History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 58

[843] Vol. II. p. 381.

CHAPTER VIII.

Lefevre and Farel persecuted--Difference between the Lutheran and Reformed Churches--Leclerc posts up his Placards--Leclerc branded--Berquin's Zeal--Berquin before the Parliament--Rescued by Francis I.--Mazurier's Apostacy--Fall and Remorse of Pavanne--Metz--Chatelain--Peter Toussaint becomes attentive--Leclerc breaks the Images--Leclerc's Condemnation and Torture--Martyrdom of Chatelain--Flight.

[Sidenote: LEFEVRE AND FAREL PERSECUTED.]

Lefevre intimidated, Briconnet drawing back, Farel compelled to fly--here was a beginning of victory. They already imagined at the Sorbonne that they had mastered the movement; the doctors and monks congratulated each other on their triumphs. But this was not enough; blood had not flowed. They set to work again; and blood, since it must be so, was erelong to gratify the fanaticism of Rome.

The evangelical Christians of Meaux, seeing their leaders dispersed, sought to edify one another. The wool-carder, John Leclerc, whom the lessons of the doctors, the reading of the Bible, and some tracts, had instructed in the christian doctrine,[844] signalized himself by his zeal and facility in expounding Scripture. He was one of those men whom the Spirit of G.o.d fills with courage,[845] and soon places at the head of a religious movement. It was not long before the Church of Meaux regarded him as its minister.

[844] Aliis pauculis libellis diligenter lectis. Bezae Icones.

[845] Animosae fidei plenus. Ibid.

[Sidenote: THE LUTHERAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES.]

The idea of a universal priesthood, such a living principle among the first Christians, had been re-established by Luther in the sixteenth century.[846] But this idea seems then to have existed only in theory in the Lutheran church, and to have been really acted upon solely among the reformed Christians. The Lutheran Churches (and here they agree with the Anglican Church) perhaps took a middle course between the Romish and the Reformed Churches. Among the Lutherans, everything proceeded from the pastor or the priest; and nothing was counted valid in the Church that did not flow regularly through its chiefs. But the Reformed Churches, while they maintained the Divine appointment of the ministry, which some sects deny, approached nearer to the primitive condition of the apostolical communities. From the times of which we are speaking, they recognised and proclaimed that the christian flocks ought not simply to receive what the pastor gives; that the members of the Church, as well as its leaders, possess the key of that treasure whence the latter derive their instruction, for the Bible is in the hands of all; that the graces of G.o.d, the spirit of faith, of wisdom, of consolation, of light, are not bestowed on the pastor only; that every man is called upon to employ the gift he has received for the good of all; and that a certain gift, necessary to the edification of the Church, may be refused to a minister, and yet granted to one of his flock. Thus the pa.s.sive state of the Church was then changed into a state of general activity; and in France, especially, this revolution was accomplished. In other countries, the reformers were almost exclusively pastors and doctors; but in France men of learning had from the very beginning pious men of the people for their allies.

In that country G.o.d selected for his first workmen a doctor of the Sorbonne and a wool-comber.

[846] See Vol. II. p. 97.

[Sidenote: LECLERC'S PLACARDS--THE BRANDING.]

The wool-comber Leclerc began to visit from house to house, confirming the disciples. But not stopping short at these ordinary cares, he would fain have seen the edifice of popery overthrown, and France, from the midst of these ruins, turning with a cry of joy towards the Gospel. His unguarded zeal may remind us of that of Hottinger at Zurich, and of Carlstadt at Wittemberg. He wrote a proclamation against the Antichrist of Rome, announcing that the Lord was about to destroy it by the breath of his mouth. He then boldly posted his "placards" on the gates of the cathedral.[847] Presently all was in confusion around that ancient edifice. The faithful were amazed; the priests exasperated. What! a fellow whose employment is wool-combing dares measure himself with the pope! The Franciscans were outrageous, and demanded that this once at least a terrible example should be made. Leclerc was thrown into prison.

[847] Cet heretique ecrivit des pancartes qu'il attacha aux portes de la grande eglise de Meaux (MS. de Meaux). See also Bezae Icones; Crespin Actes des Martyrs, &c.

His trial was finished in a few days, under the eyes of Briconnet himself, who was now to witness and tolerate all that was done. The carder was condemned to be whipped three days successively through the city, and on the third to be branded on the forehead. This sad spectacle soon began. Leclerc was led through the streets with his hands bound, his back bare, and the executioners inflicted on him the blows he had drawn upon himself by rising up against the Bishop of Rome. An immense crowd followed in the track marked by the martyr's blood. Some yelled with rage against the heretic; others by their silence gave him no unequivocal marks of their tender compa.s.sion. One woman encouraged the unhappy man by her looks and words: she was his mother.

