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

A scandal which occurred just at this time increased the desire felt by certain huguenots to withdraw themselves from the government of the monks and priests. On the 10th of May, certain inhabitants of St. Leger appeared before the council. For some time past their sleep had been disturbed by noises and shouting, in which the cordeliers, jacobins, and other friars were concerned; and they desired to put an end to it. 'Some disorderly women have settled in our quarter,' they told the council, 'and certain monks frequent their houses.' 730... 'If you observe the monks going there at night-time,' replied the council, 'give information to the syndics and the captain-general. The watch will immediately go and take them.' The citizens withdrew half satisfied with the answer, but fully determined to call the watch as soon as the disorder was renewed.

=UNION OF FAITH AND MORALITY.=

These scandals—an acknowledged thing at Rome—greatly exasperated the citizens of Geneva, and made the better disposed long for a reformation of faith and morals. They said that soldiers use their arms as their officers command them: that the monks and priests (they should have said all christians) ought also to use their lives as their chief orders them; and that if they make a contrary use of them, they enlist under the standard of vice and avow themselves its soldiers. The worthy citizens of Geneva could not make that separation between religion and morality, of which the greater part of the clergy set the example. In proportion as the Reformation made progress in the world, the opposition increased against a piety which consisted only in certain formulas, ceremonies, and practices, but was deprived of its true substance—living faith, sanctification, morality, and christian works. Christianity, by the separation which Rome had made between doctrines and morals, had become like one of those spoilt and useless tools that are thrown aside because they can no longer serve in the operations for which they were made. The reformers, by calling for a living, holy, active faith, were again to make christianity in modern times a powerful engine of light and morality, of liberty and life.

712Acts i. 15; vi. 5; xv.

713See above, vol. i. p. 371.

714'Nunc vero cum te Gebennæ reipublicæ gratia abesse constat ... reficiemur. Utilitatem autem non vulgarem recens factis civibus per te comparari.'—Zwingle to Thomas ab Hofen, 4 Jan. 1527. Epp. ii. p. 9.

7151 Peter ii. 9.

716'Hic Genevæ numerus Evangelii doctrinam confitentium augeri incipiat.'—Ab Hofen to Zwingle, January 17, 1527. Zwinglii Epp. ii. p. 15.

717'You shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess everlasting life.'

718'Clerici queruntur homines neque amplius sacra dona præbere velle, neque tam vehementer ad indulgentias currere.'—Ab Hofen to Zwingle. Zwinglii Epp. ii. p. 16.

719'Quousque meæ vires valeant, in ea re nequaquam me defecturum esse.'—Ab Hofen to Zwingle. Zwinglii Epp. ii. p. 15.

720'In mediis reipublicæ negotiis, Christi negotiorum minime sis negligens.'—Zwinglii Epp. ii. p. 9.

721'Optime de Gebennæ civibus merebere, si non tantum leges eorum ac jura, quantum animos componas.'—Ibid. p. 10.

722'Animos autem quid melius componet, quam ejus sermo atque doctrina qui animos ipse formavit?'—Ibid.

723'Hæ enim ubi crescunt, tyrannorum audacia coerceretur.'—Ibid.

724'Non quasi torpentem sim expergefacturus; sed currentem adhortor.'—Zwinglii Epp. ii. p. 10.

725'In hac urbe clerici sunt ad 700, qui manibus pedibusque impediunt, quominus Evangelii doctrina efflorescat.'—Zwinglii Epp. ii. p. 10.

726'Si prædicatores haberent, fore puto ut pontificia doctrina labefactetur.'—Ibid.

7271 Cor. i. 27.

728Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 461.

729'Ne sont-ce pas nos écus qui font bouillir le pot de l'évêque?'

730'Querelaverunt de putanis et certis religiosis qui ibidem affluunt.'—Registres du Conseil du 10 mai 1527.

Table of Contents

=THE BISHOP'S NEW SCHEMES.=

THE sack of Rome had made a great sensation in catholic countries. Pierre de la Baume almost believed that the reign of popery had come to an end, and was much alarmed for himself. If a prince so powerful as the pope had succumbed, what would become of the Bishop of Geneva? The alliance with the cantons, and the Gospel which a Swiss magistrate had just been preaching, seemed to him the forerunners of his ruin. He had no lansquenets before him, like those who had compelled Clement VII. to flee, but he had huguenots, who, in his eyes, were more formidable still. Liberty seemed to be coming forth, like the sun, from the night of the middle ages; and the bishop thought the safest course would be to turn towards the rising orb, and to throw himself into the arms of the liberals. He had a strong preference for the Savoyard despotism; but, if his interests required it, he was ready to pay court to liberty. Other instances of this have been seen. The bishop, therefore, sanctioned the sequestration of the property of the mamelukes, and made Besançon Hugues a magnificent present. He conferred on him the perpetual fief of the fishery of the lake, the Rhone, and the Arve, reserving to himself (which showed the value of the gift) the right of redemption for two thousand great ducats of gold. 731All this was but a step towards the accomplishment of a strange design.

The bishop had taken it into his head that he would form an alliance with the Swiss, feeling convinced that they alone could protect him against the impetuosity of the huguenots and the tyranny of the Duke of Savoy. He therefore sent Robert Vandel to Friburg and Basle, to entreat these states to admit him into their citizenship. This move caused the greatest surprise among the Genevans. 'What!' said they, 'is Monseigneur turning huguenot?' The Swiss rudely rejected the Romish prelate's request. 'We will not have the bishop for our fellow-citizen,' they made answer, 'and that for four reasons: first, he is fickle and changeable; second, he is not beloved in Geneva; third, he is imperialist and Burgundian; and fourth, he is a priest !' The cantons did not mention the strongest reason. Friburg and Berne, allies of the city, could not be at the same time the allies of the bishop, for how could they have supported the rights of the Genevans against him? 732

The bishop was not discouraged. At one time he felt his throne shaking beneath him, and, fearing that it would fall, he clung to liberty with all his might; at another, he fancied he could see the phantom of heresy approaching with slow but sure step, and erelong taking its seat on his throne ... and the sight increased his fear. He therefore sent Besançon Hugues to Berne—a more influential diplomatist than Vandel—who was received with consideration in the aristocratic circles, but had to bear all kinds of reproach. The proud Bernese were indignant at his becoming the advocate of a person so little esteemed as the bishop. One day, in the presence of these energetic men who had witnessed so many struggles, as Hugues was warmly pleading the prelate's cause, his listener suddenly turned away with horror, and, as if he had been waving aside with his hand some satanic vision, he said: 'The name of the bishop is more hateful among us than that of the devil himself.' This was enough for Hugues, who returned to Geneva greatly disheartened. Pierre de la Baume, a vain and frivolous priest, soon consoled himself for this discomfiture, laughing at the reproaches uttered against him. He amused himself with the objections of the Swiss, and was continually repeating to those about him: 'What would you have?... How could the Helvetians receive me into their alliance? I am a priest and Burgundian!'... Thus, at one time trembling, at another laughing, the Bishop of Geneva was moving towards his ruin. 733