History of the Great Reformation Part 45

[846] Vadant igitur et pereant, quomodo sic volunt. (L. Epp. iv. p.

167.)

[Sidenote: ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTESTANTISM.]

Thus the Diet of Augsburg, destined to crush the Reformation, was what strengthened it for ever. It has been usual to consider the peace of Augsburg (1555) as the period when the Reform was definitively established. That is the date of legal Protestantism; Evangelical Christianity has another--the autumn of 1530. In 1555 was the victory of the sword and of diplomacy; in 1530 was that of the Word of G.o.d and of Faith; and this latter victory is in our eyes the truest and the firmest. The evangelical history of the Reformation in Germany is nearly finished at the epoch we have reached, and the diplomatic history of legal Protestantism begins. Whatever may be done now, whatever may be said, the Church of the first ages has reappeared; and it has reappeared strong enough to show that it will live. There will still be conferences and discussions; there will still be leagues and combats; there will even be deplorable defeats; but all that is a secondary movement. The great movement is accomplished: the cause of Faith is won by Faith. The effort has been made: the Evangelical doctrine has taken root in the world, and neither the storms of men, nor the powers of h.e.l.l, will ever be able to tear it up.

BOOK XV.

SWITZERLAND--CONQUESTS. 1526-1530.

I. The divisions which the Reformation disclosed within its bosom, on its appearance before the Diet of Augsburg, humbled it and compromised its existence; but we must not forget that the cause of these divisions was one of the conditions of the existence of the regenerated Church. No doubt it would have been desirable for Germany and Switzerland to have agreed; but it was of still greater importance that Germany and Switzerland should have each its original Reform. If the Swiss Reformation had been only a feeble copy of the German, there would have been uniformity, but no duration. The tree, transplanted into Switzerland, without having taken deep root, would soon have been torn up by the vigorous hand that was erelong about to seize upon it.

The regeneration of Christianity in these mountains proceeded from forces peculiar to the Helvetic Church, and received an organization in conformity with the ecclesiastical and political condition of that country. By this very originality it communicated a particular energy to the principles of the Reformation, of much greater consequence to the common cause than a servile uniformity. The strength of an army arises in great measure from its being composed of soldiers of different arms.

[Sidenote: THREE PERIODS OF REFORM.]

The military and political influence of Switzerland was declining. The new developments of the European nations, subsequent to the sixteenth century, were about to banish to their native mountains those proud Helvetians, who for so long a period had placed their two-handed swords in the balance in which the destinies of nations were weighed.

The Reformation communicated a new influence in exchange for that which was departing. Switzerland, where the Gospel appeared in its simplest and purest form, was destined to give in these new times to many nations of the two worlds a more salutary and glorious impulse than that which had hitherto proceeded from its halberds and its arquebuses.

The history of the Swiss Reformation is divided into three periods, in which the light of the Gospel is seen spreading successively over three different zones. From 1519 to 1526 Zurich was the centre of the Reformation, which was then entirely German, and was propagated in the eastern and northern parts of the Confederation. Between 1526 and 1532 the movement was communicated from Berne: it is at once German and French, and extended to the centre of Switzerland from the gorges of the Jura to the deepest valleys of the Alps. In 1532 Geneva became the focus of the light; and the Reformation, which was here essentially French, was established on the sh.o.r.es of the Leman lake, and gained strength in every quarter. It is of the second of these periods--that of Berne--of which we are now to treat.

[Sidenote: TWO MOVEMENTS IN THE CHURCH.]

Although the Swiss Reformation is not yet essentially French, still the most active part in it is taken by Frenchmen. Switzerland _Romande_[847] is yoked to the chariot of Reform, and communicates to it an accelerated motion. In the period we are about to treat of, there is a mixture of races, of forces, and of characters, from which proceeds a greater commotion. In no part of the christian world will the resistance be so stubborn; but nowhere will the a.s.sailants display so much courage. This petty country of Switzerland Romande, enclosed within the colossal arms of the Jura and the Alps, was for centuries one of the strongest fortresses of the Papacy. It is about to be carried by storm; it is going to turn its arms against its ancient masters; and from these few hillocks, scattered at the foot of the highest mountains in Europe, will proceed the reiterated shocks that will overthrow, even in the most distant countries, the sanctuaries of Rome, their images and their altars.

[847] The French part of Switzerland, comprising the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel, and part of those of Friburg, Berne, and Valais.

[Sidenote: AGGRESSIVE SPIRIT.]

