History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 66

He found the city in great commotion. Many of the n.o.bles were alarmed, and said as they looked contemptuously at Farel: "What does this sorry fellow want with us? Would to G.o.d he had never come! He cannot stay here, for he will ruin us all, as well as himself." The lords who had taken refuge with the duke at Montbeliard, feared that the disturbance, which everywhere accompanied the Reformation, would attract the attention of Ferdinand and Charles V., and that they would be expelled from their last asylum. But it was the clergy in particular who resisted Farel. The superior of the Franciscans of Besancon had hastened to Montbeliard, and formed a plan of defence in conjunction with the clergy of the place. On the following Sunday, Farel had hardly begun to preach, before they interrupted him, calling him liar and heretic. In an instant the whole a.s.sembly was in an uproar. The audience rose up, and called for silence. The duke hurried to the spot, seized both Farel and the superior, and ordered the latter either to prove or to retract his charges. The Franciscan adopted the last alternative, and an official account of the whole affair was published.[1013]

[1013] Der Christliche Handel zu Mumpelgard, verloffen mit grundlichen Wahrheit.

This attack excited Farel all the more; he thought it was now his duty to unmask without scruple those interested priests; and drawing the sword of the Word, he plied it vigorously. He was more inclined to imitate Jesus when he expelled the money-changers from the temple and overthrew their tables, than when the spirit of prophecy declared of him: _He shall neither strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets_. colampadius was affrighted. These two men were perfect types of two characters diametrically opposed to each other, and yet both worthy of admiration. "You were sent," wrote colampadius to Farel, "to draw men gently to the truth, and not to drag them with violence; to spread the Gospel, and not to curse them.

Physicians resort to amputation only when other means have failed. Act the part of a physician, and not of an executioner. It is not enough, in my opinion, to be gentle towards the friends of the Gospel; you must likewise gain over the adversaries. If the wolves are driven from the sheepfold, let the sheep at least hear the voice of the shepherd.

Pour oil and wine into the wounds, and conduct yourself as an evangelist, not as a judge or a tyrant."[1014]

[1014] Quod Evangelistam, non tyrannic.u.m legislatorem praestes.

col. Epp. p. 206.

[Sidenote: CONSPIRACY AGAINST TOUSSAINT.]

The report of these labours spread into France and Lorraine, and the Sorbonne and the Cardinal Guise were beginning to be alarmed at this meeting of refugees at Basle and Montbeliard. They would willingly have broken up a troublesome alliance; for error knows no greater triumph than when attracting some deserter to its standard. Already had Martial Mazurier and others given the papal party in France an opportunity of rejoicing over shameful defections; but if they could succeed in seducing one of these confessors of Christ, who had taken refuge on the banks of the Rhine, and who had suffered so much for the name of the Lord, how great would be the victory for the Roman hierarchy! They therefore planted their batteries, and the youngest of these refugees was the object of their attack.

The dean, the Cardinal of Lorraine, and all those who joined the crowded meetings held in this prelate's mansion, deplored the sad fate of Peter Toussaint, who had once promised so fair. He is at Basle, said they, in the house of colampadius, living with one of the leaders of this heresy! They wrote to him with fervour, and as if they would rescue him from eternal condemnation. These letters were the more painful to the young man, because he could not help recognising in them the marks of sincere affection.[1015] One of his relations, probably the dean himself, urged him to remove to Paris, to Metz, or to any other place in the world, provided it were far away from these Lutherans. This relation, bearing in mind all that Toussaint owed to him, doubted not that he would immediately comply; but when he found his efforts useless, his affection changed into violent hatred. At the same time this resistance exasperated the whole family and all his friends against the young refugee. They went to his mother, who was "under the power of the monks;"[1016] the priests crowded round her, frightening and persuading her that her son had committed crimes that they could not mention without shuddering. Upon this the afflicted mother wrote a touching letter to her son, "full of weeping" (said he), and in which she described her misery in heart-rending language.

"Oh! wretched mother!" said she, "Oh! unnatural son! cursed be the b.r.e.a.s.t.s that suckled thee, and the knees that bare thee!"[1017]

[1015] Me in dies divexari legendis amicorum literis qui me......ab inst.i.tuto remorari nituntur. Toussaint to Farel, 2d Sept. 1524, Neufchatel MS.

[1016] Jam capulo proxima. Neufchatel MS.

[1017] Literas ad me dedit plenas lacrymis quibus maledicit et uberibus quae me lactarunt, &c. Neufchatel MS.

[Sidenote: HE LEAVES COLAMPADIUS.]

