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

522Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 206.

523Martin du Bellay gives Duke Christopher's letter. Mémoires , pp. 207, 208.

524Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 208.

525Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 209.

526Ibid. p. 210.

527'Regem Franciæ deposuisse certam pecuniæ summam in bellum pro restitutione junioris ducis Wurtembergensis apud Helvetios.'— State Papers , vii. p. 539.

528Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 211.

529'Coactus qui fuerit ex ea curia in qua tam indigne tractabatur, sese subducere.'—Johannes rex Hungariæ, manu propria, State Papers , vii. p. 538.

530Ranke, after Gabelkofer and Pfister, iii. p. 453.

531Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 213-219. He gives his brother's speech at full length.

532'Changer son oraison gratulatoire en oraison comminatoire.'

533Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 220-232.

534Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 232.

535'Eum (Du Bellay) laborare inter certos Germaniæ principes, ut fœdus novum inter se creent.'—Mont to Henry VIII., State Papers , vii. p. 539.

536'Ipsi vero militem per mare Balticum nobis mitterent, si quis Majestatem Vestram invadere vellet.'—Ibid.

537'Der Landgraf ist ein Kriegsmann, ein Arminius.'—Lutheri Opp. xxii. p. 1842.

538'Ego certe τὸν Μακεδόνα non possum non amare et nolim cadere.'— Corp. Ref. ii. p. 727.

539'Und brauchten dazu unsere beste Rhetorica.'—Lutheri Opp. xxii. p. 1843.

540'Gott schläfet nicht, ist auch kein Narr: Er weiss sehr wohl wie man regieren soll.'—Ibid. x. p. 254.

541'Den Kayser von seinem Stuhl stürzen.'—Ibid. xi. p. 434.

542'Da ward S. F. G. gar roth und erzumte sich drüber.'

543'Der König von Frankreich an uns beghert hat, das wir zu Ihm kommen wolten.'—The Landgrave to the Elector, Rommel's Urkundenbuch , p. 53.

544Sleidan, i. liv. ix. p. 358.

545'Wie doch die Saclien und Zwiespalten der Religion standen.'—The Landgrave to the Elector, Rommel's Urkundenbuch , p. 53.

546'Und sind das eben die Worte des Konigs.'—Ibid.

547'Es haben sich zwischen dem Könige und uns Reden zugetragen ... daran E. L. gut gefallen haben werden.'—Ibid.

548'Der König und die grossen Herrn und jedermann wolten uns mit Gewald uberreden , wir hätten Philippum bey uns.'—The Landgrave to the Elector, Rommel's Urkundenbuch , p. 53.

549Rommel's Urkundenbuch , p. 53.

550 State Papers , vii. p. 568.

Table of Contents

=THE GOSPEL IN THE PARIS CHURCHES.=

THE consequences of the meeting at Marseilles were to be felt at Paris. After Calvin's flight, the Queen of Navarre, as we have seen, had succeeded in calming the storm; and yet the evangelical cause had never been nearer a violent persecution. The prisons were soon to be filled; the fires of martyrdom were soon to be kindled. During the year 1533 Lutheran discourses had greatly multiplied in the churches. 'Many notable persons,' says the chronicler, 'were at that time preaching in the city of Paris.' 551The simplicity, wisdom, and animation of their language had moved all who heard them. The churches were filled, not with formal auditors, but with men who received the glad-tidings with great joy. 'Drunkards had become sober; libertines had become chaste; the fruits which proceeded from the preaching of the Gospel had astonished the enemies of light and truth.'

The doctors of the Sorbonne did not wait for the king's orders to attack the evangelicals; his interview with the pope, and the news of the bull brought from Rome, had filled the catholic camp with joy. 'What!' they exclaimed, 'the king is uniting with the pope at Marseilles, and in Paris the churches are opened to heresy! ... let us make haste and close them.'

In the meanwhile Du Bellay, the Bishop of Paris, who had made such a fine Latin speech to Clement VII., and who went at heart half-way with his brother, arrived in the capital. The leaders of the Roman party immediately surrounded him, urged him, and demanded the realisation of all the hopes which they had entertained from the interview at Marseilles. The bishop was embarrassed, for he knew that his brother and the king were just then occupied with a very different matter. Yet it was the desire of Francis that, for the moment, they should act in conformity with his apparent and not with his real action. The bishop gave way. The pious Roussel, the energetic Courault, the temporising Berthaud, and others besides, were forbidden to preach, and one morning the worshippers found the church doors shut. 552

=PRIVATE MEETINGS.=

Great was their sorrow and agitation. Many went to Roussel and Courault, and loudly expressed their regret and their wishes. The ministers took courage, and 'turned their preaching into private lectures.' Little meetings were formed in various houses in the city. At first none but members of the family were present; but it seemed that Christ, according to his promise, was in the midst of them, and erelong friends and neighbours were admitted. The ministers set forth the promises of Holy Scripture, and the worshippers exclaimed: 'We receive more blessings now than before.'

There were others besides Parisian faces which Courault, Roussel, and their friends saw on the humble benches around their little table: there were persons from many provinces of France, and even from the neighbouring countries. Among them was Master Pointet, a native of Menton, near Annecy, in Savoy, 'who practised the art of surgery in the city of Paris.' He had been brought to a knowledge of the Gospel in a singular way. 'Monks and priests,' says the chronicler, 'used to come to him to be cured of the diseases peculiar to those who substitute an impure celibacy for the holy institution of marriage.' 553Pointet, observing that godliness was not to be found among the priests, sought for it in the Scriptures; and, having discovered it there, began to remonstrate seriously with those unhappy men. 'These punishments,' he told them, 'proceed from your accursed celibacy: they are your wages, and you would do much better to take a wife.' Pointet, while reading these severe lessons, loved to go and learn in the lowly assemblies held by the humble ministers of the Word of God, and no one listened with more attention to the preaching of Roussel and Courault.

The Sorbonnists, having heard of these conventicles, declared 'that they disliked these lectures still more than the sermons.' In fact, if the preaching in the churches had been a loud appeal, the Divine Word in these small meetings spoke nearer to men's hearts, enlightening them and making them fast in Jesus Christ; and accordingly the conversions increased in number. The lieutenant-criminal once more took the field: he posted his agents at the corners of the more suspected streets, with orders to watch the Lutherans and ferret them out. These spies discovered that on certain days and hours many suspicious-looking persons, most of them poor, were in the habit of frequenting certain houses. Morin and his officers set to work immediately: they made the round of these conventicles, seizing the pastors and dispersing the flocks. 'We are deprived of everything,' said the worshippers; 'we remain without teaching and exhortation. Alas! poor sheep without shepherds, shall we not go astray and be lost?' Then with a sudden impulse they exclaimed: 'Since our guides are taken away from us here, let us seek them elsewhere!' Many French evangelicals fled into foreign countries.

While the poor reformed 554who remained in Paris were thus forsaken and sorrowful, the Sorbonne loudly demanded the return of Beda and the other exiles. The theologians canvassed the most influential members of the parliament, and besieged Cardinal Duprat. The king and the pope had just met solemnly at Marseilles; one of the Medici had just entered the family of the Valois; a royal letter, despatched from Lyons, ordered proceedings to be taken against the heretics: could they leave the champions of the papacy in disgrace? The demand was granted, and the impetuous Beda returned in triumph to the capital with his friends. That wicked little fairy Catherine had, unconsciously, and by her mere presence, restored him to liberty.