The French Reformation
Chapter Twelve
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The Protest of Spires and the Confession at Augsburg, which
marked the triumph of the Reformation in Germany, were followed
by years of conflict and darkness. Weakened by divisions among
its supporters, and assailed by powerful foes, Protestantism
seemed destined to be utterly destroyed. Thousands sealed their
testimony with their blood. Civil war broke out; the Protestant
cause was betrayed by one of its leading adherents; the noblest
of the reformed princes fell into the hands of the emperor, and
were dragged as captives from town to town. But in the moment of
his apparent triumph, the emperor was smitten with defeat. He saw
the prey wrested from his grasp, and he was forced at last to
grant toleration to the doctrines which it had been the ambition
of his life to destroy. He had staked his kingdom, his treasures,
and life itself, upon the crushing out of the heresy. Now he saw
his armies wasted by battle, his treasuries drained, his many
kingdoms threatened by revolt, while everywhere the faith which
he had vainly endeavored to suppress, was extending. Charles V.
had been battling against omnipotent power. God had said,
"Let there be light," but the emperor had sought to
keep the darkness unbroken. His purposes had failed, and in
premature old age, worn out with the long struggle, he abdicated
the throne, and buried himself in a cloister.
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In Switzerland, as in Germany, there came dark days for the
Reformation. While many cantons accepted the reformed faith,
others clung with blind persistence to the creed of Rome. Their
persecution of those who desired to receive the truth, finally
gave rise to civil war. Zwingle and many who had united with him
in reform, fell on the bloody field of Cappel. Oecolampadius,
overcome by these terrible disasters, soon after died. Rome was
triumphant, and in many places seemed about to recover all that
she had lost. But He whose counsels are from everlasting had not
forsaken his cause or his people. His hand would bring
deliverance for them. In other lands he had raised up laborers to
carry forward the reform.
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In France, before the name of Luther had been heard as a
reformer, the day had already begun to break. One of the first to
catch the light was the aged Lefevre, a man of extensive
learning, a professor in the University of Paris, and a sincere
and zealous papist. In his researches into ancient literature his
attention was directed to the Bible, and he introduced its study
among his students. Lefevre was an enthusiastic adorer of the
saints, and he had undertaken to prepare a history of the saints
and martyrs, as given in the legends of the church. This was a
work which involved great labor, but he had already made
considerable progress in it, when, thinking that he might obtain
useful assistance from the Bible, he began its study with this
object. Here indeed he found saints brought to view, but not such
as figured in the Romish calendar. A flood of divine light broke
in upon his mind. In amazement and disgust he turned away from
his self-appointed task, and devoted himself to the Word of God.
The precious truths which he there discovered, he soon began to
teach. In 1512, before either Luther or Zwingle had begun the
work of reform, Lefevre wrote: "It is God who gives us, by
faith, that righteousness which by grace justifies unto eternal
life." Dwelling upon the mysteries of redemption, he
exclaimed, "Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that
exchange,--the Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty
goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the curse is brought
into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is
whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of
face is clothed with glory."
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And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs solely to
God, he also declared that the duty of obedience belongs to man.
"If thou art a member of Christ's church," he said,
"thou art a member of his body; if thou art of his body,
then thou art full of the divine nature." "Oh, if men
could but enter into the understanding of this privilege, how
purely, chastely, and holily, would they live, and how
contemptible, when compared with the glory within them,-- that
glory which the eye of flesh cannot see,--would they deem all the
glory of this world."
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There were some among Lefevre's students who listened eagerly to
his words, and who, long after the teacher's voice should be
silenced, were to continue to declare the truth. Such was William
Farel. The son of pious parents, and educated to accept with
implicit faith the teachings of the church, he might, with the
apostle Paul, have declared concerning himself, "After the
most straitest sect of our religion I lived a
Pharisee."[ACTS 26:5.] A devoted Romanist, he burned with
zeal to destroy all who should dare to oppose the church. "I
would gnash my teeth like a furious wolf," he afterward
said, referring to this period of his life, "when I heard
any one speaking against the pope." He had been untiring in
his adoration of the saints, in company with Lefevre making the
round of the churches of Paris, worshiping at the altars, and
adorning with gifts the holy shrines. But these observances could
not bring peace of soul. Conviction of sin fastened upon him,
which all the acts of penance that he practiced, failed to
banish. As a voice from Heaven, he listened to the reformer's
words: "Salvation is of grace. The Innocent One is
condemned, and the criminal is acquitted." "It is the
cross of Christ alone that openeth the gates of Heaven, and
shutteth the gates of hell."
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Farel joyfully accepted the truth. By a conversion like that of
Paul, he turned from the bondage of tradition to the liberty of
the sons of God. "Instead of the murderous heart of a
ravening wolf," he came back, he says, "quietly, like a
meek and harmless lamb, having his heart entirely withdrawn from
the pope, and given to Jesus Christ.
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While Lefevre continued to spread the light among his students,
Farel, as zealous in the cause of Christ as he had been in that
of the pope, went forth to declare the truth in public. A
dignitary of the church, the bishop of Meaux, soon after united
with them. Other teachers who ranked high for their ability and
learning, joined in proclaiming the gospel, and it won adherents
among all classes, from the homes of artisans and peasants to the
palace of the king. The sister of Francis I., then the reigning
monarch, accepted the reformed faith. The king himself, and the
queen mother, appeared for a time to regard it with favor, and
with high hopes the reformers looked forward to the time when
France should be won to the gospel.
