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

In fact, the triumph of the duke, the duchess, and their court, who had succeeded in leading certain Genevans into dissipation and servility, exasperated the huguenots: they never met without giving vent, as they grasped each other’s hands, to some expression of scorn or sorrow. Among them was Jean Philippe, several times elected captain-general. He was not one of those whom the Holy Scriptures had converted: he was a rich and generous citizen, full of courage and a great friend of liberty; but loving better to pull down than to build up, and carrying boldness even to rashness. He proposed that they should give a lesson to the mamelukes and priests, ‘and undertook to bear all the expenses.’ Other huguenots, more moderate, and above all more pious, held it of importance to make known the impressions they had received from the Gospel. The Word of God having touched their hearts, they desired to show that it was a remedy for all the ills of humanity. Seeing that everybody was eager to entertain the duke and duchess, they resolved to add their dish also to the banquet, seasoning it however with a few grains of salt. Instead of the discovery of the cross by Helena, they will celebrate the discovery of the Bible by the Reformation. The subject was not ill-chosen, as it brought out strongly the contrast between the old and the new times. The huguenots therefore informed the duke that they were desirous of performing a mystery-play in his honour in the open air on the Sunday after a certain holiday called Les Bordes. Jean Philippe having generously provided for all the expenses, the young men learnt their parts, and everything was ready for the representation.

It was fair-time at Geneva, and consequently a great crowd of Genevans and strangers soon gathered round the theatre: the Bishop of Maurienne arrived; lords and ladies of high descent took their seats; but they waited in vain for the duke, who did not appear. ‘We shall not go, neither the duchess nor myself,’ he said, ‘because the performers are huguenots.’ Charles, knowing his men well, feared some snake in the grass. The huguenot who had composed the piece represented the state of the world under the image of a disease , and the Reformation as the remedy by which God desired to cure it; the subject and title of his drama was Le Monde Malade , the Sick World, and everything was to appear—priests, masses, the Bible and its followers. The principal character, Le Monde (the World), had heard certain monks, terrified at the books which had lately come from France, announce that the last days were at hand, and that the World would soon perish. It was to be burnt by fire and drowned by water.... This was too much for him; he trembled, his health declined, and he pined away. The people about him grew uneasy, and one of them exclaimed:

The World grows weaker every day;

What he will come to, who can say?

He had however some friends, and each of them brought him a new remedy; but all was useless—the World grew worse and worse. He decided then to resort to the sovereign universal remedy, by which even the dead are saved, namely, masses. The Romish worship, assailed by the reformers, was now on its trial in the streets of Geneva.

The World.

Come, Sir Priest, pull out your wares—

Your masses, let me see them all.

Priest, delighted to see the World apply to him .

May God give you joy! but how

You like them I should wish to know.

The World.

I like them just as others do.

Priest.

Short?

The World.

Yes, short.

Priest, showing him some masses . Then here’s the thing for you.

The World, rejecting them with alarm . Than these no sermon can be longer.

Priest, showing others . Here are others.

The World, refusing them . No! no! no!

Priest, finding that the World wants neither long nor short masses . What you want you do not know.

Then Le Conseiller (the Counsellor), a wise and enlightened man, recommends a new remedy, one both harmless and effectual, which is beginning to make a great noise.

What is it, say?

asks the World; the Counsellor answers:

A thing which no man dares gainsay ...

The Bible.

The World does not know what this new medicine means: another character strives in vain to inspire him with confidence:

Believe me, Mr. World, there’s not a fool

But knows it.

The World will not have it at any price. It was known already at Geneva in 1523 that the world was giving a bad reception to the Gospel: ‘They shall say all manner of evil against you, and shall persecute you.’ As he could not be cured by the priests, and would not be cured by the Bible, the World called in the Doctor ( le Médecin ), and carefully described his disease:

I am so troubled, and teased, and tormented,

With all the rubbish that they have invented ...

That flat here on my bed I lie.

Doctor.

What rubbish?

The World.

That a deluge by-and-by

Will come, and that a fire to boot

Will burn us all both branch and root.

But the Doctor happens to be (as was often the case in the sixteenth century) one of those who believe the text of the Bible to be infallible; he begins to paint the liveliest picture of the disorders of the clergy, in order to induce his patient to take the remedy prescribed for him:

Why are you troubled, Sir World, at that?

Do not vex yourself any more

At seeing these rogues and thieves by the score

Buying and selling the cure of souls ...

Children still in their nurses’ arms

Made abbots and bishops and priors...

* * * * *

For their pleasure they kill their brothers,

Squander their own goods and seize another’s;

To flattering tongues they lend their ear;

For the merest trifle they kindle the flame

Of war, to the shame of the christian name. 318

The World, astonished at a description so far from catholic, becomes suspicious, thinks the language heretical, and exclaims:

... Mere fables these:

From the land of Luther they came.

Doctor.

Upon Luther’s back men lay the blame,

If you speak of sin....

At Geneva, therefore, as well as in all the catholic world, Luther was already known as the man who laid bare sins. The Doctor did not allow himself to be disconcerted by this charge of Lutheranism:

World, would you like to be well once more?

The World, with firmness . Yes!

Doctor.

Then think of abuses what a store

Are daily committed by great and small,

And according to law reform them all.

This was demanding a Reformation. The huguenots ( Eidguenots ) applauded; the foreign merchants were astonished; the courtiers of Savoy, and even Maurienne himself, smiled. Still Maison-Neuve, Vandel, Bernard, and all those who had ‘talked with’ the evangelicals, and especially the author of the drama, knew the difficulties the Reformation would have to encounter in Geneva.

The World, irritated against these laymen who turn preachers, exclaims:

This impudent doctor so mild of speech,

I asked him to cure me, not to preach .

The fool!

Another personage, alarmed at so unprecedented a thing:

Good heavens! it can’t be true.

The World.

True enough; but as for his preaching now,

I’d rather be led by a fool, I vow,

Than a preacher.

Friends of the World.

That’s quite right;

The World.

That will I!...

Whereupon the World puts on a fool’s dress, and the burlesque ends.

It is too true that the world, after the Reformation, put on a fool’s dress in various places, particularly in France. What was the house of Valois but a house of fools? And yet a divine wisdom had then entered the world, and remains in it still, for the healing of nations. From the beginning of 1523, the great principle of protestantism which declares Scripture to be the only source and rule of truth, in opposition to that of Roman Catholicism, which substitutes the authority of the Church, was recognised in Geneva. The ‘text of the Bible’ was publicly declared ‘an irreproachable thing’ and the only remedy for the cure of diseased humanity. And what, at bottom, was this burlesque of the huguenots but a lay sermon on the text: The law of the Lord converteth the soul ? It is good to observe the date, as it is generally thought that the Reformation did not begin till much later in the city of Calvin. This ‘mystery’ of a new kind did not remain without effect; the evangelicals had taken up their position; the ram, armed with its head of brass, that was to batter and throw down the walls of Rome—the infallible Bible, had appeared. Jean Philippe felt that the piece had not cost him too dear.