[Sidenote: A MOTHER'S CRY--MEETINGS OF BELIEVERS.]

At last, on the third day, when the blood-stained procession was ended, they halted with Leclerc at the usual place of execution. The hangman prepared the fire, heated the iron that was to stamp its burning mark on the evangelist, and approaching him, branded him on the forehead as a heretic. A shriek was heard, but it did not proceed from the martyr. His mother, a spectator of the dreadful scene, and wrung with anguish, endured a bitter strife: it was the enthusiasm of faith struggling in her heart with maternal love; faith prevailed at last, and she exclaimed with a voice that made the adversaries tremble: "Glory to Jesus Christ and to his witnesses!"[848] Thus did that Frenchwoman of the sixteenth century fulfil the commandment of the Son of G.o.d: "He that loveth his son more than me is not worthy of me." Such boldness, and at such a moment, merited signal punishment; but this christian mother had appalled the hearts both of priests and soldiers. All their fury was controlled by a stronger arm than theirs.

The crowd, respectfully making way, allowed the martyr's mother slowly to regain her humble dwelling. The monks, and even the town-sergeants, gazed on her without moving. "Not one of her enemies dared lay hands upon her," said Theodore Beza. After this execution, Leclerc, being set at liberty, retired to Rosay in Brie, a small town about six leagues from Meaux, and subsequently to Metz, where we shall meet with him again.

[848] Hist. Eccles. de Th. de Beze, p. 4. Hist. des Martyrs de Crespin, p. 92.

The adversaries were triumphant. "The Cordeliers having re-captured the pulpits, propagated their lies and trumpery as usual."[849] But the poor workmen of the city, prevented from hearing the Word in regular a.s.semblies, "began to meet in secret," says our chronicler, "after the manner of the sons of the prophets in the time of Ahab, and of the Christians of the primitive Church; and, as opportunity offered, they a.s.sembled at one time in a house, at another in some cave, sometimes also in a vineyard or in a wood. There, he amongst them who was most versed in the Holy Scriptures exhorted the rest; and this done, they all prayed together with great courage, supporting each other by the hope that the Gospel would be revived in France, and that the tyranny of Antichrist would come to an end."[850] There is no power that can arrest the progress of truth.

[849] Actes des Martyrs, p. 183.

[850] Ibid.

[Sidenote: BERQUIN'S ZEAL--A DOMICILIARY VISIT.]

But one victim only was not enough; and if the first against whom the persecution was let loose was a wool-comber, the second was a gentleman of the court. It was necessary to frighten the n.o.bles as well as the people. Their reverences of the Sorbonne of Paris could not think of being outstripped by the Franciscans of Meaux. Berquin, "the most learned of the n.o.bles," had derived fresh courage from the Holy Scriptures, and after having attacked "the hornets of the Sorbonne" in certain epigrams, had openly accused them of impiety.[851]

[851] Impietatis etiam accusatos, tum voce, tum scriptis. Bezae Icones.

Beda and d.u.c.h.esne, who had not ventured to reply in their usual manner to the witticisms of the king's gentleman, changed their mind, as soon as they discovered serious convictions latent behind these attacks.

Berquin had become a Christian: his ruin was determined on. Beda and d.u.c.h.esne, having seized some of his translations, found in them matter to burn more heretics than one. "He maintains," said they, "that it is wrong to invoke the Virgin Mary in place of the Holy Ghost, and to call her the source of all grace.[852] He inveighs against the practice of calling her _our hope, our life_, and says that these t.i.tles belong only to the Son of G.o.d." There were other matters besides these. Berquin's study was like a bookseller's shop, whence works of corruption were circulated through the whole kingdom. The _Common-places_ of Melancthon, in particular, served, by the elegance of their style, to shake the faith of the literary men in France. This pious n.o.ble, living only amidst his folios and his _tracts_, had become, out of christian charity, translator, corrector, printer, and bookseller......It was essential to check this formidable torrent at its very source.

[852] Incongrue beatam Virginem invocari pro Spiritu Sancto. Erasm.

Epp. 1279.

[Sidenote: BERQUIN BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT.]

One day, as Berquin was quietly seated at his studies, among his beloved books, his house was suddenly surrounded by the sergeants-at-arms, who knocked violently at the door. They were the Sorbonne and its agents, who, furnished with authority from the parliament, were making a domiciliary visit. Beda, the formidable syndic, was at their head, and never did inquisitor perform his duty better; accompanied by his satellites, he entered Berquin's library, told him his business, ordered a watchful eye to be kept upon him, and began his search. Not a book escaped his piercing glance, and an exact inventory of the whole was drawn up by his orders. Here was a treatise by Melancthon, there a book by Carlstadt; farther on, a work of Luther's. Here were heretical books translated from Latin into French by Berquin himself; there, others of his own composition. All the works that Beda seized, except two, were filled with Lutheran errors.

