J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8)

=THE FIREBRAND LE PICARD.=

The most active firebrand in this conflagration was Le Picard, a bachelor of divinity, professor of the college of Navarre, and subsequently dean of St. Germain l'Auxerrois. He was twenty-nine years old, of a 'stormy' temper if ever there was one, and in truth he did 'storm' in the churches and at the meetings of the priests. He went into the pulpit to oppose Courault; and the people who had gone to hear the Augustine monk, crowded also to hear his opponent. The latter gesticulated much, shouted loudly, invoked the Virgin, and attacked the king, accusing him bluntly of heresy. He was a true precursor of those who advised the massacre of St. Bartholomew; and indeed he made a proposal, not long after, worthy of the Guises and the Medici. 'Let the government pretend to be Lutheran,' he said, 'in order that the reformed may assemble openly; then we can fall upon them and clear the kingdom of them once for all.' 298A monk, charmed with his virtues, has written his life under the title of The Perfect Ecclesiastic . 299

=SEDITION OF BEDA AND MONKS.=

Yet if Le Picard was the most active champion, Beda was still general. Placed as on a hill, he overlooked the field of battle, examined where it was necessary to send help, wrote every day to the orators of his party—to Le Picard, Maillard, Ballue, Bouchigny, and others, and conjured them not to relax for an instant in their attacks. 'Stir up the people by your discourses,' he said. 300It was a critical moment: it was in the balance whether France would remain catholic or become heretic. 'Though the monarch deserts the papacy,' he said, 'agitate, still agitate!' Then the fanatical monks went into the pulpits and aroused the people by their fiery eloquence: 'Let us not suffer this heresy, the most pestilential of all, to take root among us.... Let us pluck it up, cast it out, and annihilate it.' 301

All the forces of the papacy were engaged at this time as in a battle where the general launches his reserves into the midst of the struggle. The mendicant friars, those veteran soldiers of the popedom, who had access into every family, were set to work. Dominicans, Augustines, Carmelites, and Franciscans, having received their instructions, entered the houses of Paris. The women and children, who were used to them, saluted them with 'Good morning, friar John or friar James;' and while their wallet was being filled, they whispered in the ears of the citizens: 'The pope is above the king.... If the king favours the heretics, the pope will free us from our oaths of fidelity.'

They went still further. Whenever it is felt desirable to arouse the people, they require to be excited by some spectacle. A neuvaine was ordered in honour of St. James. The crowd flocked to adore the good saint with his long pilgrim's staff; and for nine days the devout of both sexes, kneeling round his image, crossing themselves and employing other usual ceremonies, loudly called upon the saint to give a knock-down blow with his staff to those who protected the heretics.

These incendiary discourses and bigoted practices succeeded. The people began to be restless and to utter threats. 302They paraded in bands through the streets, they collected in groups in the public places, and cries were heard of: 'The pope for ever! down with his enemies!... Whoever opposes the holy father, even if he be a king, is a knave and a tyrant, to whom the Grand Turk is preferable.... We will dye our streets with the blood of those people.'... There was already in the veins of the inhabitants of Paris the blood of the men of the Reign of Terror. The crowds who filled the streets stopped before the booksellers' shops, where books and pictures, defamatory of the reformers and even of the Queen of Navarre, were displayed. Among the books was a 'stage play' aimed at the king's sister: it was probably that entitled: The Malady of Christendom, with thirteen characters . 303

But even that was not sufficient. There was still wanting a theological decision from the first academical authority of christendom, which should place Roussel in the same rank as the arch-heretic Luther. The Sorbonne, wishing to strike a decisive blow, published a certain number of the so-called pernicious and scandalous doctrines imputed to Roussel, and condemned them as being similar to the errors of Luther. The alarm and agitation were now at their height; the people fancied they could see the monk of Wittemberg breathing his impious doctrines over Paris. Rome fought boldly, and everything was in confusion. 304

What became of Calvin during all this uproar? 'What is this madness,' he said on a later occasion, 'which impels the pope and his bishops, the priests and the friars, to resist the Gospel with such obstinate rebellion?... The servants of God must be furnished with invincible constancy in order to sustain without alarm the commotions of the people. We are sailing on a sea exposed to many tempests; but nothing ought to turn us aside from doing our duty conscientiously. 305The Lord consoles and strengthens his servants when they are thus agitated.... He has in his hand the management of every whirlwind and of every storm, and appeases them whenever it seems good to him.... We shall be roughly handled, but he will not suffer us to be drowned.' 306

272'Bacchanalia factis multis regiis conviviis.'—Siderander Bedroto, Strasburg MSS. ed. Schmidt.

273'Exigit invictum fidei robur.'—Roussel to Œcolampadius, Ep. Ref. Helvet. p. 20.

274'Adversus totum inferorum regnum, a dexteris et a sinistris.'—Ibid.

275'Nihil minus in me sentiam quam quod ad evangelicum dispensatorem et ministrum attinet.'—Ibid.

276'Quisque erat clamosissimus et stolido furore præditus.'—Calvinus Danieli, Epp. p. 3. Genève, 1575.

277'Vix enim locus inveniebatur qui satis capax esset.'—Letter dated Paris, May 28, 1533, by Peter Siderander. Strasburg MSS. Schmidt, G. Roussel , p. 201.

278'Adeo ut ter mutare locum coactus sit.'—Ibid.

279'Concionatus est autem quotidie per totam hanc quadragesimam.'—Ibid.

280'Ut nulla fere concio facta fuerit quin hominum quatuor vel quinque millia adfuerint.'—Siderander, Strasburg MSS.

281Schmidt, G. Roussel , p. 85.

282See Sturm to Montluc, June 17, 1562.

283'Gerardus libere docet Evangelium in ipsa Lutetia ... in aula reginæ Navarræ magna animi constantia.'—Melanchthon, Corp. Ref. ii. p. 658.

284'Hæc certa sunt et mihi, ex Parisiis, ab optimis viris diligenter perscripta.'—Ibid.

285Negotiations of Smalcald, Aug. 1531.

286'Allatum est regium diploma quo parisiensi episcopo permittitur præficere quos velit singulis parochiis concionatores.'—Calvini Epp. p. 3.

287Théod. de Bèze, Hist. des Eglises Réformées , i. p. 9.

288'Qui inter bonos postremus non erat.'—Calvini Epp. p. 3.

289'In specula nostra, donec appareat quod nunc absconditum est.'—Ibid.

290Théod. de Bèze, Hist. des Eglises Réformées , i. p. 9.

291 Correspondance de Calvin et Du Tillet , p. 78.

292Matthew, xxiv. 40.

293'Turba illa scribarum et pharisæorum.'—Strasburg MSS.

294'Non facile contra regem temere ausi sunt certamen suscipere.'—Ibid.

295'Hic aperte eos illusit.'—Sturm to Bucer, ed. Strobel, p. 106.

296Isti Thersitæ . . . hi qui possunt nollent, et qui cuperent non auderent adesse.'—Ibid.

297One of the stalls in a church at Toulouse represents a similar scene, with these words: Calvin the pig preaching .

298Labitte, Démocratie des Prédicateurs de la Ligue , p. 3.

299H. de Coste, Le parfait Ecclésiastique, ou Histoire de Le Picard , 12mo, Paris, 1658.

300'Beda sollicitabat suos oratores ut ne cessarent in suis demegoriis concitare populum.'—Sturm to Bucer. Strasburg MSS.