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But their hopes were not to be realized. Trial and persecution
awaited the disciples of Christ. This, however, was mercifully
veiled from their eyes. A time of peace intervened, that they
might gain strength to meet the tempest; and the Reformation made
rapid progress. The bishop of Meaux labored zealously in his own
diocese to instruct both the clergy and the people. Ignorant and
immoral priests were removed, and, so far as possible, replaced
by men of learning and piety. The bishop greatly desired that his
people might have access to the Word of God for themselves, and
this was soon accomplished. Lefevre undertook the translation of
the New Testament, and at the very time when Luther's German
Bible way issuing from the press in Wittenberg, the French New
Testament was published at Meaux. The bishop spared no labor or
expense to circulate it among his parishes, and soon the peasants
of Meaux were in possession of the Holy Scriptures.
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As travelers perishing from thirst welcome with joy a living
water-spring, so did these souls receive the message of Heaven.
The laborers in the field, the artisans in the workshop, cheered
their daily toil by talking of the precious truths of the Bible.
At evening, instead of resorting to the wine shops, they
assembled in each other's homes to read God's Word and join in
prayer and praise. A great change was soon manifest in these
communities. Though belonging to the humblest class, an unlearned
and hard-working peasantry, the reforming, uplifting power of
divine grace was seen in their lives. Humble, loving, and holy,
they stood as witnesses to what the gospel will accomplish for
those who receive it in sincerity.
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The light kindled at Meaux shed its beams afar. Every day the
number of converts was increasing. The rage of the hierarchy was
for a time held in check by the king, who despised the narrow
bigotry of the monks; but the papist leaders finally prevailed.
Now the stake was set up. The bishop of Meaux, forced to choose
between the fire and recantation, accepted the easier path; but
notwithstanding the leader's fall, his flock remained steadfast.
Many witnessed for the truth amid the flames. By their courage
and fidelity at the stake, these humble Christians spoke to
thousands who in days of peace had never heard their testimony.
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It was not alone the humble and the poor, that amid suffering and
scorn dared to bear witness for Christ. In the lordly halls of
the castle and the palace, there were kingly souls by whom truth
was valued above wealth or rank or even life. Knightly armor
concealed a loftier and more steadfast spirit than did the
bishop's robe and mitre. Louis de Berquin was of noble birth. A
brave and courtly knight, he was devoted to study, polished in
manners, and of blameless morals. "He was," says a
writer, "a great follower of the papistical constitutions,
and a great hearer of masses and sermons." "And he
crowned all his other virtues by holding Lutheranism in special
abhorrence." But, like so many others, providentially guided
to the Bible, he was amazed to find there, not the teachings of
popery, but the doctrines of Luther. Henceforth he gave himself,
with entire devotion, to the cause of the gospel.
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"The most learned of the nobles of France," his genius
and eloquence, his indomitable courage and heroic zeal, and his
influence at court--for he was a favorite with the king-- caused
him to be regarded by many as one destined to be the reformer of
his country. Said Beza, "Berquin would have been a second
Luther, had he found in Francis I. a second elector."
"He is worse than Luther," cried the papists. More
dreaded he was indeed by the Romanists of France. They thrust him
in prison as a heretic, but he was set at liberty by the king.
For years the struggle continued. Francis, wavering between Rome
and the Reformation, alternately tolerated and restrained the
fierce zeal of the monks. Berquin was three times imprisoned by
the papist authorities, only to be released by the monarch, who,
in admiration of his genius and his nobility of character,
refused to sacrifice him to the malice of the hierarchy.
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Berquin was repeatedly warned of the danger that threatened him
in France, and urged to follow the steps of those who had found
safety in voluntary exile. The timid and time-serving
Erasmus--who with all the splendor of his scholarship failed of
that moral greatness which holds life and honor subservient to
truth--wrote to Berquin: "Ask to be sent as ambassador to
some foreign country; go and travel in Germany. You know Beda and
such as he--he is a thousand-headed monster, darting venom on
every side. Your enemies are named legion. Were your cause better
than that of Jesus Christ, they will not let you go till they
have miserably destroyed you. Do not trust too much to the king's
protection. At all events, do not compromise me with the faculty
of theology."
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But as dangers thickened, Berquin's zeal only waxed the stronger.
So far from adopting the politic and self-serving counsel of
Erasmus, he determined upon still bolder measures. He would not
only stand in defense of the truth, but he would attack error.
The charge of heresy which the Romanists were seeking to fasten
upon him, he would rivet upon them. The most active and bitter of
his opponents were the learned doctors and monks of the
theological department in the great university of Paris, one of
the highest ecclesiastical authorities both in the city and the
nation. From the writings of these doctors, Berquin drew twelve
propositions which he publicly declared to be contrary to the
Bible, and therefore heretical; and he appealed to the king to
act as judge in the controversy.
