History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 52

[745] Sic ex Stapulensis auditorio praestantissimi viri plurimi prodierint. Ibid.

[Sidenote: SPONTANEOUS BIRTH OF REFORM.]

The Reformation was not, therefore, in France a foreign importation.

It was born on French soil; it germinated in Paris; it put forth its first shoots in the university itself, that second authority in Romish Christendom. G.o.d planted the seeds of this work in the simple hearts of a Picard and a Dauphinese, before they had begun to bud forth in any other country upon earth. The Swiss Reformation, as we have seen,[746] was independent of the German Reformation; and in its turn the Reformation in France was independent of that of Switzerland and of Germany. The work commenced at the same time in different countries, without any communication one with the other; as in a battle all the divisions begin to move at the same moment, although one has not told the other to march, but because one and the same command, issuing from a higher power, has been heard by all. The time had come, the nations were prepared, and G.o.d was everywhere beginning the revival of his Church at the same time. Such facts demonstrate that the great revolution of the sixteenth century was a work of G.o.d.

[746] See Vol. II. p. 281.

If we look only to dates, we must acknowledge that neither to Switzerland nor to Germany belongs the honour of having begun this work, although, hitherto, these two countries alone have contended for it. This honour belongs to France. This is a truth, a fact that we are anxious to establish, because until now it may possibly have been overlooked. Without dwelling on the influence that Lefevre exercised directly or indirectly on many individuals, and in particular on Calvin himself, as we conjecture, let us reflect on that which he had on one only of his disciples,--on Farel, and on the energetic activity which this servant of G.o.d manifested ever afterwards. Can we, after that, resist the conviction, that if Zwingle and Luther had never appeared, there would still have been a reforming movement in France?

It is impossible, no doubt, to calculate what might have been its extent; we must even acknowledge that the report of what was taking place on the other side of the Rhine and the Jura afterwards animated and accelerated the progress of the French reformers. But they were the first awakened by the trumpet that sounded from heaven in the sixteenth century, and they were the first on foot and under arms upon the field of battle.

Nevertheless Luther is the great workman of the sixteenth century, and in the fullest sense the first reformer. Lefevre is not so complete as Calvin, Farel, and Luther. He is of Wittemberg and Geneva, but there is still a tinge of the Sorbonne; he is the first catholic in the reform movement, and the last of the reformers in the catholic movement. He is to the end a sort of go-between, a mediator not altogether free from mystery, destined to remind us of the connexion between the old things and the new, which seemed for ever separated by an impa.s.sable gulf. Though rejected and persecuted by Rome, he still clings to Rome by a slender thread which he has no desire to break.

Lefevre of Etaples has a station apart in the theology of the sixteenth century: he is the link connecting the ancient times with the modern, and the man in whom the transition is made from the theology of the middle ages to the theology of the Reformation.

CHAPTER IV.

Character of Francis I.--Commencement of Modern Times--Liberty and Obedience--Margaret of Valois--The Court--Briconnet, Count of Montbrun--Lefevre commends him to the Bible--Francis I. and "his Children"--The Gospel brought to Margaret--Conversion--Adoration--Margaret's Character.

[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF FRANCIS I.]

Thus the whole university was in a state of restlessness. But the Reformation in France was not to be a work of the learned only. It was to take its place among the great ones of the world, and even in the court of the sovereign.

The youthful Francis I. of Angouleme had succeeded his father-in-law and cousin Louis XII. His beauty and address, his courage and love of pleasure, made him the first knight of his time. He aspired, however, at being something more; he desired to be a great and even a good king, provided everything would bend to his sovereign pleasure.

Valour, a taste for letters, and a love of gallantry, are three terms that will express the character of Francis and the spirit of his age.

