he impressed deeply on bis 
profound 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 Mommors, 
belonging to the first nobility of Picardy. John Calvin was 
very intimate with them, especially with Claude, who after- 
wards became abbot of Saint Eloi, and 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, secretary 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 pro- 
vince, and in particular of the noble family of Mommor.f 
Gerard resided at Noyon ; he had married a young woman 
of Cambray, of remarkable beauty and unassuming piety, 
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. Godeberte.|| A 

Exculto ipsius ingenio quod ei jam turn erat acerrimum, ita profecit 
at oaet'eris sodalibus ia grammatices curriculo relictis, ad dialecticos et 
aliarum quas vocant artium studium promoveretur. Beza. 

t Levasseur, doctor of the Sorbonne, Annales de 1'Eglise Cathcdrale do 
Noyon, p. 1151. Drelincourt, Defense de Calvin, p. 193. 

J Erat is Gerardus non parvi judicii et concilii homo, ideoque nobilibus 
ejus regionis plerisque cams. Beza. 

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 Noyou, p. 1157. 

|| The calumnies and extravagant tales about Calvin began early. 
J. Levasseur, afterwards dean of the canons at Noyon, relates that when 
Calvin's mother was in labour, " 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. 1157. These absurdities and many others of the same kind 
refute themselves, 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 stories, not 
daring to cite them all ; but they are all equally worthless. 



EARLY EDUCATION. 477 

third son, Anthony, who died young, and two daughters, 
made up the family of the procurator-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 Mom- 
mor family ; he lived in their house as one of themselves, 
and studied the same lessons as Claude. In this family he 
learnt 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.-j- The child enjoyed but little recrea- 
tion. The austerity, that was one of the characteristic fea- 
tures of the son, was found also in the father. Gerard 
brought him up strictly; from his earliest years, John was 
compelled to bend to the indexible rule of duty, which soon 
became habitual to him, and the influence of the father coun- 
teracted that of the Mommor family. Calvin, who was of a 
timid and somewhat rustic character (as he says himself),| 
and rendered still more timid by his father's severity, shrunk 
from the splendid apartments of his protectors, and loved to 
remain alone and in obscurity. Thus in retirement his 
young mind formed itself to great thoughts. It would ap- 
pear that he sometimes went to the village of Pont 1'Eveque, 
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 procurator-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 

* Domi vestrse puer educatus, iisdera tecum studiis initiatus, primam 
Titae et literarum disciplinam familiae vestrse nobilissimse acceptam refcro. 
Calv. Prsof. in Scnecam ad Claudium. 

t Desmay, Remarques, p. 31 ; Drelincourt, Defense, p. 158. 

J Ego qui natura subrusticus. Prsef. ad Psalm. 

Umbram et otium semper amavi latebras captare. Ibid. 

H Le bruit est quo son grand-pere etait tonuelier. Drelincourt, p. 30 ; 
Levasseur, Ann. de Noyon, p. 1151. 



478 DEVOTED TO THEOLOGY. 

and profound reasoner, and become the legislator of the re- 
novated Church, received even in childhood a more liberal 
education.* 

A spirit of piety early showed itself in the child's 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 awaken in his heart the senti- 
ment of God's omnipresence.-|- But although Calvin might, 
even in infancy, have heard the voice of God in his heart, 
uo 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.}: This prospect 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 chorister 
has no foundation, as even his adversaries admit. But they 
assure us that, when a child, he was seen joining the religi- 
ous processions, and carrying a sword with a cross-shaped 
hilt by way of a crucifix. " A presage," add they, " of what 
he was one day to become !" " The Lord hath made my 
mouth like a sharp sword," says the sefvant 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 prac- 
tice to confer ecclesiastical titles and revenues on children. 
Alphonso of Portugal was made cardinal by Leo X. at the 
age of eight, and Odet of Chdtillon by Clement VII. at eleven ; 
and subsequent to Calvin's day, the celebrated Mere An- 
ge'lique of Port Royal was appointed coadjutrix of that nun- 

* Henry, Das Leben Calvins, p. 29. 

t Calvin's Leben von Fischer, Leipzig, 1794. The author does not 
quote his authority for this fact. 

Destiuarat autem eum pater ab initio theologisc studiis, quod in ilia 
etiaiu tcnera aetate minim in nioduin religiosus esset. Bezae Vita Calv. 

Levasseur, Ann. de Noyon, pp. Ilj9, 1173. 



