History of the Great Reformation Part 55

On a sudden, from behind the last rock that hides Valangin in the direction of the mountain, there appeared "certain good persons of the Val de Ruz coming from Neuchatel"[1003] and descending into the valley. "What are you doing?" asked they of the priests, with the intention no doubt of saving Farel; "put them rather in a place of safety, that they may answer for their proceedings? Would you deprive yourselves of the only means in your power of discovering those infected by the poison of heresy?"

[1003] Choupart MS.

The priests left off at these words, and conducted the prisoners to the castle. As they were pa.s.sing before a little chapel, containing an image of the Virgin, "Kneel down," said they to Farel and Boyve, showing them the statue; "prostrate yourselves before Our Lady!" Farel began to admonish them; "Worship one G.o.d alone in spirit and in truth," said he to them, "and not dumb images without life or power."

But they, continues the chronicle, "greatly vexed at his words and his firmness, inflicted on him so many blows, that he was covered with blood, which even spirted on the walls of the chapel. For a long time after the traces of it might still be seen."[1004]

[1004] Choupart MS. Mais eux rudement faches de ses propos et constance, lui donnerent tant de coups, qu'ils le mirent tout en sang, jusques la que son sang jailissoit sur les murailles de la chapelle.

On en voyoit long temps apres encore les marques.

They resumed their march--they entered the town--they climbed the steep road that led to the esplanade where Guillemette de Vergy and her attendants waited for the "Lutherans;" so that, continues the chronicle, "from beating them thus continually, they conducted them all covered with filth and blood to the prisons, and let them down almost lifeless into the dungeon (_croton_) of the castle of Valangin." Thus had Paul at Lystra been stoned by the Jews, drawn out of the city, and left for dead.[1005] The Apostles and the Reformers preached the same doctrine and suffered the same treatment.

[1005] Acts xiv. 19.

[Sidenote: FAREL AT NEUCHATEL.]

It may perhaps be said, that Farel and Boyve were too violent in their attack; but the Church of the Middle Ages, which had fallen back into the legal spirit of Judaism, and into all the corruptions that flow from it, needed an energetic opposition to lead it again to the principle of grace. Augustin and St. Paul reappeared in the Church of the sixteenth century; and when we read of Boyve rushing in great emotion on those who were about to worship the bread of the Ma.s.s, may we not recall to mind the action of St Paul, rending his clothes, and running in among the people, who were desirous of worshipping "men of like pa.s.sions with themselves?"[1006]

[1006] Acts xiv. 14.

Farel and Boyve, thrust into the dungeons of the castle, could, like Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi, "sing praises unto G.o.d."

Messire de Bellegarde, ever ready to persecute the Gospel, was preparing for them a cruel end, when some townsmen of Neuchatel arrived to claim them. Madame de Valangin dared not refuse, and at the demand of the Bernese even inst.i.tuted an inquiry, "to put a good face on the matter," says a ma.n.u.script. "Nevertheless that priest who had beaten Farel most, never after failed to eat daily at the lady's table, by way of recompense."[1007] But this was of little consequence: the seed of truth had been sown in the Val de Ruz.

[1007] Choupart MS.

At Neuchatel the Bernese supported the Evangelical citizens. The governor, whose resources were exhausted, sent amba.s.sadors to the princess, "begging her to cross the mountains, to appease her people, who were in terrible trouble in consequence of this Lutheran religion."[1008]

[1008] Letter from the Governor to the Princess.

Meantime the ferment increased. The townspeople prayed the canons to give up the Ma.s.s: they refused; whereupon the citizens presented them their reasons in writing, and begged them to discuss the question with Farel. Still the same refusal!--"But, for goodness' sake, speak either for or against!" It was all of no use!

[Sidenote: FAREL IN THE CATHEDRAL.]

On Sunday, the 23d of October, Farel, who had returned to Neuchatel, was preaching at the hospital. He knew that the magistrates of the city had deliberated on the expediency of consecrating the cathedral itself to the Evangelical worship. "What then," said he, "will you not pay as much honour to the Gospel as the other party does to the Ma.s.s?......And if this superst.i.tious act is celebrated in the high church, shall not the Gospel be proclaimed there also?" At these words all his hearers arose. "To the church!" cried they; "to the church!"