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The monarch, not loth to bring in contrast the power and
acuteness of the opposing champions, and glad of an opportunity
of humbling the pride of these haughty monks, bade the Romanists
defend their cause by the Bible. This weapon, they well knew,
would avail them little; imprisonment, torture, and the stake
were arms which they better understood to wield. Now the tables
were turned, and they saw themselves about to fall into the pit
into which they had hoped to plunge Berquin. In amazement they
looked about them for some way of escape.
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Just at this time an image of the virgin, standing at the corner
of one of the public streets, was found mutilated. There was
great excitement in the city. Crowds of people flocked to the
place, with expressions of mourning and indignation. The king
also was deeply moved. Here was an advantage which the monks
could turn to good account, and they were quick to improve it.
"These are the fruits of the doctrines of Berquin,"
they cried. "All is about to be overthrown,--religion, the
laws, the throne itself,--by this Lutheran conspiracy."
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Again Berquin was apprehended. The king withdrew from Paris, and
the monks were thus left free to work their will. The reformer
was tried, and condemned to die, and lest Francis should even yet
interpose to save him, the sentence was executed on the very day
it was pronounced. At noon Berquin was conducted to the place of
death. An immense throng gathered to witness the event, and there
were many who saw with astonishment and misgiving that the victim
had been chosen from the best and bravest of the noble families
of France. Amazement, indignation, scorn, and bitter hatred
darkened the faces of that surging crowd; but upon one face no
shadow rested. The martyr's thoughts were far from that scene of
tumult; he was conscious only of the presence of his Lord.
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The wretched tumbril upon which he rode, the frowning faces of
his persecutors, the dreadful death to which he was going,--these
he heeded not; He who liveth and was dead, and is alive
forevermore, and hath the keys of death and of hell, was beside
him. Berquin's countenance was radiant with the light and peace
of Heaven. He had attired himself in goodly raiment, wearing
"a cloak of velvet, a doublet of satin and damask, and
golden hose." He was about to testify to his faith in
presence of the King of kings and the witnessing universe, and no
token of mourning should belie his joy.
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As the procession moved slowly through the crowded streets, the
people marked with wonder the unclouded peace, the joyous
triumph, of his look and bearing. "He is," they said,
"like one who sits in a temple, and meditates on holy
things."
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At the stake, Berquin endeavored to address a few words to the
people, but the monks, fearing the result, began to shout, and
the soldiers to clash their arms, and their clamor drowned the
martyr's voice. Thus in 1529, the highest literary and
ecclesiastical authority of cultured Paris "set the populace
of 1793 the base example of stifling on the scaffold the sacred
words of the dying."
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Berquin was strangled, and his body was consumed in the flames.
The tidings of his death caused sorrow to the friends of the
Reformation throughout France. But his example was not lost.
"We too are ready," said the witnesses for the truth,
"to meet death cheerfully, setting our eyes on the life that
is to come."
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During the persecution at Meaux, the teachers of the reformed
faith were deprived of their license to preach, and they departed
to other fields. Lefevre after a time made his way to Germany.
Farel returned to his native town in Eastern France, to spread
the light in the home of his childhood. Already tidings had been
received of what was going on at Meaux, and the truth, which he
taught with fearless zeal, found listeners. Soon the authorities
were roused to silence him, and he was banished from the city.
Though he could no longer labor publicly, he traversed the plains
and villages, teaching in private dwellings and in secluded
meadows, and finding shelter in the forests and among the rocky
caverns which had been his haunts in boyhood. God was preparing
him for greater trials. "Crosses, persecution, and the
lying-in-wait of Satan, of which I had intimation, were not
wanting," he said; "they were even much more than I
could have borne in my own strength; but God is my Father; he has
ministered, and will forever minister, to me all needful
strength."
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As in apostolic days, persecution had "fallen out rather
unto the furtherance of the gospel.[PHIL. 1:12.] Driven from
Paris and Meaux, "they that were scattered abroad went
everywhere preaching the Word."[ACTS 8:4.] And thus the
light found its way into many of the remote provinces of France.
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God was still preparing workers to extend his cause. In one of
the schools of Paris was a thoughtful, quiet youth, already
giving evidence of a powerful and penetrating mind, and no less
marked for the blamelessness of his life than for intellectual
ardor and religious devotion. His genius and application soon
made him the pride of the college, and it was confidently
anticipated that John Calvin would become one of the ablest and
most honored defenders of the church. But a ray of divine light
penetrated even within the walls of scholasticism and
superstition by which Calvin was inclosed. He heard of the new
doctrines with a shudder, nothing doubting that the heretics
deserved the fire to which they were given. Yet all unwittingly
he was brought face to face with the heresy, and forced to test
the power of Romish theology to combat the Protestant teaching.
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A cousin of Calvin's, who had joined the reformers, was in Paris.
The two kinsmen often met, and discussed together the matters
that were disturbing Christendom. "There are but two
religions in the world," said Olivetan, the Protestant.
"The one class of religions are those which men have
invented, in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies and
good works; the other is that one religion which is revealed in
the Bible, and which teaches men to look for salvation solely to
the free grace of God. "I will have none of your new
doctrines," exclaimed Calvin; "think you that I have
lived in error all my days?"
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But thoughts had been awakened in his mind which he could not
banish at will. Alone in his chamber he pondered upon his
cousin's words. Conviction of sin fastened upon him; he saw
himself, without an intercessor, in the presence of a holy and
just Judge. The mediation of saints, good works, the ceremonies
of the church, all were powerless to atone for sin. He could see
before him nothing but the blackness of eternal despair. In vain
the doctors of the church endeavored to relieve his woe.