THE TONSURE HE LEAVES NOYON. 479 

nery at the age of seven years. Gerard, who died a good 
catholic, was regarded with favour by Messire Charles de 
Hangest, bishop of Noyon, and by his vicars-general. Ac- 
cordingly, when the chaplain of La Gesine resigned, the 
bishop, on the 21st May 1521, conferred this benefice on 
John Calvin, who was then nearly twelve years old. The 
appointment was communicated to the chapter twelve days 
after. On the eve of Corpus Christ!, the bishop solemnly 
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 person 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 Gcsine, and the serious child was 
probably astonished himself at tire work of the bishop and 
his vicars-general. But in his simplicity he felt too ranch 
veneration towards these exalted personages to indulge in 
the least suspicion on the lawfulness 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 Iris son John, 
the hope of his life, might in a moment be snatched from his 
tenderness by the scourge of God. The young de Mommors 
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 
5th of August 1523, he petitioned the chapter to procure the 
young chaplain " liberty to go wherever he pleased during 
the plague, without loss of his allowance ; which was 
granted him until the feast of Saint Rcmy."-}- John Calvin 

* Vie de Calvin, par Desmay, p. 31 ; Levasseur, p. 1158. 

t 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 refute the inventions or mistakes of Richelieu and other 
writers. 



480 THE TWO CALVINS SLANDERS. 

quitted his father's house at the age of fourteen. It requires 
great audacity in calumny to ascribe his departure to other 
causes, and in mere 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 one of his 
uncles, Richard Cauvin, who resided near the church of St. 
Germain 1'Auxerrois. " Thus flying from the pestilence," 
says the canon of Noyon, " he went to catch it elsewhere." 

Some years after Calvin had quitted Noyon, another in- 
dividual 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 stranger (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 Cauvin'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 stipend : but to this he paid no atten- 
tion,-!- continually lapsing again into incontinence. " Seeing 
then," says the canon, " his hardness of heart, which made 
him neglect every kind of remonstrance," the canons de- 
prived John Cauvin of his chapel and expelled him from the 
choir. James Desmay, a priest and doctor of divinity, who 
had studied at Noyon everything that concerned this church, 
adds, that he was privately scourged in 1552, 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 happened 
again, for the history of popery abounds in such adventures. 

* Annales de 1'Eglise de Noyon, at the chapter entitled, D'un autre 
Jean Cauvin, chapelain, vicaire de la meme gglise de Noyon, non here- 
tique, by Jacques Levasseur, canon and dean of that city. 

f Ibid. 

Vie de Jcau Calvin, par T. Desmay, imprimee a Rouen, chez Richard 
1'Allement, 1621. 



THE TWO CALVINS SLANDERS. 481 

A certain Baldwin the younger, also chaplain at Noyon, 
having taken to live scandalously with him certain women of 
suspicious character,* was condemned to attend every ser- 
vice in the church during a month, and to be scourged.f 

While these two Romanist authors agree in relating the 
disorders and punishments inflicted on these young eccle- 
siastics, 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." | 

The Dean of Noyon goes even farther in his zeal for 
the papacy, and relates that "John Cativin, 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 incline 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 Calvin the reformer, ad diluendam 
Tiomonymiam (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 advantage 
of the misdeeds of John Cauvin 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 be taken for tJt& 
other, the catholic for the heretic, the apologists of Rome 
fail not to ascribe to the reformer the debaucheries of his 
namesake. What engrossed the thoughts of the canon of 

* Scandalose vivendo cum quibusdam mulieribus suspectia. AnnaJes 
do 1'Eglise de Noyon, p. 1171. 

fr Praefati Domini ordinarunt ipsum caedi virgis. Ibid. 

J Ann. de 1'Egl. de Noyon, 1162. 

Ibid. 1171. 






482 A NEW WORLD NEW LANGUAGES. 

Noyon was the glory of John Cauvin who died a good 
catholic, and he feared lest Calvin'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 equi- 
vocations, as he says, but in a contrary direction. Let us 
now return to Calvin at Paris. 

