Читать книгу History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8) - J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - Страница 121

'Beware! ... it is to be feared that, under the pretext of uniting with us, the heretics are conspiring to lead the people astray.... Have we not seen such assemblies in Germany, called together on a pretence of concord, produce nothing but divisions, discord, and infinite ruin of souls?'691

But the Sorbonne warned the king in vain. Francis at this time, through policy no doubt, was opposed to the doctrines maintained by the priests. He desired to be freed at home from that papal supremacy which presumed to direct the policy and religion of his kingdom; and abroad he knew that a league with England and Germany could alone destroy the overwhelming preponderance of Charles V. And hence the meetings of the Sorbonne grew more and more agitated; the doctors repeated to one another all the alarming reports they had heard; there was sorrow and anger; never, they thought, had Roman-catholicism in France been threatened with such terrible danger. It was no longer a few obscure sects; no longer a Brueys, a Henry of Lausanne, a Valdo, Albigenses, or Waldenses, who attacked the Church: no! powerful states, Germany and England, were separating from the papacy, and the absolute monarch of France was endeavouring to introduce revolutionary principles into his kingdom. The Church, as its Head had once been, was deserted by its friends. The grandees who were subsequently to form a league around the Guises, were silent now; the rough and powerful Montmorency himself seemed dumb; and, accordingly, agitation and alarm prevailed in the corporation. Certain ultramontane fanatics proposed petitioning the king to put down heresy by force, and to uphold the Roman dogmas by fire and sword. More moderate catholics, observing with sorrow the catholicity so dear to them rent by schism, sought for more rational means of restoring the unity destroyed by the Reformation. Everybody saw clearly that the enemy was at the gate, and that no time must be lost in closing it.

=DANGER OF CATHOLICISM.=

Alas! they had to deal with others besides heretics. All reflecting minds in Europe, and especially in France, were struck with the example set by the King of England, and the members of the Roman party thought that Francis was about to adopt the same course in his kingdom. There was indeed a difference between the systems of these two princes. Henry desired the doctrine of Rome, but not its bishop; Francis accepted the bishop, but rejected the doctrine. Nevertheless, as each of these reforms was a heavy blow aimed at the system of the middle ages, they were looked upon as identical. The success which Henry's plan had met with in England was an indication of what Francis's plan would meet with in France. The two monarchs who reigned on each side of the Channel were equally absolute.

The Roman doctors, finding that their controversy had not succeeded, resolved to go to work in a more cunning way, and, without seeming to reject a union with Germany, to oppose the heretics by putting them out of court. 'Sire,' they said to Francis, 'your very humble servants and most obedient subjects of the Faculty of Theology pray you to ask the Germans whether they confess that the Church militant, whose head (under Jesus) is Peter and his successors, is infallible in faith and morals? whether they agree to obey him as his subjects, and are willing to admit all the books contained in the Bible,692 as well as the decisions of the councils, popes, and doctors?'693 Obedience to the pope and to tradition, without discussing doctrines, was their summary of the controversy. It did not succeed.

=SHOULD KINGS FEAR PROTESTANTISM?=

The doctors of the faculty, finding that the king would not aid them, applied to the papal nuncio. They found him also a prey to fear. They began to consult together on the best means of keeping France in communion with the holy see. As Francis was deaf to theological arguments, the Sorbonne and the nuncio agreed that some other means must be used. The prelate went to the Louvre, carrying with him a suggestion which the Sorbonne had prompted. 'Sire,' he said, 'be not deceived. The protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order.... The throne is in as much danger as the altar.... The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government.'694

That was indeed the best way of treating the affair; the nuncio had found the joint in the armour, and the king was for a moment staggered; but the pope's conduct restored his confidence. Rome began to proceed against Henry VIII. as she had formerly done against kings in the middle ages. This proceeding, so offensive to the royal dignity, drew Francis towards the Reformation. If there is danger towards royal power, it exists on both sides, he thought. He believed even that the danger was greater on the side of Rome than of Germany, since the protestants of that country showed their princes the most loyal submission, and the most religious and profound respect. He had observed, that while the pope desired to deprive the King of England of his states and release his subjects from their obedience, the reformation which that prince had carried out had not prejudiced one of his rights; that there was a talk, indeed, of insurrections against Henry VIII., but they were got up by Rome and her agents. Enlightened men suggested to Francis, that while popery kept the people in slavery, and caused insurrection and rebellion against the throne, the Reformation would secure order and obedience to kings, and liberty to the people. He seems to have been convinced ... for the moment at least. 'England and I,' he said, 'are accustomed to keep together and to manage our affairs in harmony with each other, and we shall continue to do so.'695