He left the house, carrying off his booty, and more elated than ever was general laden with the spoils of vanquished nations.[853]

[853] Gaillard Hist. de Francois I. iv. 241. Crevier, Univ. de Paris, v. 171.

Berquin saw that a great storm had burst upon him; but his courage did not falter. He despised his enemies too much to fear them. Meanwhile Beda lost no time. On the 13th of May 1523, the parliament issued a decree that all the books seized in Berquin's house should be laid before the faculty of theology. The opinion of the Sorbonne was soon p.r.o.nounced; on the 25th of June it condemned all the works, with the exception of the two already mentioned, to be burnt as heretical, and ordered that Berquin should abjure his errors. The parliament ratified this decision.

The n.o.bleman appeared before this formidable body. He knew that the next step might be to the scaffold; but, like Luther at Worms, he remained firm. Vainly did the parliament order him to retract. Berquin was not one of those _who fall away after having been made partakers of the Holy Ghost_. _Whosoever is begotten of G.o.d, keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not._[854] Every fall proves that the previous conversion has been only apparent or partial; but Berquin's conversion was real. He replied with firmness to the court before which he stood. The parliament, more severe than the Diet of Worms had been, ordered its officers to seize the accused, and take him to the prison of the Conciergerie. This was on the 1st of August 1523. On the 5th the parliament handed over the heretic to the Bishop of Paris, in order that this prelate might take cognizance of the affair, and that, a.s.sisted by the doctors and councillors, he should p.r.o.nounce sentence on the culprit. He was transferred to the episcopal prison.[855]

[854] Hebrews vi. 4; 1 John v. 18.

[855] Ductus est in carcerem, reus haereseos peric.l.i.tatus. Erasmi Epp.

1279; Crevier; Gaillard; loc. cit.

[Sidenote: DELIVERED BY FRANCIS I.--ERASMUS AND BERQUIN.]

Thus was Berquin pa.s.sed from court to court and from one prison to another. Beda, d.u.c.h.esne, and their cabal had their victim in their grasp; but the court still cherished a grudge against the Sorbonne, and Francis was more powerful than Beda. This transaction excited great indignation among the n.o.bles. Do these monks and priests forget what the sword of a gentleman is worth? "Of what is he accused?" said they to Francis I.; "of blaming the custom of invoking the Virgin in place of the Holy Ghost? But Erasmus and many others blame it likewise. Is it for such trifles that they imprison a king's officer?[856] This attack is aimed at literature, true religion, the n.o.bility, chivalry, nay the crown itself." The king was glad to have another opportunity of vexing the whole company. He issued letters transferring the cause to the royal council, and on the 8th of August an usher appeared at the bishop's prison with an order from the king to set Berquin at liberty.

[856] Ob hujusmodi nnias. Erasm. Epp. 1279.

The question now was whether the monks would give way. Francis I., who had antic.i.p.ated some resistance, said to the agent commissioned to execute his orders: "If you meet with any resistance, I authorize you to break open the gates." This language was clear. The monks and the Sorbonne submitted to the affront, and Berquin being restored to liberty appeared before the king's council, by which he was acquitted.[857]

[857] At judices, ubi viderunt causam esse nullius momenti, absolverunt hominem. Ibid.

Thus did Francis I. humiliate the Church. Berquin imagined that France, under his reign, might emanc.i.p.ate herself from the papacy, and had thoughts of renewing the war. For this purpose he entered into communication with Erasmus, who at once recognised him as a man of worth.[858] But, ever timid and temporizing, the philosopher said to him: "Beware of treading on a hornet's nest, and pursue your studies in peace.[859] Above all, do not mix me up with your affair; that would neither serve you nor me."[860]

[858] Ex epistola visus est mihi vir bonus. Ibid.

[859] Sineret crabrones et suis se studiis oblectaret. Ibid.

[860] Deinde ne me involveret suae causae. Ibid.

This rebuff did not discourage Berquin; if the mightiest genius of the age draws back, he will put his trust in G.o.d who never falters. G.o.d's work will be done either with or without the aid of man. "Berquin,"

said Erasmus, "had some resemblance to the palm-tree; he rose up again, and became proud and towering against those who sought to alarm him."[861]

[861] Ille, ut habebat quiddam c.u.m palma commune, adversus deterrentem tollebat animos. Ibid. There is probably an allusion to Pliny's Natural History, xvi. 42.