A new world opened before the young man in the metro- 
polis 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 admiration even of his enemies. But at 
the same time, he found riches in this language which he 
afterwards transferred 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 created 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 lan- 
guage of the people. 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 labourer. 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 lan- 
guage is wanted, or at the least the language of the people 
must undergo an immense transformation, a great enfran- 
chisement, 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, everywhere kindling generous af- 
fections ; it opens the treasures of heaven to a generation 
that was thinking only of the mean things on earth; it 
shakes the masses ; it 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 hitherto had been the language of chroniclers and 



CALVIN'S INFLUENCE ON THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. 483 

troubadours 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 removed the French from 
the swaddling bands in which it had hitherto been bound, 
and reared it to its majority. From that time the language 
lias 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 guardian- 
ship of Rome. No doubt the language is formed by the 
people themselves: they invent those happy words, those 
energetic and figurative expressions, that impart to language 
such colouring and life. But there are resources beyond their 
reach, and which can only proceed from men of intellect. 
Calvin, when called upon to discuss and to prove, enriched 
his mother-tongue with modes of connexion and dependence, 
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 powerful a mastery 
over the human heart, was also to subjugate the language 
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 por- 
tion of the nation ; from it issued those families of scholars 
and dignified magistrates who exerted so powerful an influ- 
ence 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 endeavouring to transfer to the Gallicao 
Catholicism the doctrine and language of the Reformation, 
failed in 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.f 

* M. A. Arnauld, grandfather of the Mere Angelique, and of all the 
Arnaulds of Port-Royal, was a Protestant. See Port- Royal, by Saiate 
BeuTe. 

t Etude litteraire sur Calvin, par M. A. Sayous, Geneve, 1839, art. iv. 
It has been followed by others on Farel, Viret, and Beza. 



484 PERsr.ciTioxs AND TERROR. 

Wliile 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 scho- 
lar, who took no part as yet in the great movements that 
were agitating society. The flames that consumed the her- 
mit and Pavanne had spread terror through Paris. But the 
persecutors were not satisfied ; a system of terror was set on 
foot throughout 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 tribunals 
both those who wrote them and those to whom they were 
addressed.* One man, however, ventured to carry intelli- 
gence from Paris and France to the refugees at Basle, by 
sewing a letter that bore no signature under his doublet. He 
escaped the squadrons of arquebusiers, the marechausse'e of 
the several districts, the examinations of the provosts and 
lieutenants, and reached Basle without the mysterious doub- 
let being searched. His tidings filled Toussaint and his 
friends with alarm. " It is frightful," said Toussaint, " to 
hear of the great cruelties there inflicted !"f Shortly before 
this, two Franciscan monks had arrived at Basle, closely 
pursued by the officers 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." 

These excellent men still kept up their courage ; in vam 
were all the parliaments on the watch ; in vain did the spies 
of the Sorbonne and of the monks creep into churches, col- 
leges, 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 everything that 
seemed to bear the stamp of the Reformation : those French- 
men whom Rome and her satellites were hunting down and 
treading under foot, had faith in better days to come, and 

* II n'y a personne qui ose m'ecrire. Toussaint to Farel, 4th Septem- 
ber 152.5. Neufchatel MS. t Ibid. 
t IbW. 21st July 1525. 



HOPE AND LIBERTY. 485 

already perceived afar off 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 seventy 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."f 

The Chevalier d'Esch had in effect been delivered. Escap- 
ing from the prison at Pont a Mousson, he had hastened to 
Strasburg ; but he did not remain there long. " For the 
honour of God," immediately wrote Toussaint to Farel, " en- 
deavour to prevail on the knight, our worthy master, J 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 trembled 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 Wittembcrg, had been in Metz ; but 
they 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." || 

Yet Toussaint was not of a disposition to send others to 
the battle without joining in it himself. Deprived of his 

* Sane venit annus septuagesimus, ct tempus appetit ut tandem viudi- 
cemur in libertatem spiritus et conscientiro. Toussaint to Farel, 21st July 
1525. 

+ Sed novit Dominus quos elegerit. Ibid. 

Si nos magistrum in terris habere deceat (if it becomes us to have 
any master upon earth) he adds. Ibid. Nenfchatel MS. 