This new movement on the part of Francis emboldened the evangelicals. They hoped that he would go on to the end, and would not leave the pope even the little place which he intended to reserve for him. If a prince like Louis IX. maintained the rights of the Gallican Church in the thirteenth century; if a king like Charles VII. restored ecclesiastical liberty in the fifteenth; shall we not see in this universal revival of the sixteenth century a monarch like Francis I. emancipating France from the Roman yoke? At a great sacrifice he has just done much for Wurtemberg, and will he do nothing for his own kingdom? The friends of the Reformation encouraged one another to entertain the brightest hopes. 'What a noble position!' they said.696 Whenever they met, whether in the university, in the country, or in the town, they exchanged congratulations.697 In their opinion, old things had passed away.

=UNEASINESS OF THE REFORMERS.=

But there were other evangelicals—men more decided and more scriptural—who looked with a distrustful eye upon these mysterious conferences between Francis and the protestants of Germany. Those fine speeches of Du Bellay, and that remarkable conference at Bar-le-Duc, were in their eyes policy and diplomacy, but not religion. They felt uneasy and alarmed; and when they met to pray in their obscure conventicles, these humble christians said to one another with terror: 'Satan is casting his net to catch those who are not on the watch. Let us examine the colours in which he is disguised.' Astonished and even distressed, they asked if it was not strange to assert, as Melanchthon had done, 'that no good man would protest against the monarchy of the Roman bishop,698 and that, in consideration of certain reforms, we should hasten to recognise him!' No, the Roman episcopate will never be reformed, they said. Remodel it as you like, it will always betray its domineering spirit, revive its ancient tricks, and regain its ascendency, even by fire. We must be on our guard.... Between Rome and the Reformation it is a matter of mere yes or no: the pope or Jesus Christ! Unable to conquer the new Church in fair fight, they hope to strangle it in their embraces. Delilah will lull to sleep in her lap the prophet whom the strong men have been unable to bind with green withes and new ropes. Under the pretence of screening the Reform from evil influences, they desire to set it, like a flower of the field, in some place without light and air, where, fading and pining away ... it will perish. Thanks to the protection of the Queen of Navarre, the gallant and high-spirited charger that loved to sport in the meadows is about to be taken to the king's stable, where it will be adorned with a magnificent harness ... but its mouth will be deformed by the bit, its flanks torn by the spur, and even the plaits of its mane will bear witness to its degradation.

This future was not reserved for the Reform. While the mild and prudent voices of Melanchthon and Bucer were soothing it to sleep, innocently enough no doubt, bolder and freer voices, those of a Farel and a Calvin, were preparing to arouse it. While the papers of the conciliating theologians were lying on the velvet cover of the royal table, another paper, whose lines of fire seemed penned by the thunderbolt, was about to circulate through the kingdom, and be posted even at the door of the king's chamber by a too daring hand, which was to arouse in that prince one of the most terrible bursts of passion ever recorded in history. A loud peal of thunder would be heard, and the heavy atmosphere which stifled men's minds would be followed by a pure and reviving air. There would be furious tempests; but the christians of the scriptural, practical, and radical Reformation rejoiced at witnessing the failure of this specious but impossible project, which aimed at reforming the Church even while preserving Roman-catholicism. The system of the Queen of Navarre will have to be abandoned; that of Calvin will prevail. To uphold truth, the evangelicals were about to sacrifice unity. No doubt furious persecutions would be the consequence, but they said to each other that it was better to live in the midst of hurricanes that awaken, than in mephitic vapours which lull men into the sleep of death.

We shall describe hereafter the event which had so notable an influence on the destinies of the Reformation in France. They were Frenchmen who caused it; it was a Frenchman who was the principal author; but it was from Switzerland, as we shall see, that this formidable blow was to come, and to that country we must now return.

655 'Dadurch Ich in gute Hoffnung kommen die Sachen sollten auf gute Wege gerichtet werden.' This German translation of the king's letter is given in the Corp. Ref. ii. pp. 828-835.

656 'Rex suus cognoscit nunc errorem suum in religione.'—Lanz, Correspondance de l'Empereur Charles-Quint, ii. p. 144.