There are two movements in the Church: one is effected inwardly, and its object is its preservation; the other is effected outwardly, and the object aimed at is its propagation. There is thus a doctrinal Church and a missionary Church. These two movements ought never to be separated, and whenever they are disunited, it is because the spirit of man, and not the spirit of G.o.d prevails. In the apostolic ages these two tendencies were evolved at the same time and with equal power. In the second and third centuries the external tendency prevailed; after the Council of Nice (325) the doctrinal movement resumed the superiority; at the epoch of the irruption of the northern tribes the missionary spirit revived; but erelong came the times of the hierarchy and of the schoolmen, in which all doctrinal powers warred within the Church to found therein despotic government and an impure doctrine--the Papacy. The revival of Christianity in the sixteenth century, which emanated from G.o.d, was destined to renovate these two doctrines, but by purifying them. Then indeed the spirit of G.o.d acted at once externally and internally. In the days of the Reformation there were tranquil and internal developments; but there was also a more powerful and aggressive action. Men of G.o.d had for ages studied the Word, and had peacefully explained its salutary lessons. Such had been the work of Vesalia, Goch, Groot, Radewin, Ruybrook, Tauler, Thomas a Kempis, and John Wessel; now, something more was required. The power of action was to be united with the power of thought. The Papacy had been allowed all necessary time for laying aside its errors; for ages men had been in expectation; it had been warned, it had been entreated; all had been unavailing. Popery being unwilling to reform itself, it became necessary for men of G.o.d to take its accomplishment upon themselves. The calm and moderate influence of the precursors of the Reform was succeeded by the heroic and holy revolutionary work of the Reformers; and the revolution they effected consisted in overthrowing the usurping power to re-establish the legitimate authority. "To everything there is a season," says the Preacher, "and a time to every purpose under heaven: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to break down, and a time to build up."[848] Of all Reformers, those who carried the aggressive spirit to its highest degree were the men who came from France, and more especially Farel, whose labours we have now to consider.

[848] Eccles. iii. 1, 2, 3.

Never were such mighty effects accomplished by so puny a force. In the government of G.o.d we pa.s.s in an instant from the greatest to the least of things. We now quit the haughty Charles V. and all that court of princes over which he presides, to follow the steps of a schoolmaster; and we leave the palaces of Augsburg to take our seats in the lowly cottages of Switzerland.

The Rhone, after issuing near St. Gothard from the mountains of the Furka, from beneath an immense sea of eternal ice, rolls its noisy waters through a rugged valley separating the two great chains of the Alps; then issuing from the gorge of St. Maurice, it wanders through a more smiling and fertile country. The sublime Dent du Midi on the south, the proud Dent de Morcles on the north, picturesquely situated opposite each other, point out from afar to the traveller's eye the beginning of this latter basin. On the tops of these mountains are vast glaciers and threatening peaks, near which the shepherds in the midst of summer lead their numerous flocks to pasture; while in the plain, the flowers and fruits of southern climes grow luxuriantly, and the laurel blooms beside the most exquisite grapes.

[Sidenote: THE SCHOOLMASTER.]

At the opening of one of the lateral valleys that lead into the Northern Alps, on the banks of the Grande Eau that falls in thunder from the glaciers of the Diablerets, is situated the small town of Aigle, one of the most southern in Switzerland. For about fifty years it had belonged to Berne, with the four parishes (_mandemens_) which are under its jurisdiction, namely, Aigle, Bex, Ollon, and the chalets scattered in the lofty valleys of the Ormonds. It is in this country that the second epoch of the Swiss Reformation was destined to begin.

In the winter of 1526-1527, a foreign schoolmaster, named Ursinus, arrived in this humble district. He was a man of middle stature, with red beard and quick eyes, and who, to a voice of thunder (says Beza), united the feelings of a hero: his modest lessons were intermingled with new and strange doctrines. The benefices being abandoned by their t.i.tularies to ignorant curates, the people, who were naturally of rude and turbulent habits, had remained without any cultivation. Thus did this stranger, who was no other than Farel, meet with new obstacles at every step.

Whilst Lefevre and most of his friends had quitted Strasburg to re-enter France, after the deliverance of Francis I., Farel had turned his steps towards Switzerland; and on the very first day of his journey, he received a lesson that he frequently recalled to mind.

He was on foot, accompanied by a single friend. Night had closed around them, the rain fell in torrents, and the travellers, in despair of finding their road, had sat down midway, drenched with rain.[849]

"Ah!" said Farel, "G.o.d, by showing me my helplessness in these little things, has willed to teach me what I am in the greatest, without Jesus Christ!" At last Farel, springing up, plunged into the marshes, waded through the waters, crossed vineyards, fields, hills, forests, and valleys, and at length reached his destination, covered with mud and soaked to the skin.

[849] Gravabat nox, opprimebat pluvia......coegit viae difficultas in media sedere via sub pluvia. (Farel to Capito and Bucer; Neuchatel, MS.)

[Sidenote: FAREL'S STUDIES.]

In this night of desolation, Farel had received a new baptism. His natural energy had been quelled; he became, for some time at least, wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove; and, as not unfrequently happens to men of such disposition, he at first overstepped his aim.