Vereor ne aliquid monstri alat. Toussaint to Farel, 27th Sept. 1525. 

|| Audio etiam equitem pcriclitari, simul et omiies qui illic Christi glo- 
riw favent. Ibid. 27th December 1525. 
VOL. 111. 32 



486 TOUSSAINT AT PARIS IMPRISONED. 

daily intercourse with (Ecolampadius, reduced to associate 
with an ignorant priest, he had sought communion with 
Christ, and felt his courage augmented. If he could not re- 
turn to Metz, might, he not at least go to Paris ? True, the 
piles 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 entered 
those walls where fanaticism had taken the place of riot and 
debauchery. While advancing in Christian studies, he en- 
deavoured to form a connexion with those brethren who 
were in the colleges, and especially in that of the Cardinal 
Lemoine, where Lefevre and Farel had taught.* But he 
could not long do so freely. The tyranny of the parliamen- 
tary commissioners and of the theologians reigned supreme 
in the capital, and whoever displeased them was accused of 
heresy, f 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 criminal, Toussaint felt his wretchedness the more 
keenly. " 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 CEcolampadius, his father, and " whose work 
I am in the Lord," said he.f There was Leclerc, whom he 
no doubt believed, on account of his age, " unable to bear 
the weight of the Gospel ;" Vaugris, who had displayed 
all the zeal " of the most affectionate brother" to rescue him 
from the hands of his enemies ; || Roussel, " by whom he 

* Fratres qui in collegio Cardinalis Monachi sunt te salutant. Tous- 
Baint to Farel, Neufchatel MS. 

j- Regnante hie tyrannide commissariorum et theologorum. Ibid. 

t Patrem nostrum cujus nos opus sumus in Domino. Toussaint to 
Farel, Neufchatel MS. This letter is undated, but it would seem to 
have been written shortly after Toussaint's deliverance, and shows the 
thoughts that then filled his mind. 

Faber impar est oneri evangelico ferendo. Ibid. 

|| Fidelissimi fratris officio functum. Ibid. 



FIRMNESS AND COURAGE. 487 

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 thiswarfare."f How 
must the names of all these men have softened the bitter- 
ness 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," an- 
swered he ; "I know that they are a temptation of the 
devil. I would rather suffer hunger, I would rather be a 
slave in the house of the Lord, than dwell with riches in the 
palaces of the wicked." || 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 Christ."^ And this interesting and 
bold young man subscribed his letters, " Peter Toussaint, 
unworthy to be called a Christian." 

Thus, in the absence of the king, new blows were conti- 
nually aimed against the Reformation. Berquin, Toussaint, 
and many others, were in prison ; Schuch, Pavanne, and the 
hermit of Li vry, had been put to death ; Farel, Lefevre, Roussel, 
and many other defenders 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 inces- 
santly, 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 already 
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 submitted to begin at 
the bottom, but with the hope of rising gradually until they 
procured the condemnation and death of the most exalted 

* Per Rufum magna operabitur Dominus. Touss. to Farel, Neuf. MS. 
f- Commendo me vestris precibus ne succumbam in hac militia. Ibid. 
J Me periclitari de vita. Ibid. 
Offerebantur hie mihi conditiones amplissimre. Ibid. 

H Malo esurire et abjectus esse in domo Domini Ibid. 

TI Haec, hrec gloria mea quod habeor hscreticns ab his quorum vitara 
et doctriiiam video pugnare cum Christo. Ibid. 



488 PERSECUTION MOKE VIGOROUS DU BLET AND MOULHf. 

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 An- 
thony Du Blet, that excellent man, the Lyons merchant, sunk 
under the persecutions of these enemies of the truth, in com- 
pany with another disciple, Francis Moulin, of whose fate 
no details have been handed down.* 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 Alencjon. Michael d'Arande, chaplain to the king's sister, 
for whose sake Margaret 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 imprisonment and death, -f- About the same time 
Anthony Papillon, for whom the princess had obtained the 
office of chief master of requests to the Dauphin, died sud- 
denly, and the general report, even among the enemies, was 
that he had been poisoned, j: 

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 iso- 
lated combatants who here and there stood up for it. Yet a 
few more efforts, and the soil of France will be free from heresy. 
Underhanded contrivances and secret practices took the place 
of clamour and the stake. They will make war in open 
day, but they will also carry it on in darkness. If fanati- 
cism employs the tribunal and the scaffold for the meaner sort, 
poison and the dagger are in reserve for the great. The doc- 
tors 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 justice demands that we should remember if 
Rome has had in every age its fanatical assassins, it has also 

* Periit Franciscus Molinus ac Dubletus. Erasm. Epp. p. 1109. In 
this letter, addressed to Francis I. in July 1526, Erasmus gives the 
names of all those who 5 during the king's captivity, had fallen victims to 
these Roman fanatics. 

t Periclitatus est Michael Arantius. Ibid. 

t Periit Papilio non sine gravi suspicioue veueni. Ibid. 