Two other ill.u.s.trious kings, Henry IV. and especially Louis XIV., presented the same features in after-years. But these princes wanted what the Gospel communicates; and although there had always existed in the nation elements of holiness and christian elevation, we may say that these three great monarchs of modern France have in some measure stamped upon their subjects the impress of their own peculiarities, or rather that they themselves were the faithful images of the character of their people. If the Gospel had entered France with the most ill.u.s.trious of the Valois family, it would have brought the nation what it does not possess,--a spiritual tendency, a christian holiness, a knowledge of divine things, and would thus have perfected it in what const.i.tutes the real strength and greatness of a people.

[Sidenote: COMMENCEMENT OF MODERN TIMES.]

It was in the reign of Francis I. that France and Europe pa.s.sed from the middle ages to modern times. The new world, which was then in the bud, grew up and entered into possession. Two cla.s.ses of men imposed their influence on the new state of society. On the one hand were the men of faith, men also of wisdom and holiness; and by their side were the courtly writers, friends of the world and of vice, who by the freedom of their principles contributed as much to the depravation of morals as the former to their reformation.

If Europe in the days of Francis I. had not witnessed the rise of the reformers, and had been handed over by the severe judgment of Providence to the unbelieving innovators, her fate and that of Christianity would have been decided. The danger was great. For some time these two cla.s.ses of combatants, the antagonists of the pope and the opponents of the Gospel, were mixed up together; and as they both claimed liberty, they appeared to employ the same arms against the same enemies. An unpractised eye could not distinguish between them amid the dust and clouds of the battle-field. If the former had allowed themselves to be carried away by the latter, all would have been lost. The enemies of the hierarchy were pa.s.sing rapidly to the extremes of impiety, and pus.h.i.+ng christian society into a frightful abyss; the papacy itself was helping towards this terrible catastrophe, and accelerating by its ambition and its disorders the destruction of the remnants of truth and life still surviving in the Church. But G.o.d raised up the Reformation, and Christianity was saved.

The reformers who had shouted liberty, soon called for obedience. The very men who had cast down the throne whence the Roman pontiff issued his oracles, fell prostrate before the Word of G.o.d. Then a clear and definite separation took place; nay more, the two bodies engaged in war against each other. The one party had desired liberty only for themselves, the others had claimed it for the Word of G.o.d. The Reformation became the most formidable enemy of that incredulity towards which Rome is often so lenient. After restoring liberty to the Church, the reformers restored religion to the world. Of these two gifts, the latter was the most needed.

[Sidenote: MARGARET OF VALOIS.]

The friends of infidelity hoped, for a while, to reckon among their number Margaret of Valois, d.u.c.h.ess of Alencon, whom Francis tenderly loved, and always called "_sa mignonne_," his darling, as we learn from Brantome.[747] The same tastes, the same acquirements, distinguished both brother and sister. Possessing, like Francis, a handsome person, Margaret combined with those eminent qualities that make great characters those gentler virtues that win the affections.

In the world, in the gay entertainments at the court of the king and of the emperor, she shone like a queen, charming, surprising, and captivating all hearts. Pa.s.sionately fond of letters, and endowed with a rare genius, she would retire to her closet, and there indulge in the sweet pleasures of thought, study, and learning. But her ruling pa.s.sion was to do good and prevent evil. When amba.s.sadors had been received by the king, they went and paid their respects to Margaret.

"They were mightily enchanted with her," says Brantome, "and made a glowing report of her to their own countrymen." And the king would often refer matters of importance to her, "leaving them solely to her decision."[748]

[747] Vie des Dames ill.u.s.tres, p. 333. La Haye, 1740.

[748] Ibid. p. 337.

This celebrated princess was distinguished for the strictness of her morals; but while many confine this strictness to their lips, and are lax in their behaviour, Margaret did the contrary. Irreproachable in conduct, she was not altogether free from censure in her writings.

