CHAPTER 19
ambassador, and called :upon them to contradict Noircarmes. This they did immediately. One of them, Matthew Reinhold, a man devoted to the Gospel ands clever diplomatist, arrived in Paris about the middle of April, 1531, and having been received by the king, attended by his lords and his bishops, he handed in a letter from the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and their allies. Francis opened it and appeared to read it with interest. ‘sire,’ wrote the princes, ‘a few monks (Tetzel and his
friends)having through avarice hawked their indulgences about the country to the dishonor of Christ and the ruin of souls, fd191 certain just and wise men have reproved them; the sun has risen upon the Church, and has brought tonight a world of scandals and errors. Help us, Sire, and use such means that these disputes may be settled, not by force of arms, but by a lawful judgment, which shall do no violence to the consciences of
christians.’ fd192
While Francis was reading this letter, the lords and prelates of his court eyed the Lutheran from head to foot. They Went up to him and asked the strangest questions. ‘Is it true,’ said a bishop, ‘that the women in your country have several husbands?’ — ‘All nonsense!’ replied the German envoy. To other questions he returned similar answers; the eagerness of the speakers increased, and the conversation was becoming animated, when the king, who had finished the letter, declared that he thought it very reasonable, and, to the great surprise of the court, smiled graciously upon Reinhold.’ fd193 A few days later (21st April) he gave the envoy an answer:
‘In order to heal the sores of the Christian republic,’ he said, ‘there must be a council; provided the Holy Ghost, who is the lord of truth, has the chief place in it.’ Then he added: ‘Do not fear the calumnies of your enemies.’ fd194 The first step was taken.
The grand idea of the counselors of Francis I., and of the king himself, was, at this time, to substitute for the old policy of France a new and more independent policy, which would protect it against the encroachments of the papacy. Melancthon was charmed at the king’s letter. ‘The Frenchman answered us in the most amiable manner,’ he said. fd195 A council guided by the Spirit of God was precisely what the German protestants demanded:
they thought themselves on the point of coming to an understanding with the King of France. This hope took possession of Margaret also, and of the powerful party in the royal council who thought, like her, that the
union of France, Germany, and England would lead to an internal and universal reform of christen. dom. The king, urged to form an alliance with the German princes, resolved to send an ambassador on his part, and selected for this mission one Gervais Waim. The choice was an unlucky one: Waim, a German by birth, but long resident in Paris, fd196 desired that everything in Germany should remain as he had left it. A blind partisan of the ancient state of things, he regarded any change as an outrage towards the German nation, and was full of prejudices against: the Reformation.
Accordingly, he had hardly arrived at Wittemberg (this was in the spring of 1531), when he sought every opportunity of gratifying his blind hatred.
He met with a grand reception; banquets and entertainments were given in his honor. One day there was a large party, at which Luther was present with his friends and many evangelical Christians, who were desirous of meeting the envoy of the King of France. The latter, instead of conciliating their minds, grew warm, and ex. claimed; ‘You have neither church nor magistrate nor marriage; every man does what he pleases, and all is confusion as among the brutes, The king my master knows it very well.’
fd197
On hearing this extravagant assertion, the company opened their eyes, Some got angry, others laughed, many despaired of ever coming to an understanding with Francis I. Melancthon changed his opinion entirely.
‘This man,’ he said, ‘is a great enemy of our cause… . The kings of the earth think of nothing but their own interest; and if Christ does not provide for the safety of the Church, all is lost.’ fd198 He never said a truer thing. Waim soon found that he had not been a good diplomatist, and that he ought not to have shocked the protestant sentiment; he therefore
confined himself to his duty, and his official communications were of more value than his private conversations. fd199 We shall see presently the
important steps taken by France towards an alliance with evangelical Germany.
Margaret, believing that the triumph of the good cause was not far off, determined to move forward a little. She had struck out of her prayer-book all the prayers addressed to the Virgin and to the saints. This she laid before the king’s confessor, William Petit, Bishop of Senlis, a courtier, and far from evangelical, though abounding in complaisance for the sister of his master. ‘Look here!’ she said; ‘I have cut out all the most superstitious portions of this book? fd200 — ‘Admirable!’ exclaimed the courtier; ‘I
should desire no other.’ The queen took the prelate at his word; ‘Translate it into French, she said, ‘and I will have it printed with your name.’ The courtier-bishop did not dare withdraw; he translated the book, the queen approved of it, and it appeared under the title of Heures de la Royne de Marguerite (‘Queen Margaret’s Prayer-book’). The Faculty of Divinity was angry about it, but they restrained themselves, not so much because:
it was the queen’s prayer-books as because the translator was a bishop and his Majesty’s confessor.
Nor did the Queen of Navarre stop here. There was at that time in Paris a cure, name Lecoq, whose preaching drew great crowds to St. Eustache.
