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

Calvin, having escaped his enemies, hurried away from the capital, from his cherished studies and his brethren, and wandered up and down, avoiding the places where he might be recognised. He thought over all that had happened, and his meditative mind drew wholesome lessons from it. He learnt from his own experience by what token to recognise the true Church of Christ. 'We should lose our labour,' he said in later days, thinking perhaps of this circumstance, 'if we wished to separate Christ from his cross; it is a natural thing for the world to hate Christ, even in his members. There will always be wicked men to prick us like thorns. If they do not draw the sword, they spit out their venom, and either gnash their teeth or excite some great disturbance.' The sword was already 'drawn' against him: acting, therefore, with prudence, he followed the least frequented roads, sleeping in the cottages or the mansions of his friends. It is asserted that being known by the Sieur de Hasseville, whose château was situated beyond Versailles, he remained there some time in hiding. 517

The king's first movement, when he heard of Cop's business and the flight of Calvin, was one of anger and persecution. Duprat, formerly first president of parliament, was much exasperated at the affront offered to that body. Francis commanded every measure to be taken to discover the person who had warned Cop of his danger; he would have had him punished severely as a favourer of heresy. 518At the same time, he ordered the prosecution of those persons whom the papers seized in Calvin's room pointed out as partisans of the new doctrine.

=MANY EVANGELICALS QUIT PARIS.=

There was a general alarm among the evangelicals, and many left Paris. A Dominican friar, brother of De la Croix, feeling a growing thirst for knowledge, deliberated in his convent whether he ought not to remove to a country where the Gospel was preached freely. 519He was one of those compromised by Calvin's papers. He therefore made his escape, reached Neufchatel, and thence proceeded to Geneva, where we shall meet him again.

The greater part of the friends of the Gospel, however, remained in France: Margaret exerted all her influence with her brother to ward off the impending blow, and succeeded in appeasing the storm. 520Francis was always between two contrary currents, one coming from Duprat, the other from his sister; and once more he followed the better.

The Queen of Navarre, exhausted by all these shocks, disgusted with the dissipations of the court, distressed by the hatred of which the Gospel was the object among all around her, turned her face towards the Pyrenees. Paris, St. Germain, Fontainebleau, had no more charms for her; besides, her health was not strong, and she desired to pass the winter at Pau. But, above all, she sighed for solitude, liberty, and meditation; she had need of Christ. She therefore bade farewell to the brilliant court of France, and departed for the quiet Béarn.

Adieu! pomps, pleasures, now adieu!

No longer will I sort with you!

Other pleasure seek I none

Than in my Bridegroom alone!

For my honour and my having

Is in Jesus: him receiving,

I'll not leave him for the fleeting!...

Adieu, adieu! 521

Margaret arrived in the Pyrenees.

483Théod. de Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 9.

484Calvini Opera .

485The document is in the library of Geneva (MS. 145). It has on the margin: 'Hæc Johannes Calvinus propria manu descripsit, et est auctor .' Dr. Bonnet came upon it in the course of his researches for his edition of Calvin's Letters, and gave the author a copy.

486'Hac qui excellunt, tantum prope reliquæ hominum multitudini præstare mihi videntur, quantum homines belluis antecedunt.'—Geneva MSS. 145.

487 'Sola Dei gratia peccata remittit.'—Ibid.

488'Spiritum sanctum, qui corda sanctificat et vitam æternam adfert, omnibus christianis pollicetur.'—Ibid.

489'Motus animi turbulentos, quasi habenis quibusdam.'—Geneva MS.

490'Ut tota nostra oratio illum laudet, illum sapiat, illum spiret, illum referat. Rogabimus ut in mentes nostras illabatur, nosque gratiæ cœlestis succo irrigare dignetur.'—Ibid.

491Bellarmine, De Controversiis .

492Crévier, Hist. de l'Université , v. p. 275.

493Crévier, Hist. de l'Université , v. p. 276.

494 Lettres de la Reine de Navarre , i. p. 287.

495'In aulam.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

496'Hanc tempestatem Dominus, reginæ Navariensis, piis tunc admodum faventis, intercessione, dissipavit.'—Ibid.

497'Ibique perhonorifice ab ea accepto et audito Calvino.'—Ibid.

498Théod. de Bèze, Vie de Calvin , p. 14. Calvini Opera , passim.

499Calvini Opera , i. pars iii. pp. 1002, 1003.

500'Citatus rector sese quidem in viam cum suis apparitoribus dedit.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

501'Ut sibi ab adversariis caveret.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

502'Domum reversus.'—Ibid.

503Maimbourg, Hist. du Calvinisme , p. 58.

504'Ablato secum, forte per imprudentiam, signo universitatis.'—Bucer to Blaarer, Jan. 18, 1534.

505'CCC coronatos ei qui fugitivum rectorem, vivum vel mortuum adducat.'—Ibid.

506Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie , liv. vii. ch. viii.

507Maimbourg, Hist. du Calvinisme , p. 58.

508Gaillard, Hist. de François I. iv. p. 274.

509Théod. de Bèze, Hist. des Egl. Réf. i. p. 9.

510Varillas, Hist. des Revolutions Religieuses , ii. p. 467. This writer is not always correct.

511Drelincourt, Défense de Calvin , pp. 35, 169.

512Acts ix. 25.

513'Morinus, cujus adhuc nomen ab insigni sævitia celebratur.'—Bezæ Vita Calvini .

514'Deprehensis, inter schedas, multis amicorum litteris, ut plurimi in maximum vitæ discrimen incurrerent.'—Ibid.

515'Je poursuivrai tout outre.'

516Desmay, Jean Calvin Hérésiarque , p. 45. Drelincourt, Défense de Calvin , p. 175.

517Casan, Statistique de Mantes . France Protestante , i. p. 113.

518Registres du Parlement.

519Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 106.

520Gaillard, Hist. de François I . iv. p. 275.

521 Les Marguerites de la Marguerite , i. p. 518.

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=PROPOSED GERMAN ALLIANCE.=

ALMOST about the same time, Francis bent his steps towards the Rhine. The establishment of the Reform throughout Europe depended, as many thought, on the union of France with protestant Germany. This union would emancipate France from the papal supremacy, and all christendom would then be seen turning to the Gospel. The king was preparing to hold a conference with the most decided of the protestant princes of Germany. Rarely has an interview between two sovereigns been of so much importance.

Francis I. had hardly quitted Marseilles and arrived at Avignon, when he assembled his council (25th of November, 1533), and communicated to it the desire for an alliance which the German protestants had expressed to him. A certain shame had prevented him from moving in the matter, amid the caresses which papacy and royalty were lavishing upon each other at Marseilles. But now that Clement was on board his galleys, nothing prevented the King of France, who had given his right hand to the pontiff, from giving his left to the heretics. 522There were many reasons why he should do so. The clergy were not allies for whose support he was eager: the best orthodoxy, in his eyes, was the iron arm of the lansquenets. Besides, the opportunity was unprecedented: in fact, he could at one stroke gain the protestants to his cause, and inflict an immense injury on Austria—that is to say, on Charles V.