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=CHARLES SLANDERS THE PROTESTANTS.=

THE royal trio was now broken up. Margaret, knowing well that her mother had always influenced her brother in favour of popery, hoped to profit by an event that had cost her so many tears, and immediately attempted to incline her brother to the side of the Reform. But there were other influences at work at court: the Sorbonne, the bishops, Montmorency, and even the emperor endeavoured to set Francis against the evangelicals. Charles V. especially desired to take advantage of the alliance which drew him closer to France, in order to turn its sovereign against Luther. His envoy, Noircarmes, had very positive instructions on this point. One day, when this ambassador had gone to present his homage to the king, they had a long conversation together, and Noircarmes gave utterance to all the usual calumnies against the Reformation. Francis did not know what answer to make, but fixed the diplomatist's accusations in his memory, with the intention of repeating them to his sister. He paid her a visit, while still in a state of excitement. 'Madame,' said he angrily, 'do you know that your friends the protestants preach the community of goods, the nullity of the marriage tie, and the subversion of thrones? Noircarmes says that if I do not destroy Lutheranism, my crown will be in danger.'189 To justify the innocent was one of the tasks which the Queen of Navarre had imposed upon herself. 'Sire,' she said to the king, 'the reformers are righteous, learned, peaceful men, who have no other love than that of truth, no other aim than the glory of God, and no other thought than to banish superstition and to correct morals.' The Queen of Navarre was so gracious, so true, so eloquent, that the king left her completely changed—at least for the day.190 But it was not long before perfidious insinuations again roused his anger.

=REINHOLD AND THE COURTIERS.=

Margaret, either by her own hand or through her agents, informed the protestants of Germany of the charges brought against them by Charles's ambassador, and called upon them to contradict Noircarmes. This they did immediately. One of them, Matthew Reinhold, a man devoted to the Gospel and a 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 dishonour of Christ and the ruin of souls,191 certain just and wise men have reproved them; the sun has risen upon the Church, and has brought to light 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.'192

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.193 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.'194 The first step was taken.

The grand idea of the counsellors 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. Melanchthon was charmed at the king's letter. 'The Frenchman answered us in the most amiable manner,' he said.195 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 christendom. 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,196 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 honour. 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 exclaimed: '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.'197 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. Melanchthon 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.'198 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.199 We shall see presently the important steps taken by France towards an alliance with evangelical Germany.

=IMPRUDENCE OF THE FRENCH DEPUTY.=

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.'200 —'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 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-book, as because the translator was a bishop and his Majesty's confessor.

=LECOQ'S SERMON BEFORE THE KING.=

Nor did the Queen of Navarre stop here. There was at that time in Paris a curé, named 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 curé 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 favour 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. Quæ sursum sunt quærite, 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,201 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!'202 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.

=FALL OF LECOQ.=

Precautions, however, were taken that this interview should be concealed from everybody. The curé disguised himself and was introduced secretly into the king's private cabinet.203 'Leave us to ourselves,' said Francis to the bishop.—'Monsieur le curé,' 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.'204 This encouraged the priest, who, charmed with his success, brought forward other articles of faith.205 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 I 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,'206 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.'207 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 abbé shouted in his ears; and the cardinals threw the weight of their dignity into the scales. The curé of St. Eustache was tossed to and fro in indecision. He had some small taste for the Gospel, but he loved the world and its honours 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 christians 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 season 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 of 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.'208

A celebrated Italian had left his country and settled at Agen. Julius Cesar 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.

=CATURCE AT TOULOUSE.=

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 soul, he found Christ the Saviour, 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 Saviour 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.

=THE TWELFTH-NIGHT SUPPER.=

Everything had been prepared for the festival.209 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 honour 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!'210

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 sympathised, 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 within him, answered 'promptly, pertinently, and with much power, quoting immediately the passages of Scripture which best served his purpose,' says the chronicle. The doctors were silenced, and the professor was taken back to prison.211

The judges were greatly embarrassed. One of them visited the heretic in his dungeon, to see if he could not be shaken. 'Master Caturce,' said he, 'we offer to set you at full liberty, on condition that you will first retract only three points, in a lecture which you will give in the schools.' The chronicler does not tell us what these three points were. The licentiate's friends entreated him to consent, and for a moment he hesitated, only to regain his firmness immediately after. 'It is a snare of the Evil one,' he replied. Notwithstanding this, his friends laid a form of recantation before him, and when he had rejected it, they brought him another still more skilfully drawn up. But 'the Lord strengthened him so that he thrust all these papers away from him.' His friends withdrew in dismay. He was declared a heretic, condemned to be burnt alive, and taken to the square of St. Etienne.

Here an immense crowd had assembled, especially of students of the university who were anxious to witness the degradation of so esteemed a professor. The 'mystery' lasted three hours, and they were three hours of triumph for the Word of God. Never had Caturce spoken with greater freedom. In answer to everything that was said, he brought some passage of Scripture 'very pertinent to reprove the stupidity of his judges before the scholars.' His academical robes were taken off, the costume of a merry-andrew was put on him, and then another scene began.