The unhappy Toussaint was distracted: What should he do? He could not return into France. By leaving Basle and going to Zurich or Wittemberg, beyond the reach of his family, he would only add to their sorrow. colampadius advised a middle course: "Leave my house,"

said he.[1018] With a heart full of sadness, he adopted the suggestion, and went to live with an ignorant and obscure priest,[1019] one well adapted to rea.s.sure his relations. What a change for Toussaint! He never met his host save at meals, at which times they were continually discussing matters of faith; and as soon as the repast was over, Toussaint retired to his chamber, where alone, far from noise and controversy, he carefully studied the Word of G.o.d.

"The Lord is my witness," said he, "that in this valley of tears I have but one desire, that of seeing Christ's kingdom extended, so that all with one mouth may glorify G.o.d."[1020]

[1018] Visum est colampadio consultum......ut a se secederem.

Ibid.

[1019] Utor domo cujusdam sacrificuli. Ibid.

[1020] Ut Christi regnum quam latissime pateat. Ibid.

One circ.u.mstance occurred which consoled Toussaint. The enemies of the Gospel were daily growing stronger in Metz. At his entreaty, the Chevalier d'Esch departed in the month of January 1525, to encourage the evangelical Christians in this city. He traversed the forests of the Vosges, and reached the place where Leclerc had laid down his life, carrying with him several books with which Farel had provided him.[1021]

[1021] Qu'il s'en retourne a Metz, la ou les ennemis de Dieu s'elevent journellement contre l'Evangile. Toussaint to Farel, 17th Dec. 1524.

Ibid.

[Sidenote: A MESSAGE FROM DAUPHINY--IDOLATRY.]

It was not only to Lorraine that these Frenchmen turned their eyes.

The Chevalier de Coct received letters from one of Farel's brothers, depicting the state of Dauphiny in the gloomiest colours. He carefully avoided showing them lest he should alarm the weak-hearted, and was content with ardently seeking from G.o.d the support of his almighty hands.[1022] In December 1524, Peter Verrier, a Dauphinese messenger, arrived on horseback at Montbeliard with commissions for Anemond and Farel. The chevalier, with his usual vivacity, immediately resolved on returning to France. "If Peter has brought any money," wrote he to Farel, "keep it; if he has brought any letters, open and copy them, and then forward them to me. Do not, however, sell the horse, but take care of it, for perchance I may need it. I am inclined to enter France secretly, and go to Jacobus Faber (Lefevre) and Arandius. Write and tell me what you think of it."[1023]

[1022] Accepi ante horam a fratre tuo epistolam quam hic nulli manifestavi, terrerentur enim infirmi. Coct to Farel, 2d Sept. 1524.

[1023] Coct to Farel, Dec. 1525, Neufchatel MS.

Such was the confidence and open-heartedness that existed between these refugees. The one opened the other's letters, and received his money. It is true that de Coct was already indebted thirty-six crowns to Farel, whose purse was always open to his friends. There was more zeal than discretion in the chevalier's desire to re-enter France. He was of too imprudent a character not to expose himself to certain death. This Farel no doubt explained to him. He left Basle, and withdrew to a small town, where he had "great hopes of acquiring the German language, G.o.d willing."[1024]

[1024] Ibid. Jan. 1525.

Farel continued preaching the Gospel in Montbeliard. His soul was vexed as he beheld the majority of the people in this city entirely given up to the worship of images. It was, in his opinion, a revival of the old pagan idolatry.

[Sidenote: ST. ANTHONY THROWN INTO THE RIVER.]

Yet the exhortations of colampadius, and the fear of compromising the truth, would perhaps have long restrained him, but for an unforeseen circ.u.mstance. One day about the end of February (it was the feast of Saint Anthony) Farel was walking on the banks of a little river that runs through the city, beneath a lofty rock on which the citadel is built, when, on reaching the bridge, he met a procession, which was crossing it, reciting prayers to St. Anthony, and headed by two priests bearing the image of this saint. Farel suddenly found himself face to face with these superst.i.tions, without, however, having sought for them. A violent struggle took place in his soul.

Shall he give way? shall he hide himself? Would not this be a cowardly act of unbelief? These lifeless images, borne on the shoulders of ignorant priests, made his blood boil. Farel boldly advanced, s.n.a.t.c.hed the shrine of the holy hermit from the priest's arms, and threw it over the bridge into the river. And then, turning to the awe-stricken crowd, he exclaimed: "Poor idolaters, will ye never forsake your idolatry!"[1025]

[1025] Revue du Dauphine, ii. p. 38; Choupard MS.