Certain ladies of the court, who affected piety, never missed one of his sermons. ‘What eloquence!’ said they, speaking of Lecoq, one day when there was a reception at St. Germain; ‘what a striking voice! what a flow of words! what boldness of thought! what fervent piety!’ — ‘Your fine orator,’ said the king, who was listening to them, ‘is no doubt a Lutheran in disguise!’ — ‘Not at all, sire,’ said one of the ladies; ‘he often declaims against Luther, and says that we must not separate from the Church.’
Margaret asked her brother to judge for himself. ‘I will go,’ said Francis.
The cure was informed that on the following Sunday the king and all his court would come to hear his sermon. The priest was charmed at the information. He was a man of talent, and had received evangelical
impressions; only they were not deep, and the breath of favor might easily turn him from the right way. As this breath was just now blowing in the direction of the Gospel, he entered with all his heart into this conspiracy of the ladies, and began to prepare a discourse adapted, as he thought, to introduce the new light into the king’s mind.
When Sunday came, all the carriages of the court drew up before the church of St. Eustache, which the king entered, followed by Du Bellay, Bishop of Paris, and his attendant lords and ladies. The crowd was immense. the preacher went up into the pulpit, and everybody prepared to listen. At first the king observed nothing remarkable; but gradually the sermon grew warmer, and words full of life were heard. ‘The end of all visible things,’ said Lecoq, ‘is to lead us to invisible things. The bread which refreshes our body tells us that Jesus Christ is the life of our soul.
Seated at the right hand of God, Jesus lives by his Holy Spirit in the hearts of his disciples. Quae sursum sunt quaerite, says St. Paul, ubi Christus est
in dextera Dei sedens. Yes, seek those things which are above! Do not confine yourselves during mass to what is upon the altar; raise yourselves by faith to heaven, there to find the Son of God. After he has consecrated the elements, does not the priest cry out to the people: Sursum corda! lift up your hearts! These words signify: Here is the bread and here is the wine, but Jesus is in heaven. For this reason, Sire,’ continued Lecoq, boldly turning to the king, ‘if you wish to have Jesus Christ, do not look for him in the visible elements; soar to heaven on the wings of faith. It is by believing in Jesus Christ that we eat his flesh, says St. Augustin. If it were true that Christ must be touched with the hands and devoured by the teeth, fd201 we should not say sursum, upwards! but deorsum,
downwards! Sire, it is to heaven that I invite you. Hear the voice of the Lord: sursum corda, Sire, sursum corda!’ fd202 And the sonorous voice of the priest filled the whole church with these words, which he repeated with a tone of the sincerest conviction. All the congregation was moved, and even Francis admired the eloquence of the preacher. ‘What do you think of it?’ he asked Du Bellay as they were leaving the church. — ‘he may be right,’ answered the bishop of Paris, who was not opposed to a moderate reform, and who was married. — ‘I have a great mind to see this priest again,’ said the king. — ‘Nothing can be easier,’ replied Du Bellay.
Precautions, however, were taken that this interview should be concealed from everybody. The curb disguised himself and was introduced secretly into the king’s private cabinet. fd203 ‘Leave us to ourselves,’ said Francis to the bishop. ‘Monsieur le cure,’ continued he, ‘have the goodness to
explain what you said about the sacrament of the altar.’ Lecoq showed that a spiritual union with Christ could alone be of use to the soul.
‘Indeed!’ said Francis; ‘you raise strange scruples in my mind.’ fd204 This encouraged the priest, who, charmed with his success, brought forward r other articles of faith. fd205 His zeal spoilt everything; it was too much for the king, who began to think that the priest might be a heretic after all, and ordered him to be examined by a Romish doctor. ‘He is an arch-heretic,’
said the inquisitor, after the examination. ‘With your Majesty’s
permission! will keep him locked up.’ The king, who did not mean to go so far, ordered Lecoq ‘to be set at liberty, and to be admitted to prove his assertions by the testimony of Holy Scripture.’
Upon this the Cardinals of Lorraine and Tournon, ‘awakened by the crowing of the cock,’ fd206 arranged a conference. On one side was the suspected priest, on the other some of the most learned doctors, and the two cardinals presided as arbiters of the discussion. Tournon was one of the ablest men of this period, and a most implacable enemy of the Reformation; in later years he was the persecutor of the Waldenses, and the introducer of the Jesuits into France. The discussion began. ‘Whoever thought,’ said the doctors of the Sorbonne to Lecoq, ‘that these words sursum corda mean that the bread remains bread? No; they signify that your heart should soar to heaven in order that the Lord. may descend upon the altar.’ Lecoq showed that the Spirit alone gives life; he spoke of
Scripture; but Tournon, who had been the means of making more than one pope, and had himself received votes for his own election to the papacy, exclaimed in a style that the popes are fond of using: ‘The Church has spoken; submit to her decrees. If you reject the authority of the Church, you sail without a compass, driven by the winds to your destruction.