Confession, penance, were resorted to in vain; they could not
reconcile the soul with God.
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While still engaged in these fruitless struggles, Calvin,
chancing one day to visit one of the public squares, witnessed
there the burning of a heretic. He was filled with wonder at the
expression of peace which rested upon the martyr's countenance.
Amid the tortures of that dreadful death, and under the more
terrible condemnation of the church, he manifested a faith and
courage which the young student painfully contrasted with his own
despair and darkness, while living in strictest obedience to the
church. Upon the Bible, he knew, the heretics rested their faith.
He determined to study it, and discover, if he could, the secret
of their joy.
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In the Bible he found Christ. "O Father," he cried,
"his sacrifice has appeased thy wrath; his blood has washed
away my impurities; his cross has borne my curse; his death has
atoned for me. We had devised for ourselves many useless follies,
but thou hast placed thy Word before me like a torch, and thou
hast touched my heart, in order that I may hold in abomination
all other merits save those of Jesus."
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Calvin had been educated for the priesthood. When only twelve
years of age he had been appointed to the chaplaincy of a small
church, and his head had been shorn by the bishop in accordance
with the canon of the church. He did not receive consecration,
nor did he fulfill the duties of a priest, but he became a member
of the clergy, holding the title of his office, and receiving an
allowance in consideration thereof.
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Now, feeling that he could never become a priest, he turned for a
time to the study of law, but finally abandoned this purpose, and
determined to devote his life to the gospel. But he hesitated to
become a public teacher. He was naturally timid, and was burdened
with a sense of the weighty responsibility of the position, and
he desired to still devote himself to study. The earnest
entreaties of his friends, however, at last won his consent.
"Wonderful it is," he said, "that one of so lowly
an origin should be exalted to so great dignity."
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Quietly did Calvin enter upon his work, and his words were as the
dew falling to refresh the earth. He had left Paris, and was now
in a provincial town under the protection of the princess
Margaret, who, loving the gospel, extended her protection to its
disciples. Calvin was still a youth, of gentle, unpretentious
bearing. His work began with the people at their homes.
Surrounded by the members of the household, he read the Bible,
and opened the truths of salvation. Those who heard the message,
carried the good news to others, and soon the teacher passed
beyond the city to the outlying towns and hamlets. To both the
castle and the cabin he found entrance, and he went forward,
laying the foundation of churches that were to yield fearless
witnesses for the truth.
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A few months and he was again in Paris. There was unwonted
agitation in the circle of learned men and scholars. The study of
the ancient languages had led men to the Bible, and many whose
hearts were untouched by its truths were eagerly discussing them,
and even giving battle to the champions of Romanism. Calvin,
though an able combatant in the fields of theological
controversy, had a higher mission to accomplish than that of
these noisy schoolmen. The minds of men were stirred, and now was
the time to open to them the truth. While the halls of the
universities were filled with the clamor of theological
disputation, Calvin was making his way from house to house,
opening the Bible to the people, and speaking to them of Christ
and him crucified.
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In God's providence, Paris was to receive another invitation to
accept the gospel. The call of Lefevre and Farel had been
rejected, but again the message was to be heard by all classes in
that great capital. The king, influenced by political
considerations, had not yet fully sided with Rome against the
Reformation. Margaret still clung to the hope that Protestantism
was to triumph in France. She resolved that the reformed faith
should be preached in Paris. During the absence of the king, she
ordered a Protestant minister to preach in the churches of the
city. This being forbidden by the papal dignitaries, the princess
threw open the palace. An apartment was fitted up as a chapel,
and it was announced that every day, at a specified hour, a
sermon would be preached, and the people of every rank and
station were invited to attend. Crowds flocked to the service.
Not only the chapel, but the ante-chambers and halls were
thronged. Thousands every day assembled,--nobles, statesmen,
lawyers, merchants, and artisans. The king, instead of forbidding
the assemblies, ordered that two of the churches of Paris should
be opened. Never before had the city been so moved by the Word of
God. The spirit of life from Heaven seemed to be breathed upon
the people. Temperance, purity, order, and industry were taking
the place of drunkenness, licentiousness, strife, and idleness.
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But the hierarchy were not idle. The king still refused to
interfere to stop the preaching, and they turned to the populace.
No means were spared to excite the fears, the prejudices, and the
fanaticism of the ignorant and superstitious multitudes. Yielding
blindly to her false teachers, Paris, like Jerusalem of old, knew
not the time of her visitation, nor the things which belonged
unto her peace. For two years the Word of God was preached in the
capital; but while there were many who accepted the gospel, the
majority of the people rejected it. Francis had made a show of
toleration, merely to serve his own purposes, and the papists
succeeded in regaining the ascendency. Again the churches were
closed, and the stake was set up.
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Calvin was still in Paris, preparing himself by study,
meditation, and prayer, for his future labors, and continuing to
spread the light. At last, however, suspicion fastened upon him.
