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

701Galiffe, Matériaux pour l'Histoire de Genève , ii. p. xxviii.

702Galloix, Salève . The author remembers reading, since the time of his boyhood, these three words on the ruins that have been since restored, Nasci, pati, mori .

703Spon, Hist. de Genève . Gautier MS. Guizot, Civilisation en France et en Europe . Froment.

704Ordonnance de Louis Hutin. Guizot, Civilisation en France , v. p. 138.

705Registres du Conseil du 3 décembre. Lettres de Messieurs de Berne. Galiffe fils, Besançon Hugues, Pièces Justificatives , p. 487.

706Registres du Conseil des 15, 16, 23, 24, 28 mars.

707Roset, Chron. MS. liv. ii. ch. ii. Registres du Conseil du 7 septembre 1526. Spon, Histoire de Genève , ii. p. 396. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. pp. 446, 447. Gautier MS.

708This letter will be found in Galiffe, Matériaux pour l'Histoire de Genève , ii. p. 489.

709See above, vol. i. p. 228.

710Archives de Genève. Lettre de Pierre de la Baume aux syndics, du 24 janvier 1527.

711Registres du Conseil de décembre 1526, de janvier et avril 1527. Roset MS. bk. ii. ch. v. Galiffe, Matériaux pour l'Histoire de Genève , ii. pp. 264, 437, 439, 440. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. pp. 452-454. Mém. d'Archéologie , ii. p. 11. La Sœur de Jussie, Le Levain du Calvinisme .

Table of Contents

THE bishop was about to have enemies more formidable than the duke and the League. The Reformation was approaching. There is a characteristic trait in the history of Geneva; the several surrounding countries were by turns to scatter the seeds of life in that city; in it was to be heard a concert of voices from France, Italy, and German Switzerland. It was the last of these that began.

=LAYMEN AND CLERGY.=

At the time when treason was expelled from the city in the person of Cartelier, the Gospel entered it in that of an honest Helvetian, one of the Bernese and Friburg deputies who went there in 1527 about the affairs of the alliance concluded in 1526. Friburg would not have permitted a heretic preacher to accompany the deputation; even Berne would not have desired it just yet; but one of the Bernese ambassadors, a pious layman, who was coming to give a valuable support to national independence, was to call the Genevese to spiritual liberty. The lay members of the Church occupied in the time of the apostles, as is well known, a marked station in the religious community; 712but by degrees the dominion of the clergy had been substituted for evangelical liberty. One of the principal causes of this revolution was the inferiority of the laity; for many centuries ecclesiastics were the only educated men. But if this state of things should change, if the laity should attain to more knowledge and more energy than the clergy, a new revolution would be effected in an opposite direction. And this is really what happened in the sixteenth century. The christian layman who then arrived at Geneva was Thomas ab Hofen, a friend of Zwingle, whom we have already mentioned. 713In the year 1524 he had declared at Berne in favour of the Reformation. The Zurich doctor, hearing of his departure for the shores of Lake Leman, was rejoiced, for the piercing eye of his faith had fancied it could perceive a ray of evangelical light breaking over those distant hills. He desired that the Genevans, now united to Switzerland, should find in her not only liberty but truth. 'Undoubtedly,' wrote Zwingle to the excellent Bernese, 'undoubtedly this mission may be of extraordinary advantage to the citizens of Geneva, who have been so recently received into alliance with the cantons.' 714