Instead of being surprised at this, we might rather wonder that a woman so dissolute as Louisa of Savoy should have a daughter so pure as Margaret. While visiting different parts of the country with the court, she amused herself with describing the manners of the time, and particularly the disorders of the priests and monks. "I have heard her," says Brantome, "thus narrating tales to my grandmother, who always accompanied her in her litter, as lady-in-waiting, and who had charge of her inkhorn."[749]

[749] Vie des Dames ill.u.s.tres, p. 346.

[Sidenote: THE COURT--BRIcONNET.]

This Margaret, so beautiful, so full of wit, and living in the atmosphere of a corrupted court, was one of the first to be carried away by the religious movement then beginning in France. But how could the d.u.c.h.ess of Alencon be reached by the Reformation in the midst of so profane a court, and of the licentious tales by which it was amused? Her elevated soul felt wants that the Gospel alone could satisfy; grace works everywhere; and Christianity, which even before an apostle had appeared in Rome already counted followers in the house of Narcissus and in the court of Nero,[750] penetrated rapidly, at the period of its renovation, into the court of Francis I. High-bred dames and n.o.ble lords addressed the princess in the language of faith; and that sun, then rising upon France, shed its earliest beams upon an ill.u.s.trious head, by which they were immediately reflected on the d.u.c.h.ess of Alencon.

[750] Romans xvi. 11; Philip. iv. 22.

Among the most distinguished n.o.blemen at the court was William of Montbrun, son of Cardinal Briconnet of St. Malo, who had entered the church after the decease of his wife. Count William, who was fond of study, took holy orders, and became successively bishop of Lodeve and of Meaux. Being twice sent amba.s.sador to Rome, he returned to Paris, unseduced by the flattery and pomps of Leo X.

At the period of his return to France, the sap was everywhere beginning to move. Farel, then master of arts, was lecturing in the celebrated college of the Cardinal Lemoine, one of the four princ.i.p.al colleges of the theological faculty in Paris, equal in rank to the Sorbonne. Two fellow-countrymen of Lefevre, Arnaud and Gerard Roussel, with several others, increased the circle of liberal and generous minds. Briconnet, fresh from the gay entertainments and festivities of Rome, was astonished at what had taken place in Paris during his absence. Thirsting for the truth, he renewed his ancient relations with Lefevre, and pa.s.sed many precious hours with the doctor of the Sorbonne, with Farel, the two Roussels and their friends.[751] This ill.u.s.trious but humble-minded prelate was willing to be instructed by the lowliest Christians, but particularly by the Lord himself. "I am in darkness," said he, "awaiting the grace of the Divine benevolence, from which I am exiled by my demerits." His mind was dazzled, as it were, by the brilliancy of the Gospel. His eyelids drooped before its unequalled brightness. "The eyes of all men," added he, "are insufficient to receive the whole light of this great luminary."[752]

[751] Histoire de la Revocat. de l'edit. de Nantes, i. 7. Maimbourg, Hist. du Calv. p. 12.

[752] This pa.s.sage is taken from a ma.n.u.script in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris, ent.i.tled _Lettres de Marguerite, reine de Navarre_, and marked S. F. 337. I shall have frequent occasion to quote the ma.n.u.script, which I had great difficulty in deciphering.

[Sidenote: BRIcONNET READS THE BIBLE.]

Lefevre had recommended the bishop to the Bible; he had pointed to it as the clue which ever leads men back to the primitive truth of Christianity,--to what it was when schools, sects, ordinances, and traditions were unknown, and as the powerful medium by which the religion of Jesus Christ is renovated. Briconnet read the Bible. "Such is the sweetness of this Divine food," said he, "that it makes the mind insatiable; the more we taste of it, the more we long for it."[753] The simple and mighty truth of salvation charmed him: he found Christ,--he found G.o.d himself. "What vessel," said he, "is able to receive the exceeding fulness of this inexhaustible sweetness? But the dwelling extends according to our desire to entertain the good guest. Faith is the quartermaster who alone can find room for him, or, more truly, who makes us dwell in him." But at the same time the good bishop, afflicted at seeing this doctrine of life, which the Reformation restored to the world, held in so little estimation at court, in the city, and among the people, exclaimed: "Oh singular and most worthy innovation, and yet to my fellow-men most unacceptable!"