TERROR AND MOURNING. 489 

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 without. 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 husband, 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 the heretics. People and parliament, church and 
throne, joined hand in hand. 

Was it not enough for the Duchess of Alengon that the 
defeat of Pavia should have deprived her of a husband, 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 prisoner 
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 yon, 
I beseech you, my lord, to believe that it is only to try how 
much you love him, and to afford 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 resur- 
rection, 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 !" f Francis L 
deceived the hopes of his pious sister. 

* Gaillard, Frai^ois I. vol. ii. 255. 
t Letters de la Heine de Navarre a Francois I. p. 32. 
22* 



490 GOD PRESERVES THE CHURCH. 

The news from Spain soon increased the general sorrow, 
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 
Iteformation be crushed for ever? "But when all seems 
lost," said the young scholar of Noyon at a later period, 
" God saves his Church in a marvellous way."* The 
Church of France, which was as if in the travail of birth, was 
to have an interval of ease before her pains returned ; and 
to this end God made use of a weak woman, who never 
openly declared in favour of the Reformation. At that time 
she thought more of saving the king and the kingdom, than 
of delivering obscure Christians, who nevertheless rested 
great hopes in her.-J- But under the splendour of worldly 
affairs God often conceals the mysterious ways by which 
he governs his people. A noble project arose in the mind of 
the Duchess of Alencon. To cross the sea or the Pyrenees, 
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, the reputation she had ac- 
quired, the love she felt for her brother, and that of Francis 
towards her, were a great counterpoise in the eyes of Louisa 
and Duprat to her attachment to the new doctrine. All eyes 
were turned upon her, as the only person capable of extricat- 
ing the kingdom from its perilous position. Let Margaret 
visit Spain, let her speak to the powerful emperor and to 
his ministers, 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 Alengon 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 princess 

* Nam habet Deus modum, quo clcctos sues mirabiliter custodial, ubi 
oamia perdita videntur. Calvin, in Epp. ad Rom. xi. 2. 
t Beneficio illustrissimnc Ducis Alanconise. Toussaint to Farel. 



MARGARET'S PROJECT. 491 

had fears on her behalf, which were but too near being re- 
alized. The evangelical Christians were full of hope. The 
captivity of Francis I. 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 had been thrown. 
Margaret encouraged herself in a project towards which all 
her soul felt attracted by so many different 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 danger- 
ous journey. 

The Archbishop of Embrun, afterwards Cardinal of Tour- 
non, and the president Selves, were already at Madrid, treat- 
ing for the king's deliverance. They were placed under 
Margaret's orders, as was also the Bishop of Tarbes, after- 
wards Cardinal of Grammont ; full powers 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 arrange this affair. " One hour's conference," ex- 
claimed Selves, " between your majesty, the king my master, 
and the Duchess of Alenc,on, would forward the treaty more 
than a month's discussion between diplomatists."-}- 

Margaret, impatient to arrive in consequence of the king's 
illness, set off without a safe-conduct, accompanied by a 
splendid train.| 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 

* Memoiros de Du Bellay, p. 124. 

T Histoire de France, par Gamier, tome xxiv. 

J Pour taster au vif la voulunte de 1'esleu empereur madame Mar- 
guerite, duchessc d'Alen9on, trcs-notablement accompaignee de plusieura 
unbassadeurs Les gestes de Franyoise de Valois, par E. Dolet, 1540 



492 MISSION AND SAFE-CONDUCT. 

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. 

Margaret had scarcely reached the shores of the Mediterra- 
nean when the fears of those about her on the insufficiency of 
the safe-conduct, but especially the bad weather and the tem- 
pest, made her halt. " The seamen themselves (wrote she to 
Montmorency) are alarmed." On the 27th 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 

favourable 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 honour, thinking by this 
means to share your fortune, which I would desire to bear 
alone."* Nothing therefore could detain this princess at 
Aigues-Mortes,-]- and in this port Margaret embarked on 
board the ship prepared 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. 

* Lottres de la roine de Navarre \ Fran9ois I. pp. 39, 40. 

f Jam in itinere crat Margarita, Francisci soror e fossis Marian is 

solvens, Barcinonem primutn, delude Csosar Augustam appulerat. Bel- 
ear ius, Rorum Gallic. Comm. p. 565. 



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