Delay not!… Save yourself! Down with the yards and furl the sails, lest your vessel strike upon the rocks of error, and you suffer an eternal shipwreck.’ fd207 The cardinals and doctors surrounded Lecoq and pressed him on every side. Here a theologian fell upon him, with his elaborate scholastic proofs; there an abbe shouted in his ears; and the cardinals threw the, weight of their dignity into the scales. The cure of St. Eustache was tossed to and fro in indecision. He had: come small :taste for the Gospel, but he loved the world and its honors more. They frightened and soothed him by turns, and at last he retracted what he had preached. Lecoq had none of the qualities of a martyr: he was rather one of those weak minds who furnished backsliders to the primitive Church.
Happily there were in France firmer Christian’s than he. While, in the world of politics, diplomatists were crossing and recrossing the Rhine;
while, in the world of Roman, Catholicism, the most eloquent men were becoming faithless to their convictions: there were Christian men in the evangelical world, among those whose faith had laid hold, of redemption, who sacrificed their lives that they might remain faithful to the Lord who had redeemed them. :It was a mason when the most contrary movements were going on.
Toulouse, in olden times the sanctuary of Gallic paganism, was at this period filled with images, relics, and ‘other instruments of Romish idolatry? The religion of the people was a religion of the eye and 6f the ear, of the hands and of the knees — in short, a religion of externals; while within, the conscience, the will, and the understanding slept a deep sleep.
The parliament, surnamed ‘the bloody,’ was the docile instrument of the fanaticism of the priests. They said to their officers: ‘Keep an eye upon the heretics. If any man does not lift his cap before an image, he is a heretic. If any man, when he hears the Ave Maria bell, does not bend the knee, he is a heretic. If any man takes pleasure in the ancient languages and polite learning, he is a heretic. … Do not delay to inform against such persons… The parliament will condemn them, and the stake shall rid us of them.’ fd208
A celebrated Italian had left his country and settled at Agen. Julius Caesar della Scala, better known by the name of Scaliger, belonged to one of the oldest families of his native country, and on account of the universality of his knowledge, many persons considered him the greatest man that had ever appeared in the world. Scaliger did not embrace the reformed faith, as his son did, but he imported a love of learning, particularly of Greek, to the banks of the Garonne.
The licentiate Jean de Caturce, a professor of laws in the university, and a native of Limoux, having learnt Greek, procured a New Testament and studied it. Being a man of large understanding, of facile eloquence, and above all of thoughtful sour, he found Christ the Savior, Christ the Lord, Christ the life eternal, and adored him. Erelong Christ transformed him, and he became a new man. Then the Pandects lost their charm, and he discovered in the Holy Scriptures a divine life and light which enraptured him. He meditated on them day and night. He was consumed by an ardent desire to visit his birthplace and preach the Savior whom he loved and who dwelt in his heart. Accordingly he set out for Limoux, which is not far from Toulouse, and on All Saints’ day, 1531, delivered ‘an exhortation’
there. He resolved to return at the Epiphany, for every year on that day there was a great concourse of people for the festival, and he wished to take advantage of it by openly proclaiming Jesus Christ.
Everything had been prepared for the festival. fd209 On the eve of Epiphany there was usually a grand supper, at which, according to custom, the king of the feast was proclaimed after which there was shouting and joking, singing and dancing. Caturce was determined to take part in the festival, but in such a way that it should not pass off in the usual manner. When the services of the day in honor of the three kings of the East were over, the company sat down to table: they drank the wine of the south, and at last the cake was brought in. One of the guests found the bean, the gaiety increased, and they were about to celebrate the new royalty by the ordinary toast: the king drinks! when Caturce stood up.
‘There, is only one king,’ he said, ‘and Jesus Christ is he. It is not enough for his name to flit through our brains — he must dwell in our hearts. He, who has Christ in him wants for nothing. Instead then of shouting the king drinks, let us say this night: May Christ, the true king, reign in all our hearts!’ fd210
The professor of Toulouse was much esteemed’ in his native town, and many of his acquaintances already loved the Gospel The lips that were ready to shout the king drinks were dumb, and many sympathized, at least by their silence, with the new ‘toast’ which he proposed to them, Caturce continued: ‘My friends, I propose that after supper, instead of loose talk, dances, and revelry, each of us shall bring forward in his turn one passage of Holy Scripture.’ The proposal was accepted, and the noisy supper was changed into an orderly Christian assembly. First one man repeated some passage that had struck him, then another did the same; but Caturce, says the chronicle, ‘entered deeper into the matter than the rest of the company,’ contending that Jesus Christ ought to sit on the throne of our hearts. The professor returned to the university.
This Twelfth-night supper produced so great a sensation, that a report was made of it, at Toulouse. The officers of justice apprehended the licentiate in the midst of his books and his lessons, and brought him before the court. ‘Your worships,’ he said, ‘I am willing to maintain what I have at heart, but let my opponents be learned men with their books, who will prove what they advance. I should wish each point to be decided without wandering talk.’ The discussion began; but the most learned theologians were opposed to him in vain, for the licentiate, who had the Divine Word with him, answered ‘promptly, pertinently, and with much power,