The priests and people stood motionless with astonishment. A religious fear seemed to rivet them to the spot. But they soon recovered from their stupor. "The image is drowning," exclaimed one of the crowd; and transports and shouts of rage succeeded their death-like silence. The mult.i.tude would have rushed on the sacrilegious wretch who had just thrown the object of their adoration into the water. But Farel, we know not how, escaped their violence.[1026]

[1026] M. Kirchhofer, in his Life of Farel, gives this circ.u.mstance as an uncertain tradition; but it is related by Protestant writers, and it appears to me quite in harmony with Farel's character and the fears of colampadius. We must not be blind to the weaknesses of the reformers.

There is reason, we are aware, to regret that the reformer should have been hurried into the commission of an act that tended rather to check the progress of the truth. No one should think himself authorized to attack with violence any inst.i.tution sanctioned by the public authority. There is, however, in the zeal of the reformer something more n.o.ble than that cold prudence so common among men, which shrinks before the least danger, and fears to make the least sacrifice for the advancement of G.o.d's kingdom. Farel was not ignorant that by this proceeding he was exposing himself to the fate of Leclerc. But his own conscience bore witness that he desired only to promote the glory of G.o.d, and this made him superior to all fear.

[Sidenote: ANEMOND'S DEATH--STRASBURG.]

After this affair of the bridge, which is a characteristic feature in Farel's history, the reformer was obliged to hide himself, and he quitted the town soon after. He took refuge at Basle with colampadius; but ever preserved that attachment for Montbeliard which a servant of G.o.d never ceases to entertain for the first fruits of his ministry.[1027]

[1027] Ingens affectus, qui me cogit Mumpelgardum amare. Farelli Epp.

Sad tidings awaited Farel at Basle. If he was a fugitive, his friend Anemond de Coct was seriously ill. Farel immediately sent him four gold crowns; but a letter written by Oswald Myconius on the 25th of March, announced the death of the chevalier. "Let us so live," said Oswald, "that we may enter into that rest into which we hope the soul of Anemond has already entered."[1028]

[1028] Quo Anemundi spiritum jam pervenisse speramus. Myconius to Farel, Neufchatel MS.

Thus did Anemond descend to a premature grave; still young, full of activity and strength, willing to undertake every labour to evangelize France, and who was in himself a host. _G.o.d's ways are not our ways._ Not long before, and in the neighbourhood of Zurich, another chevalier, Ulrich Hutten, had breathed his last. There is some similarity in the characters of the German and French knights, but the piety and christian virtues of the Dauphinese place him far above the witty and intrepid enemy of the pope and of the monks.

Shortly after Anemond's death, Farel, unable to remain in Basle, whence he had been once banished, joined his friends Capito and Bucer at Strasburg.

[Sidenote: LAMBERT TO FRANCIS I.]

Strasburg, an imperial city, at whose head was Sturm, one of the most distinguished men in Germany, and which contained many celebrated doctors within its walls, was as it were an advanced post of the Reformation, thrown beyond the Rhine, and in which the persecuted Christians of France and Lorraine took refuge, and from whence they hoped to win these countries to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lambert's pious ambition was to become for France what Luther was for Germany, and accordingly he had no sooner reached Strasburg after quitting Metz, than he made his preparations, waiting for the moment when he should be enabled to carry the sword of the Gospel into the very heart of that country which he loved so tenderly.[1029]

[1029] Hic operior donec ad ipsos Metenses aut in aliquam urbem Galliae revoces. Ad Franc. Reg. Comment. in Cantic.

He first appealed to Francis I. "The pope," said he, "if he had his way, would change every king into a beggar. Lend your ear to the truth, most excellent prince, and G.o.d will make you great among the princes of the earth. Woe be to all the nations whose master is the pope. Oh, Avignon, city of my birth, art thou not the wretched daughter of Babylon? Given over to a legate, not of holiness, but of impiety and heresy;[1030] thou seest lewd sports, immodest dances, and adultery multiply within thy walls, and all around thy fields are laid waste by daily hunting parties, and thy poor labourers oppressed.

[1030] Ab haeresis et impietatis latere legatum. Epistola ad Francisc.u.m G. R. praef. Comm. de Sacra conjugis.

"O most christian king, thy people thirst for the Word of G.o.d." At the same time addressing the pope, he said, "Erelong that powerful France which thou are wont to call thy arm will separate from thee."[1031]

Such were Lambert's illusions!

[1031] Est autem in proximo ut aliena fiat a te potens Gallia quam brachium tuum appellare solebas. De Causis Excusationis, p. 76.

Finding that his epistle had produced no effect, he wrote a second in a still more earnest tone. "What!" said he, "the Arabians, Chaldeans, Greeks, and Jews possess the Word of G.o.d in their own language, and the French, Germans, Italians, and Spaniards cannot have it in theirs!