The authorities determined to bring him to the flames. Regarding
himself as secure in his seclusion, he had no thought of danger,
when friends came hurrying to his room with the news that
officers were on their way to arrest him. At the instant a loud
knocking was heard at the outer entrance. There was not a moment
to be lost. Some of his friends detained the officers at the
door, while others assisted the reformer to let himself down from
a window, and he rapidly made his way to the outskirts of the
city. Finding shelter in the cottage of a laborer who was a
friend to the reform, he disguised himself in the garments of his
host, and, shouldering a hoe, started on his journey. Traveling
southward he again found refuge in the dominions of Margaret.
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Here for a few months he remained, safe under the protection of
powerful friends, and engaged, as before, in study. But his heart
was set upon the evangelization of France, and he could not long
remain inactive. As soon as the storm had somewhat abated, he
sought a new field of labor in Poitiers, where was a university,
and where already the new opinions had found favor. Persons of
all classes gladly listened to the gospel. There was no public
preaching, but in the home of the chief magistrate, in his own
lodgings, and sometimes in a public garden, Calvin opened the
words of eternal life to those who desired to listen. After a
time, as the number of hearers increased, it was thought safer to
assemble outside the city. A cave in the side of a deep and
narrow gorge, where trees and overhanging rocks made the
seclusion still more complete, was chosen as the place of
meeting. Little companies, leaving the city by different routes,
found their way hither. In this retired spot the Bible was read
and explained. Here the Lord's supper was celebrated for the
first time by the Protestants of France. From this little church
several faithful evangelists were sent out.
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Once more Calvin returned to Paris. He could not even yet
relinquish the hope that France as a nation would accept the
Reformation. But he found almost every door of labor closed. To
teach the gospel was to take the direct road to the stake, and he
at last determined to depart to Germany. Scarcely had he left
France when a storm burst over the Protestants, that, had he
remained, must surely have involved him in the general ruin.
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The French reformers, eager to see their country keeping pace
with Germany and Switzerland, determined to strike a bold blow
against the superstitions of Rome, that should arouse the whole
nation. Accordingly placards attacking the mass were in one night
posted all over France. Instead of advancing the reform, this
zealous but ill-judged movement brought ruin, not only upon its
propagators, but upon the friends of the reformed faith
throughout France. It gave the Romanists what they had long
desired,--a pretext for demanding the utter destruction of the
heretics as agitators dangerous to the stability of the throne
and the peace of the nation.
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By some secret hand--whether of indiscreet friend or wily foe was
never known--one of the placards was attached to the door of the
king's private chamber. The monarch was filled with horror. In
this paper, superstitions that had received the veneration of
ages were attacked with an unsparing hand. And the unexampled
boldness of obtruding these plain and startling utterances into
the royal presence, aroused the wrath of the king. In his
amazement he stood for a little time trembling and speechless.
Then his rage found utterance in the terrible words: "Let
all be seized; and let Lutheranism be totally exterminated."
The die was cast. The king had determined to throw himself fully
on the side of Rome.
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Measures were at once taken for the arrest of every Lutheran in
Paris. A poor artisan, an adherent of the reformed faith, who had
been accustomed to summon the believers to their secret
assemblies, was seized; and with the threat of instant death at
the stake, was commanded to conduct the papist emissary to the
home of every Protestant in the city. He shrunk in horror from
the base proposal, but at last fear of the flames prevailed, and
he consented to become the betrayer of his brethren. Preceded by
the host, and surrounded by a train of priests, incense-bearers,
monks, and soldiers, Morin, the royal detective, with the
traitor, slowly and silently passed through the streets of the
city. The demonstration was ostensibly in honor of the "holy
sacrament," an act of expiation for the insult put upon the
mass by the protesters. But beneath this pageant a deadly purpose
was concealed. On arriving opposite the house of a Lutheran, the
betrayer made a sign, but no word was uttered. The procession
halted, the house was entered, the family were dragged forth and
chained, and the terrible company went forward in search of fresh
victims. "No house was spared, great or small, not even the
colleges of the University of Paris. Morin made the whole city
quake." "The reign of terror had begun."
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The victims were put to death with cruel torture, it being
specially ordered that the fire should be lowered, in order to
prolong their agony. But they died as conquerors. Their constancy
was unshaken, their peace unclouded. Their persecutors, powerless
to move their inflexible firmness, felt themselves defeated.
"The scaffolds were distributed over all the quarters of
Paris, and the burnings followed on successive days, the design
being to spread the terror of heresy by spreading the executions.
The advantage, however, in the end, remained with the gospel. All
Paris was enabled to see what kind of men the new opinions could
produce. There is no pulpit like the martyr's pile. The serene
joy that lighted up the faces of these men as they passed along
to the place of execution, their heroism as they stood amid the
bitter flames, their meek forgiveness of injuries, transformed,
in instances not a few, anger into pity, and hate into love, and
pleaded with resistless eloquence in behalf of the gospel."
GC88.226.001
The priests, bent upon keeping the popular fury at its height,
circulated the most terrible accusations against the Protestants.
They were charged with plotting to massacre the Catholics, to
overthrow the government, and to murder the king. Not a shadow of
evidence could be produced in support of the allegations. Yet
these prophecies of evil were to have a fulfillment; under far
different circumstances, however, and from causes of an opposite
character. The cruelties that were inflicted upon the innocent
Protestants by the Catholics accumulated in a weight of
retribution, and in after-centuries wrought the very doom they
had predicted to be impending, upon the king, his government, and
subjects; but it was brought about by infidels, and by the
papists themselves. It was not the establishment, but the
suppression of Protestantism, that, three hundred years later,
was to bring upon France these dire calamities.