=THE DOMINICAN SILENCED.=

A Dominican monk, wearing a white robe and scapulary, with a black cloak and pointed cap, made his way through the crowd, and ascended a little wooden pulpit which had been set up in the middle of the square. This by no means learned individual assumed an important air, for he had been commissioned to deliver what was called 'the sermon of the catholic faith.' In a voice that was heard all over the square, he read his text: The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.212 The monks were delighted with a text which appeared so suitable; but Caturce, who almost knew his Testament by heart, perceiving that, according to their custom of distorting Scripture, he had only taken a fragment (lopin) of the passage, cried out with a clear voice: 'Read on.' The Dominican, who felt alarmed, stopped short, upon which Caturce himself completed the passage: Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe. The monks were confounded; the students and other friends of the licentiate smiled. 'We know them,' continued the energetic professor, 'these deceivers of the people, who, instead of the doctrine of faith, feed them with trash. In God's service there is no question of fish or of flesh, of black or of grey, of Wednesday or Friday.... It is nothing but foolish superstition which requires celibacy and abstaining from meats. Such are not the commandments of God.' The Dominican in his pulpit listened with astonishment; the prisoner was preaching in the midst of the officers of justice, and the students heard him 'with great favour.' The poor Dominican, ashamed of his folly, left his sermon unpreached.

After this the martyr was led back to the court, where sentence of death was pronounced upon him. Caturce surveyed his judges with indignation, and, as he left the tribunal, exclaimed in Latin: 'Thou seat of iniquity! Thou court of injustice!' He was now led to the scaffold, and at the stake continued exhorting the people to know Jesus Christ. 'It is impossible to calculate the great fruit wrought by his death,' says the chronicle, 'especially among the students then at the university of Toulouse,' that is to say, in the year 1532.213

Certain preachers, however, who had taught the new doctrine, backslided deplorably at this time, and checked the progress of the Word in the south; among them were the prothonotary of Armagnac, the cordelier Des Noces, as well as his companion the youthful Melchior Flavin, 'a furious hypocrite,' as Beza calls him. One of those who had received in their hearts the fire that warmed the energetic Caturce, held firm to the truth, even in the presence of the stake: he was a grey friar named Marcii. Having performed 'wonders' by his preaching in Rouergue, he was taken to Toulouse, and there sealed with his blood the doctrines he had so faithfully proclaimed.214

=TWO MODES OF REFORMATION.=

We must soon turn to that external reformation imagined by some of the king's advisers, under the inspiration of the Queen of Navarre, and by certain German protestants who, under the influence of motives partly religious, partly political, proposed to reform Christendom by means of a council, without doing away with the Romish episcopate. But we must first return to that humble and powerful teacher, the noble representative of a scriptural and living reformation, who, while urging the necessity of a spiritual unity, set in the foremost rank the imprescriptible rights of truth.

189 Seckendorf, pp. 1170, 1171.

190 'Fratris iras pro viribus moderavit.'—Bezæ Icones.

191 'Propter quæstum, cum contumelia Christi et cum periculo animarum.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 472.

192 Sleidan, ch. viii.

193 'Ihm eine gnädige Mine gemacht.'—Seckendorf, p. 118.

194 Sleidan, ch. viii. p. 232.

195 'Gallus rescripsit humanissime.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 503.

196 Du Bellay, Mémoires, iv. p. 167.

197 'Sondern gienge alles unter einander wie das Viehe.—Schelhorn, p. 289.

198 'Illi reges sua agunt negotia.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 518.

199 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 167.

200 Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 8.

201 'Corpus et sanguinem Domini, in veritate, manibus sacerdotum tractari, frangi, et fidelium dentibus atteri.' (The formula which Pope Nicholas exacted of Bérenger.)—Lanfranc, De Euchar. cap. v.

202 'Speciebus illis nequaquam adhærendum, sed fidei alis ad cœlos evolandum esse. Illud subinde repetens: Sursum corda! sursum corda!'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie, ii. p. 225. See also Maimbourg, Calvinisme, pp. 22-24.

203 'Bellaii opera, Gallus hic in secretiorem locum vocatus.'-Flor. Rémond, ii. p. 225.

204 'Regi scrupulos non leves injecit.'—Ibid.

205 'Idem de aliis quoque fidei articulis.'—Ibid.

206 A play upon the priest's name, both in French and in Latin. 'Lotharingus et Turnonius cardinales Galli hujus cantu excitati.'—Flor. Rémond, ii. p. 225.

207 'Antennas dimittite ac vela colligite, ne ad errorum scopulos illisa navi æternæ salutis naufragium faciatis.'—Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie, ii. p. 225.

208 Théod. de Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 7.

209 This jour des Rois corresponds with our Twelfth day.

210 Théod. de Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 7. Crespin, Martyrologue, fol. 106.

211 Théod. de Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 7. Crespin, Martyrologue, fol. 106.

212 1 Timothy iv. 1.

213 Théod. de Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 7. Crespin, Martyrologue, fol. 106.

214 Ibid.