Impetuous men are desirous of putting their heads to work, to accomplish what the prudence of the burgesses had proposed.[1009] They leave the hospital, and take Farel with them. They climb the steep street of the castle: in vain would the canons and their frightened followers stop the crowd: they force a pa.s.sage. Convinced that they are advancing for G.o.d's glory, nothing can check them. Insults and shouts a.s.sail them from every side, but in the name of the Truth they are defending, they proceed: they open the gates of the Church of our Lady; they enter, and here a fresh struggle begins. The canons and their friends a.s.sembled around the pulpit endeavour to stop Farel; but all is useless. They have not to deal with a band of rioters. G.o.d has p.r.o.nounced in his Word, and the magistrates themselves have pa.s.sed a definitive resolution. The townspeople advance, therefore, against the sacerdotal coterie; they form a close battalion, in the centre of which they place the reformer. They succeed in making their way through the opposing crowd, and at last place the minister in the pulpit without any harm befalling him.[1010]

[1009] This is the conclusion I draw from various papers, and in particular from the report of the meeting held at Neuchatel by the Bernese deputies, in which the heads of the burgesses declare, _that it appeared to them a very good matter to take down the altars_, &c.

Hitherto only one phasis of this action has been seen,--the popular movement; and the other, namely, the legal resolution of the magistrates of the city, seems to have been overlooked.

[1010] Choupart MS.

Immediately all is calm within the church and without; even the adversaries are silent, and Farel delivers "one of the most effective sermons he had hitherto preached." Their eyes are opened; their emotion increases; their hearts are melted; the most obstinate appear converted; and from every part of the old church these cries resound: "We will follow the Evangelical religion, both we and our children, and in it will we live and die."[1011]

[1011] Ibid.

[Sidenote: THE IDOLS DESTROYED.]

Suddenly a whirlwind, as it were, sweeps over this mult.i.tude, and stirs it up like a vast sea. Farel's hearers desire to imitate the pious King Josiah.[1012] "If we take away these idols from before our eyes, will it not be aiding us," said they, "in taking them from our own hearts? Once these idols broken, how many souls among our fellow-citizens, now disturbed and hesitating, will be decided by this striking manifestation of the truth! We must save them as it were by fire."[1013]

[1012] 2 Chron. x.x.xiv. 7.

[1013] Choupart MS.

This latter motive decides them, and then begins a scene that fills the Romanists with horror, and which must, according to them, bring down the terrible judgment of G.o.d on the city.

The very spot where this takes place would seem to add to its solemnity. To the north the castle-walls rise above the pointed crags of the gloomy but picturesque valley of the Seyon, and the mountain in front of the castle presents to the eye little more than bare rocks, vines, and black firs. But to the south, beneath the terrace on which this tumultuous scene is pa.s.sing, extend the wide and tranquil waters of the lake with its fertile and picturesque sh.o.r.es; and in the distance the continuous summits of the higher Alps with their dazzling snows, their immense glaciers, and gigantic peaks, lie before the enraptured eye.

On this platform the people of Neuchatel were in commotion, paying little attention to these n.o.ble scenes of nature. The governor, whose castle adjoined the church, was compelled to remain an idle spectator of the excesses that he could not prevent; he was content to leave us a description of them. "These daring fellows," says he, "seize mattocks, hatchets, and hammers, and thus march against the images of the saints." They advance--they strike the statues and the altars--they dash them to pieces. The figures carved in the fourteenth century by the "imagers" of Count Louis are not spared; and scarcely do the statues of the counts themselves, which were mistaken for idols, escape destruction. The townspeople collect all these fragments of an idolatrous worship; they carry them out of the church, and throw them from the top of the rock. The paintings meet with no better treatment. "It is the devil," thought they with the early Christians, "who taught the world this art of statues, images, and all sorts of likenesses."[1014] They tear out the eyes in the pictures of the saints, and cut off their noses. The crucifix itself is thrown down, for this wooden figure usurps the homage that Jesus Christ claims in the heart. One image, the most venerated of all, still remains: it is our Lady of Mercy, which Mary of Savoy had presented to the collegiate church; but Our Lady herself is not spared. A hand more daring than the rest strikes it, as, in the fourth century, the colossal statue of Serapis was struck.[1015] "They have even bored out the eyes of Our Lady of Mercy, which the departed lady your mother had caused to be made," wrote the governor to the d.u.c.h.ess of Longueville.

[1014] Diabolum saeculo intulisse artifices statuarum et imaginum et omnis generis simulacrorum. (Tertullian, de idolatria, cap. 3.)

[1015] Socrates v. 16.

The Reformed went still further: they seized the patens in which lay the _corpus Domini_, and flung them from the top of the rock into the torrent; after which, being desirous of showing that the consecrated wafers are mere bread, and not G.o.d himself, they distributed them one to another and ate them......At this sight the canons and chaplains could no longer remain quiet. A cry of horror was heard; they ran up with their adherents, and opposed force to force. At length began the struggle that had been so much dreaded.