Ab Hofen did not go to Geneva with the intention of reforming it; his mission was diplomatic; but he was one of that 'chosen generation' of whom St. Peter speaks—one of those christians who are always ready to 'show forth the praises of Him who has called them to his marvellous light.' 715As he entered the city, he said to himself that he would do with earnestness whatever work God might set before him, as his Zurich friend had prayed him. Simple-minded, moderate, and sensitive, Ab Hofen placed the kingdom of heaven above the things of the earth; but he was subject to fits of melancholy, which occasionally made him faint-hearted. When he arrived at Geneva, he visited many citizens, attended the churches and the meetings of the people, and, having reflected upon everything, he thought to himself that there was much patriotism in the city, but unfortunately little christianity, and that religion was the weak side of Genevan emancipation. He was distressed, for he had expected better things. With a heart overflowing with sorrow he returned to his inn (17th of January, 1527), and feeling the necessity of unburdening himself on the bosom of a friend, he sat down and wrote to the great reformer of Zurich: 'The number of those who confess the doctrine of the Gospel must be increased.' 716There were, therefore, at this time in Geneva christians who confessed salvation by Jesus Christ, and not by the ceremonies of the Church; but their number was not large.

=AB HOFEN'S CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION.=

Ab Hofen determined to do his best to remedy this evil. He had a loving heart and practical mind, and with indefatigable zeal took advantage of every moment of leisure spared him by his official duties. As soon, therefore, as a conference with the Genevan magistrates was ended, or a despatch to the Bernese government finished, he laid aside his diplomatic character and began to visit the citizens, conversing with them, and telling them of what was going on at Zurich and preparing at Berne. Being received into the families of some of the principal huguenots, and seated with them round the hearth, at the severest portion of the year (January 1527), he spoke to them of the Word of God, of its authority, superior (he said) to the pope's, and of the salvation which it proclaimed. He taught them that in the Gospel God gives man full remission of his sins. These doctrines, unknown for so many ages, and subversive of the legal and ceremonial religion of Rome, were heard at Geneva with astonishment and pleasure.

At first the priests received the evangelist magistrate rather favourably. The rank which he bore made him honourable in their eyes; and he, far from being rude towards them, like certain huguenots, was amiable and sympathising. Some ecclesiastics, believing him to belong to their coterie, because he spoke of religion, did not conceal their uneasiness from him, and described to him, very innocently, the fine times when presents of bread, wine, oil, game, and tapers were plentiful in their kitchen, and when they used to say, with a gracious tone, to the believers who brought these donations in white napkins: Centuplum accipietis et vitam æternam possidebitis . 717Then they added, with loud complaints: 'Alas! the faithful bring us no more offerings, and people do not run so ardently after indulgences as they used to do.' 718

The Bernese envoy, inwardly delighted at these candid avowals, which he did not fail to transmit to Zwingle, apparently avoided all controversy, and continued to announce the simple Gospel. The citizens listened to him; they sought his company, and invited him to take a seat in their family circle, or in some huguenot assembly, and to speak of the noble things that were doing at Zurich. These successes encouraged him: his eyes sparkled, he accosted the citizens freely, and his words flowed copiously from his lips. 'I will not cease proclaiming the Gospel,' he wrote to Zwingle; 'all my strength shall be devoted to it.' 719Erelong the well-disposed men who had gathered round him were joined by other citizens, exclusively friends of liberty; they listened to him with interest; but when he began to blame certain excesses, and to require certain moral reforms, he met with coldness and even determined opposition from them, and they turned their backs on him. Ab Hofen, although a man of zeal and piety, did not possess the faith which moves mountains; he returned dispirited to his inn, shut himself up in his room, and, heaving deep sighs, wrote all his trouble to Zwingle. The latter, who possessed a sure glance, saw that the opportunity was unique. To establish the Reformation at the two extremities of Switzerland, at Zurich and Geneva, appeared to him a most important work. Would not these two arms, as they drew together, drag all Switzerland with them, especially if the powerful Berne lent its support in the centre? But he knew Ab Hofen, and fearing his dejection, he wrote to him: 'Take care that the work so well begun is not stopped. While transacting the business of the republic, do not neglect the business of Jesus Christ. 720You will deserve well of the citizens of Geneva if you put in order not only their laws and their rights, but their souls also. 721Now what can put the soul in order except it be the Word and the teaching of Him who created the soul?' 722