Believing that he was following the example of the Apostles, he sought, in the words of colampadius, "to circ.u.mvent by pious frauds the old serpent that was hissing around him."[850] He represented himself to be a schoolmaster, and waited until a door should be opened to him to appear as a Reformer.[851]

[850] Piis artibus et apostolicis versatiis ad circ.u.mveniendum illum opus est. col. to Farel, 27th December, 1526. Neuchatel MS.)]

[851] Ubi ostium patuerit, tunc adversariis liberius obsistetur.

(Ibid.)

Scarcely had Magister Ursinus quitted the schoolroom and his primers, than, taking refuge in his modest chamber, he became absorbed in the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, and the most learned treatises of the theologians. The struggle between Luther and Zwingle was commencing.

To which of these two chiefs should the French Reform attach itself?

Luther had been known in France for a much longer time than Zwingle; yet Farel decided in favour of the latter. Mysticism had characterized the Germanic nations during the Middle Ages, and scholasticism those of Roman descent. The French were in closer relation with the dialectician Zwingle than with the mystic Luther; or rather, they were the mediators between the two great tendencies of the Middle Ages; and, while giving to the christian thought that correct form which seems to be the province of southern nations, they became the instruments of G.o.d to spread through the Church the fulness of life and of the Spirit of Christ.

[Sidenote: THE DOOR IS OPENED.]

It was in this little chamber at Aigle that Farel read the first publication addressed to the German by the Swiss Reformer.[852] "With what learning," cries he, "does Zwingle scatter the darkness! with what holy ingenuity he gains over the wise, and what captivating meekness he unites with a forcible erudition! Oh, that by the grace of G.o.d this work may win over Luther, so that the Church of Christ, trembling from such violent shocks, may at length find peace!"[853]

[852] Pia et amica ad Lutheri sermonem apologia. (Opp. vol. ii. t. 2, p. 1.)

[853] Ut Christi succussa undique Ecclesia, pacis non nihil sentiat.

(Zw. Epp. ii. p. 26.)

The schoolmaster Ursinus, excited by so n.o.ble an example, gradually set about instructing the parents as well as the children. He at first attacked the doctrine of purgatory, and next the invocation of Saints.

"As for the Pope, he is nothing," said he, "or almost nothing, in these parts;[854] and as for the priests, provided they annoy the people with all that nonsense, which Erasmus knows so well how to turn into ridicule, that is enough for them."

[854] Papa aut nullus aut modicus hic est. (Zw. Epp. ii. p. 36.)

Ursinus had been some months at Aigle: a door was opened to him; a flock had been collected there, and he believed the looked for moment had arrived.

Accordingly, one day the prudent schoolmaster disappears. "I am William Farel," said he, "minister of the Word of G.o.d." The terror of the priests and magistrates was great, when they saw in the midst of them that very man whose name had already become so formidable. The schoolmaster quitted his humble study; he ascended the pulpit, and openly preached Jesus Christ to the astonished mult.i.tude. The work of Ursinus was over: Farel was himself again.[855] It was then about the month of March or April, 1527, and in that beautiful valley, whose slopes were brightening in the warm rays of the sun, all was fermenting at the same time, the flowers, the vineyards, and the hearts of this sensible but rude people.

[855] The name of Ursinus was doubtless taken from the bear (ursa), which was on the shield of Berne. Ursinus meant Bernese.

Yet the rocks that the torrent meets as it issues from the Diablerets, and against which it dashes at every step as it falls from eternal snows, are more trifling obstacles than the prejudice and hatred that were shown erelong in this populous valley to the Word of G.o.d.

[Sidenote: OPPOSITION.]

The Council of Berne, by a license of the 9th of March, had commissioned Farel to explain the Holy Scriptures to the people of Aigle and its neighbourhood. But the arm of the civil magistrate, by thus mingling in religious affairs, served only to increase the irritation of men's minds. The rich and lazy inc.u.mbents, the poor and ignorant curates, were the first to cry out. "_If_ this man," said they one to another, "continues preaching, it is all over with our benefices and our Church."[856]

[856] J. J. Hottinger, H. K. G., iii. p. 364.

In the midst of this agitation, the bailiff of Aigle and the governor of the four mandemens, Jacques de Roverea, instead of supporting the minister of their excellencies of Berne, eagerly embraced the cause of the priests. "The Emperor," said they, "is about to declare war against all innovators. A great army will shortly arrive from Spain to a.s.sist the Archduke Ferdinand."[857] Farel stood firm. Upon this the bailiff and Roverea, exasperated by such boldness, interdicted the heretic from every kind of instruction, whether as minister or schoolmaster. But Berne caused to be posted on the doors of all the churches in the four mandemens a new decree, dated the 3d of July, in which their excellencies, manifesting great displeasure at this interdiction "of the very learned Farel from the propagation of the Divine Word,[858] ordered all the officers of the state to allow him to preach publicly the doctrines of the Lord."