[Sidenote: REFLECTIONS.]

The provost Oliver of Hochberg, the canons Simon of Neuchatel and Pontus of Soleilant, all three members of the privy council, had repaired hastily to the castle, as well as the other councillors of the princess. Until this moment they had remained silent spectators of the scene; but when they saw the two parties were coming to blows, they ordered all "the supporters of the Evangelical doctrine" to appear before the governor. This was like trying to chain the winds.

Besides, why should the Reformers stop? They were not acting without legitimate authority.[1016] "Tell the governor," replied the townspeople haughtily, "that in the concerns of G.o.d and of our souls he has no command over us."[1017]

[1016] "Par les quatre du dit Neuchatel," by the Four (the munic.i.p.al authorities) of the said Neuchatel, remarks the priest Besancenet. See also the _recess_ of the council held at Neuchatel by MM. of Berne, 4th November 1530.

[1017] The Governor's letter to the Princess.

George de Rive then discovered that his authority failed against a power superior to his own. He must yield, and save at least some remnants. He hastened therefore to remove the images that still remained, and to shut them up in secret chambers. The citizens of Neuchatel allowed him to execute this measure. "Save your G.o.ds,"

thought they, "preserve them under strong bars, lest perchance a robber should deprive you of the objects of your adoration."[1018] By degrees the tumult died away, the popular torrent returned within its channel, and a little after, in commemoration of this great day, they inscribed these words on a pillar of the church:--

L'AN 1530, LE 28 OCTOBRE, FUT OTEE ET ABATTUE L'IDOLATRIE DE CEANT PAR LES BOURGEOIS.[1019]

[1018] Cur vos sub validissimis clavibus, ingentibusque sub claustris conservatis, ne forte fur aliquis irreptat? (Arn.o.bius contra gentes, vi. p. 257.)

[1019] On the 23d of October 1530, idolatry was overthrown and removed from the church by the citizens.

[Sidenote: PLANS OF THE ROMANISTS.]

An immense revolution had been effected. Doubtless it would have been better if the images had been taken away and the Gospel subst.i.tuted in their place with calmness, as at Zurich; but we must take into consideration the difficulties that so profound and contested a change brings with it, and make allowance for the inexperience and excesses inseparable from a first explosion. He who should see in this revolution its excesses only, would betray a singularly narrow mind.

It is the Gospel that triumphed on the esplanade of the castle. It was no longer a few pictures or legends that were to speak to the imagination of the Neuchatelans: the revelation of Christ and of the Apostles, as it had been preserved in the Holy Scriptures, was restored to them. In place of the mysteries, symbols, and miracles of Popery, the Reformation brought them sublime tenets, powerful doctrines, holy and eternal truths. Instead of a Ma.s.s, void of G.o.d, and filled with human puerilities, it restored to them the Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, his invisible yet real and mighty presence, his promises giving peace to the soul, and his Spirit, which changes the heart, and is a sure pledge of a glorious resurrection. All is gain in such an exchange.

VIII. The governor and his trusty friends had not, however, lost all hope. "It is only a minority," said they at the castle, "which has taken part in the destruction of the images; the majority of the nation still obeys the ancient doctrine." M. de Rive had yet to learn that if, in a popular movement, only the minority appears, it is in some cases because the majority, being of the same mind with it, prefers leaving the action to others. However that may be, the governor, thinking himself upon sure ground, resolved to put the preservation of the Ma.s.s to the vote. If the majority were doubtful, the combined influence of the government and clergy would make it incline to the side of Rome. The friends of the Reformation perceiving this trick, and feeling the necessity of securing the integrity of the votes, demanded the presence of Bernese commissioners. This was at first refused. But Neuchatel, divided into two hostile parties, might at any time see her streets run blood: De Rive therefore called Berne to his aid.

[Sidenote: THE GOVERNOR'S DIFFICULTIES.]

Anthony Noll and Sulpice Archer, both members of the council, with Jacques Tribolet, bailiff of the Isle of St. John, all three devoted to the Reform, made their entry into Neuchatel on the 4th November,--an eventful day for the princ.i.p.ality, and one which would decide on its reformation. The deputies proceeded to the castle, and there spoke with haughtiness.[1020] "Their excellencies of Berne,"

said they to the governor, "are much astonished that you should oppose the true and pure Word of G.o.d. Desist immediately, or else your state and lordship may suffer for it."[1021]

[1020] Trois amba.s.sadeurs qui me tinrent a.s.sez gros et rudes propos.

(The Governor to the Princess.)