GC88.226.002
Suspicion, distrust, and terror now pervaded all classes of
society. Amid the general alarm it was seen how deep a hold the
Lutheran teaching had gained upon the minds of men who stood
highest for education, influence, and excellence of character.
Positions of trust and honor were suddenly found vacant.
Artisans, printers, scholars, professors in the universities,
authors, and even courtiers, disappeared. Hundreds fled from
Paris, self-constituted exiles from their native land, in many
cases thus giving the first intimation that they favored the
reformed faith. The papists looked about them in amazement at
thought of the unsuspected heretics that had been tolerated among
them. Their rage spent itself upon the multitudes of humbler
victims who were within their power. The prisons were crowded,
and the very air seemed darkened with the smoke of burning piles,
kindled for the confessors of the gospel.
GC88.227.001
Francis I. had gloried in being a leader in the great movement
for the revival of learning which marked the opening of the
sixteenth century. He had delighted to gather at his court men of
letters from every country. To his love of learning and his
contempt for the ignorance and superstition of the monks was due,
in part, at least, the degree of toleration that had been granted
to the reform. But, inspired with zeal to stamp out heresy, this
patron of learning issued an edict declaring printing abolished
all over France! Francis I. presents one among the many examples
on record showing that intellectual culture is not a safeguard
against religious intolerance and persecution.
GC88.227.002
France by a solemn and public ceremony was to commit herself
fully to the destruction of Protestantism. The priests demanded
that the affront offered to high Heaven in the condemnation of
the mass, be expiated in blood, and that the king, in behalf of
his people, publicly give his sanction to the dreadful work.
GC88.227.003
The 21st of January, 1535, was fixed upon for the awful
ceremonial. The superstitious fears and bigoted hatred of the
whole nation had been roused. Paris was thronged with the
multitudes that from all the surrounding country crowded her
streets. The day was to be ushered in by a vast and imposing
procession. Along the line of march the houses were draped in
mourning. At intervals altars were erected, and before every door
was a lighted torch in honor of the "holy sacrament."
Before daybreak the procession formed, at the palace of the king.
After the crosses and banners of the parishes, came citizens,
walking two and two, and bearing lighted torches. The four orders
of friars followed, each in its own peculiar dress. Then came a
vast collection of famous relics. Following these rode lordly
ecclesiastics in their purple and scarlet robes and jeweled
adornings, a gorgeous and glittering array.
GC88.228.001
The host was borne under a splendid canopy, supported by four
princes of highest rank. After them walked the monarch, divested
of his crown and royal robe, with uncovered head and downcast
eyes, and bearing in his hand a lighted taper. Thus the king of
France appeared publicly as a penitent. At every altar he bowed
down in humiliation, not for the vices that defiled his soul, not
the innocent blood that stained his hands, but for the deadly sin
of his subjects who had dared to condemn the mass. Following him
came the queen and the dignitaries of State also walking two and
two, each with a lighted torch.
GC88.228.002
As a part of the services of the day, the monarch himself
addressed the high officials of the kingdom in the great hall of
the bishop's palace. With a sorrowful countenance he appeared
before them, and in words of moving eloquence bewailed the
"crime, the blasphemy, the day of sorrow and disgrace,"
that had come upon the nation. And he called upon every loyal
subject to aid in the extirpation of the pestilent heresy that
threatened France with ruin. "As true, Messieurs, as I am
your king," he said, "if I knew one of my own limbs
spotted or infected with this detestable rottenness, I would give
it to you to cut off. . . . And, further, if I saw one of my
children defiled by it, I would not spare him. . . . I would
deliver him up myself, and would sacrifice him to God."
Tears choked his utterance, and the whole assembly wept, with one
accord exclaiming, "We will live and die in the Catholic
religion."
GC88.229.001
Terrible had become the darkness of the nation that had rejected
the light of truth. "The grace that bringeth salvation"
had appeared; but France, after beholding its power and holiness,
after thousands had been drawn by its divine beauty, after cities
and hamlets had been illuminated by its radiance, had turned
away, choosing darkness rather than light. They had put from them
the heavenly gift, when it was offered them. They had called evil
good, and good evil, till they had fallen victims to their
willful self-deception. Now, though they might actually believe
that they were doing God service in persecuting his people, yet
their sincerity did not render them guiltless. The light that
would have saved them from deception, from staining their souls
with blood-guiltiness, they had willfully rejected.
GC88.229.002
A solemn oath to extirpate heresy was taken, in the great
cathedral where, nearly three centuries later, the "Goddess
of Reason" was to be enthroned by a nation that had
forgotten the living God. Again the procession formed, and the
representatives of France set out to begin the work which they
had sworn to do. At intervals along the homeward route, scaffolds
had been erected for the execution of heretics, and it was
arranged that at the approach of the king the pile should be
lighted, that he might thus be witness to the whole terrible
spectacle. The details of the tortures endured by these witnesses
for Christ are too harrowing for recital; but there was no
wavering on the part of the victims. On being urged to recant,
one answered, "I only believe in what the prophets and
apostles formerly preached, and what all the company of the
saints believed. My faith has a confidence in God which will
resist all the power of hell."