657 'Quod isti Germani Lutherum sequentes de Christo et de fide illius recte sentiant.'—Ibid.

658 'Fuerunt illi (Melanchthonis articuli) a quamplurimis in Gallia excerpti, sed non integri verum mutilati.'—Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. renov. iv. p. 124.

659 This memoir is printed in the Corpus Reformatorum, ii. pp. 765-775; and while Melanchthon's is entitled Consilium Gallis Scriptum, this is headed Idem Scriptum a Gallis editum.

660 'Qua de re Melanchthon ipse conqueritur.'—Gerdesius, iv. p. 124.

661 'Eosdem articulos Romam misisse dicitur, quo pontificis ipsius quoque impetraret vel emendationem vel consensum.'—Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. renov. iv. p. 124.

662 D'Argentré, De novis Erroribus, i. p. 3553. Gerdesius, iv. App. xiii.

663 Letter from the Faculty of Theology to Francis I. D'Argentré, i. p. 3953. Gerdesius, iv. App. xiii.

664 D'Argentré, i. p. 3953. Gerdesius, iv. App. xiii.

665 Gerdesius, i. App. xiii. p. 75.

666 'Necessarium ut in Christum omnes spectemus.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, Corp. Ref. ii. p. 765.

667 Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum ad Regem Franciscum, D'Argentré, i. p. 3953.—Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 75.

668 'Nec geramus alterutri gladiatorios animos nostra mordicus defendendi.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, Corp. Ref. ii. p. 765.

669 Facultatis Theol. Paris. Resp. ad Regem. Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 75.

670 'Ut consulat conscientiis, aliquando concedere relaxationem.'-Scriptum a Gallis editum, Corp. Ref. ii. p. 766.

671 'Jure divino institutam, quæ usque ad consummationem sæculi perduratura est.'—Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 78.

672 'Quæ tamen nemo observat, atque hi minime omnium qui præcipiunt.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 767.

673 D'Argentré, i. p. 397. Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 79.

674 'Pia mortuorum facta prosopopœia ... quasi præsentes a præsentibus orasse.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, Corp. Ref. ii. p. 768.

675 'Qui et velit invocari et velit exaudire.'—Ibid.

676 'Videbimus nos minime abesse a superstitione Ethnicorum.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, Corp. Ref. ii. p. 768.

677 'Statuas et imagines sanctorum quas adorandas sept. œcum. synodus decernit.'—Facultatis Theol. Paris. Resp.

678 'Viva membrorum Christi communione.'—Scriptum a Gallis ed. Corp. Ref. ii. p. 769.

679 'Semotis his missarum conducticiis nundinatoribus.'—Ibid.

680 'Præpostera ejus operis fiducia quæ plerosque sic seduxit.'—Ibid.

681 'Vocari non debent nundinatores.'—Facult. Theol. Paris Resp.

682 'Sublatis quæ inter nos diu viguerunt altercationibus.'—Script. a Gallis ed., Corp. Ref. ii. p. 770.

683 'Præsente urso, quod dicitur, vestigia non quæramus.'—Ibid.

684 'Theologiam sic tractemus ut non incidamus in matæologiam.'—Ibid.

685 'Utile et necessarium certa verborum forma uti, in sacra scriptura non expressa.'—Facult. Theol. Paris. Resp. p. 82.

686 'Non petunt boni ut monasteria deleantur, sed ut sint scholæ.'—Script. a Gallis ed., Corp. Ref. ii. p. 773.

687 Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum. Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. renov. p. 76.

688 'In tanta sacerdotum et monachorum turba restitui aliter vitæ puritas non poterit.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, Corpus Reformatorum, ii. p. 774.

689 'Hoc fermentato sæculo.'—Ibid.

690 'Perfacile autem coalescere possumus.'—Ibid.

691 Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum. Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. renov. p. 77.

692 Including the apocryphal books.

693 Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum. Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. renov. iv. App. p. 77.

694 Du Bellay, Mémoires, ed. Petitot, Introd. p. 123. Schmidt, Hist. Theol. p. 36 (ed. 1850).

695 'England und Ich pflegen zusammen zu halten und sämmtlich unsere Sachen vornehmen.'—Rex Galliæ ad principes protest. Corp. Ref. ii. p. 830.

696 'Quam pulchre staremus.'—Sturm to Melanchthon, MS.

697 Ibid.

698 'Neque bonus ullus erit, qui reclamet in pontificis monarchiam.—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 762.