[753] Ibid.

[Sidenote: FRANCIS I. AND HIS CHILDREN.]

It is in this way that evangelical opinions made their way into the midst of the frivolous, dissolute, and literary court of Francis I.

Many of the men who composed it, and who enjoyed the entire confidence of the king, as John du Bellay, Budaeus, Cop the court physician, and even Pet.i.t the king's confessor, appeared favourably disposed towards the sentiments of Briconnet and Lefevre. Francis, who loved learning, who invited into his states learned men inclined to Lutheranism, and who thought (as Erasmus says) "in this manner to adorn and ill.u.s.trate his age in a more magnificent manner than he could have done by trophies, pyramids, or by the most pompous structures," was himself carried away by his sister, by Briconnet, and by the literary men of his court and universities. He would often be present at the discussions of the learned, listening with delight to their conversation at table, and calling them "his children." He prepared the way for the Word of G.o.d by founding Hebrew and Greek professors.h.i.+ps. And hence Theodore Beza, when placing his portrait at the head of the reformers, says: "Pious spectator! do not shudder at the sight of this adversary! Ought he not to have a part in this honour, who expelled barbarism from the world, and with firm hand subst.i.tuted in its stead three languages and sound learning, to be as it were the portals to the new building that was shortly to be erected?"[754]

[754] Neque rex potentissime pudeat......quasi atrienses hujus aedis futuras. Bezae Icones.--Disputationibus eorum ipse interfuit. Flor.

Raemundi Hist. de ortu haeresum, vii. 2.

[Sidenote: MARGARET RECEIVES THE GOSPEL.]

But there was at the court of Francis I. one soul in particular, which seemed prepared to receive the evangelical influence of the doctor of Etaples and the bishop of Meaux. Margaret, yet hesitating and wavering, in the midst of the depraved society that surrounded her, looked for support, and found it in the Gospel. She turned towards this fresh breath that was reanimating the world, and inhaled it with delight as an emanation from heaven. From some of the ladies of her court she learnt what the new doctors were teaching; they lent her their writings, their little books, called in the language of the time, "tracts;" and spoke to her of the "primitive Church, of the pure Word of G.o.d, of wors.h.i.+pping in spirit and in truth, of christian liberty which shakes off the yoke of superst.i.tion and traditions of men to bind them closer to G.o.d alone."[755] Erelong this princess conversed with Lefevre, Farel, and Roussel; their zeal, their piety, their purity of morals,--all in them struck her imagination; but it was the Bishop of Meaux in particular, who had long enjoyed her friends.h.i.+p, that became her guide in the path of faith.

[755] Maimbourg, Hist. du Calvinisme, p. 17.

Thus, in the midst of the brilliant court of Francis I. and of the profligate household of Louisa of Savoy, was accomplished one of those conversions of the heart which, although not thoroughly evangelical, are not the fruit of a mere aesthetical religion. Margaret subsequently recorded in her poems the different movements of her soul at this important period of her life; and in them we may trace the path she then trod. We find that the sense of sin had taken strong hold of her, and that she wept over the levity with which she had treated the scandals of the world. She exclaimed:

Is there a gulf of ill, so deep and wide That can suffice but e'en a tenth to hide Of my vile sins?

This corruption, of which she had so long been ignorant, she discovered everywhere, now that her eyes were opened.

Well do I feel within me is the root, Without are branch and foliage, flower and fruit.[756]

[756] Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses. Lyon. 1547, tome i.

Miroir de l'ame pecheresse, p. 15. The copy I have used appears to have belonged to the Queen of Navarre herself, and some notes that it contains are said to be in her own handwriting. It is now in the possession of a friend of the author's.

[Sidenote: ADORATION.]