GC88.229.003
Again and again the procession halted at the places of torture.
Upon reaching their starting-point at the royal palace, the crowd
dispersed, and the king and the prelates withdrew, well satisfied
with the day's proceedings, and congratulating themselves that
the work now begun would be continued to the complete destruction
of heresy.
GC88.230.001
The gospel of peace which France had rejected was to be only too
surely rooted out, and terrible would be the results. On the 21st
of January, 1793, two hundred and fifty-eight years from the very
day that fully committed France to the persecution of the
reformers, another procession, with a far different purpose,
passed through the streets of Paris. "Again the king was the
chief figure; again there were tumult and shouting; again there
was heard the cry for more victims; again there were black
scaffolds; and again the scenes of the day were closed by horrid
executions; Louis XVI., struggling hand to hand with his jailers
and executioners, was dragged forward to the block, and there
held down by main force till the ax had fallen, and his
dissevered head fell on the scaffold." Nor was the king the
only victim; near the same spot two thousand and eight hundred
human beings perished by the guillotine during the bloody days of
the reign of terror.
GC88.230.002
The Reformation had presented to the world an open Bible,
unsealing the precepts of the law of God, and urging its claims
upon the consciences of the people. Infinite love had unfolded to
men the statutes and principles of Heaven. God had said,
"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and
your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear
all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise
and understanding people,"[DEUT. 4:6.] When France rejected
the gift of Heaven, she sowed the seeds of anarchy and ruin; and
the inevitable outworking of cause and effect resulted in the
Revolution and the reign of terror.
GC88.230.003
Long before the persecution excited by the placards, the bold and
ardent Farel had been forced to flee from the land of his birth.
He repaired to Switzerland, and by his labors, seconding the work
of Zwingle, he helped to turn the scale in favor of the
Reformation. His later years were to be spent here, yet he
continued to exert a decided influence upon the reform in France.
During the first years of his exile, his efforts were especially
directed to spreading the gospel in his native country. He spent
considerable time in preaching among his countrymen near the
frontier, where with tireless vigilance he watched the conflict,
and aided by his words of encouragement and counsel. With the
assistance of other exiles, the writings of the German reformers
were translated into the French language, and, together with the
French Bible, were printed in large quantities. By colporteurs,
these works were sold extensively in France. They were furnished
to the colporteurs at a low price, and thus the profits of the
work enabled them to continue it.
GC88.231.001
Farel entered upon his work in Switzerland in the humble guise of
a school-master. Repairing to a secluded parish, he devoted
himself to the instruction of children. Besides the usual
branches of learning, he cautiously introduced the truths of the
Bible, hoping through the children to reach their parents. There
were some who believed, but the priests came forward to stop the
work, and the superstitious country people were roused to oppose
it. "That cannot be the gospel of Christ," urged the
priests, "seeing the preaching of it does not bring peace
but war." Like the first disciples, when persecuted in one
city he fled to another. From village to village, from city to
city, he went; traveling on foot, enduring hunger, cold, and
weariness, and everywhere in peril of his life. He preached in
the market-places, in the churches, sometimes in the pulpits of
the cathedrals. Sometimes he found the church empty of hearers;
at times his preaching was interrupted by shouts and jeers, again
he was pulled violently out of the pulpit. More than once he was
set upon by the rabble, and beaten almost to death. Yet he
pressed forward. Though often repulsed, with unwearying
persistence he returned to the attack; and, one after another, he
saw towns and cities which had been strongholds of popery,
opening their gates to the gospel. The little parish where he had
first labored, soon accepted the reformed faith. The cities of
Morat and Neuchatel also renounced the Romish rites, and removed
the idolatrous images from their churches.
GC88.232.001
Farel had long desired to plant the Protestant standard in
Geneva. If this city could be won, it would be a center for the
Reformation in France, in Switzerland, and in Italy. With this
object before him, he had continued his labors until many of the
surrounding towns and hamlets had been gained. Then with a single
companion he entered Geneva. But only two sermons was he
permitted to preach. The priests, having vainly endeavored to
secure his condemnation by the civil authorities, summoned him
before an ecclesiastical council, to which they came with arms
concealed under their robes, determined to take his life. Outside
the hall, a furious mob, with clubs and swords, was gathered to
make sure of his death if he should succeed in escaping the
council. The presence of magistrates and an armed force, however,
saved him. Early next morning he was conducted, with his
companion, across the lake to a place of safety. Thus ended his
first effort to evangelize Geneva.
GC88.232.002
For the next trial a lowlier instrument was chosen,--a young man,
so humble in appearance that he was coldly treated even by the
professed friends of reform. But what could such a one do where
Farel had been rejected? How could one of little courage and
experience withstand the tempest before which the strongest and
bravest had been forced to flee? "Not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."[ZECH. 4:6.]
"God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty." "Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men."[1 COR. 1:27, 25.]
GC88.232.003
Froment began his work as a school-master. The truths which he
taught the children at school, they repeated at their homes. Soon
the parents came to hear the Bible explained, until the
school-room was filled with attentive listeners. New Testaments
and tracts were freely distributed, and they reached many who
dared not come openly to listen to the new doctrines. After a
time this laborer also was forced to flee; but the truths he
taught had taken hold upon the minds of the people. The
Reformation had been planted, and it continued to strengthen and
extend. The preachers returned, and through their labors the
Protestant worship was finally established in Geneva.
GC88.233.001
The city had already declared for the Reformation, when Calvin,
after various wanderings and vicissitudes, entered its gates.
Returning from a last visit to his birthplace, he was on his way
to Basel, when, finding the direct road occupied by the armies of
Charles V., he was forced to take the circuitous route by Geneva.
GC88.233.002
In this visit, Farel recognized the hand of God. Though Geneva
had accepted the reformed faith, yet a great work remained to be
accomplished here. It is not as communities but as individuals
that men are converted to God; the work of regeneration must be
wrought in the heart and conscience by the power of the Holy
Spirit, not by the decrees of councils. While the people of
Geneva had cast off the authority of Rome, they were not so ready
to renounce the vices that had flourished under her rule. To
establish here the pure principles of the gospel, and to prepare
this people to fill worthily the position to which Providence
seemed calling them, was no light task.
GC88.233.003
Farel was confident that he had found in Calvin one whom he could
unite with himself in this work. In the name of God he solemnly
adjured the young evangelist to remain and labor here. Calvin
drew back in alarm. Timid and peace-loving, he shrank from
contact with the bold, independent, and even violent spirit of
the Genevese. The feebleness of his health, together with his
studious habits, led him to seek retirement. Believing that by
his pen he could best serve the cause of reform, he desired to
find a quiet retreat for study, and there, through the press,
instruct and build up the churches. But Farel's solemn admonition
came to him as a call from Heaven, and he dared not refuse. It
seemed to him, he said, "that the hand of God was stretched
down from Heaven, that it laid hold of him, and fixed him
irrevocably to the place he was so impatient to leave."
GC88.234.001
At this time great perils surrounded the Protestant cause. The
anathemas of the pope thundered against Geneva, and mighty
nations threatened it with destruction. How was this little city
to resist the powerful hierarchy that had so often forced kings
and emperors to submission? How could it stand against the armies
of the world's great conquerors?
GC88.234.002
Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable
foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned
new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time,
the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel,
unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut
off from every earthly tie and human interest, dead to the claims
of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they
knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and not duty but
to extend its power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its
adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by
cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in
face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these
forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that
enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power
of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too
great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to
practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to
perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to
secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of
Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy.
GC88.234.003
When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of
sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick
and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing
the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under
this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes
were concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that
the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury,
assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when
they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises
the Jesuits worked their way into offices of State, climbing up
to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations.
They became servants, to act as spies upon their masters. They
established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and
schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant
parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the
outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to
bear to confuse the mind, and dazzle and captivate the
imagination; and thus the liberty for which the fathers had
toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly
spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there
followed a revival of popery.
GC88.235.001
To give them greater power, a bull was issued re-establishing the
Inquisition. Notwithstanding the general abhorrence with which it
was regarded, even in Catholic countries, this terrible tribunal
was again set up by popish rulers, and atrocities too terrible to
bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons. In
many countries, thousands upon thousands of the very flower of
the nation, the purest and noblest, the most intellectual and
highly educated, pious and devoted pastors, industrious and
patriotic citizens, brilliant scholars, talented artists,
skillful artisans, were slain, or forced to flee to other lands.
GC88.235.002
Such were the means which Rome had invoked to quench the light of
the Reformation, to withdraw from men the Bible, and to restore
the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages. But under God's
blessing and the labors of those noble men whom he had raised up
to succeed Luther, Protestantism was not overthrown. Not to the
favor or arms of princes was it to owe its strength. The smallest
countries, the humblest and least powerful nations, became its
strongholds. It was little Geneva in the midst of mighty foes
plotting her destruction; it was Holland on her sand-banks by the
Northern Sea, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain, then the
greatest and most opulent of kingdoms; it was bleak, sterile
Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation.
GC88.236.001
For nearly thirty years, Calvin labored at Geneva; first to
establish there a church adhering to the morality of the Bible,
and then for the advancement of the Reformation throughout
Europe. His course as a public leader was not faultless, nor were
his doctrines free from error. But he was instrumental in
promulgating truths that were of special importance in his time,
in maintaining the principles of Protestantism against the
fast-returning tide of popery; and in promoting in the reformed
churches simplicity and purity of life, in place of the pride and
corruption fostered under the Romish teaching.
GC88.236.002
From Geneva, publications and teachers went out to spread the
reformed doctrines. To this point the persecuted of all lands
looked for instruction, counsel, and encouragement. The city of
Calvin became a refuge for the hunted reformers of all Western
Europe. Fleeing from the awful tempests that continued for
centuries, the fugitives came to the gates of Geneva. Starving,
wounded, bereft of home and kindred, they were warmly welcomed
and tenderly cared for; and finding a home here, they blessed the
city of their adoption by their skill, their learning, and their
piety. Many who sought here a refuge returned to their own
countries to resist the tyranny of Rome. John Knox, the brave
Scotch reformer, not a few of the English Puritans, the
Protestants of Holland, and the Huguenots of France, carried from
Geneva the torch of truth to lighten the darkness of their native
land.
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