EXTENSION OF THE REFORM IN THE PAYS DE VAUD.
(END OF 1536.)
The assembly of Lausanne was a great event for the Vaudois; it was
talked of in every village. Berne, by her ordinance, ‘that all priests,
monks, and other people of the Church, whatever they might be, should
appear,’ had awakened universal attention. While there was one great
disputation at Lausanne, there were many little ones in the towns and
villages. They discussed the _pros_ and the _cons_, and they wondered
whether the priests on their return would be converted to the _new
faith_ or not. At Lausanne itself, hardly had a session closed, and
the crowd passed out of the doors of the beautiful cathedral, than the
debates were renewed in the streets and in private houses.
[Sidenote: RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE.]
The results of the conference were not long in showing themselves.
Some, like the Cordelier Tandy, owned themselves convinced, took the
side of the Reformation, and became in their turn its missionaries.
Ministers and laymen were seen traversing all the land, reporting the
discussions, showing that the evangelical religion is indeed the true,
and intensifying the universal excitement. The two deputies sent by
the parish of Villette, Sordet and Clavel, were so much impressed by
the truths expounded by Farel and his friends, that they took Viret
back with them to Cully, that he might preach there. The whole country,
indeed, was not converted, but the light was penetrating from place to
place, even into the remotest corners. Not only was there the bright
flame in those fair regions, but there was also the warmth, which was
further diffused than the light, quickening and transforming hearts.
At Lausanne itself the first effect of the disputation was remarkable,
and showed clearly that morals were quite as much as doctrine the
business of the Reformation, and that they were possibly its most
distinctive characteristic. Only two days after the close of the
disputation, on October 10, the council, very much engrossed by the
great event which had just taken place, resolved ‘to destroy once
for all the houses of ill-fame which existed in the town,’ to drive
away the foul women who lived in them, as well as all others who were
known to be leading an evil life. On Thursday, October 12, the order
given to those ‘unfortunates’ to quit the city and the bailiwick was
published with sound of trumpet in all the streets.[414] It has been
said that morals are the science of man.[415] The Lausannese edileship
thought that they were especially the science of the magistrate.
Those discussions, in which justification by faith had been the chief
subject in question, had for their first consequence works of Christian
morality. This proceeding of the magistrates gave great joy to those
who had taken part in the disputation. They saw in it the apology for
their doctrine. ‘When justification by faith is spoken of,’ remarks
one of them,[416] ‘the mind of man takes the matter the wrong way,
and is shocked, like a ship which, instead of keeping to the right
course marked out for it, drives on to strike first on one rock then
on another. The death of Christ is efficacious for extinguishing the
evil of our flesh, and his resurrection for originating in us a new
condition of better nature.’
The people drew from the disputation another consequence. The most
ardent even of the reformers had, while the debates lasted, tolerated
the images in the cathedral. Viret had shown that God prohibited
them, and that they turn men away from the true service of God. ‘The
priests,’ he had said, ‘for their convenience set in their own place
preachers of wood and of stone, the images, arraying them in rich
garments at the cost of the poor. And as for themselves, they sleep,
they make good cheer, and are free from care. These images are their
vicars, they do their work, and they cost nothing to feed. And the poor
people are stupefied and kiss the wood and the stone.’[417] No one had
answered Viret. It was in vain that the defenders of images had been
invited to come forward; not one appeared. For the reformed it seemed
therefore a legitimate course to remove them from the cathedral. A
sinister rumor of this project alarmed the canons, and they resolved to
do their utmost to resist the impious proceeding. They took the keys
of the cathedral and, running to the sacred edifice, closed the doors
that no one might be able to carry off the objects of their veneration.
In spite of all their precautions one of the images was removed. The
fact was immediately noised over the town. The most grievous blow had
just fallen on our great Lady of Lausanne! The reformed honored the
mother of the Saviour as a blessed woman, but they refused to make a
goddess of her. The clamor and threats of the priests recalled to mind
the cries of the worshippers of Diana at Ephesus, spoken of in the Acts
of the Apostles, who said, ‘The temple of the great goddess Diana is
in danger of being despised and her magnificence of being destroyed,
whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.’[418] The canons not feeling
themselves strong enough for the occasion, betook themselves to the
council, gave up to them the keys of the cathedral, and implored them
to protect the building and what it contained.[419] But the reformed,
who earnestly longed to see worship given to God alone, turned their
back on those figures of wood and stone:
Dès maintenant, trompeuse idole,
D’un culte honteux et frivole,
Nous n’entourons plus tes autels.
[Sidenote: BERNESE ORDINANCES.]
It was the intention of the authorities to oppose the arbitrary removal
of images by private persons. But these same authorities lost no time
in suppressing them by their own act throughout the country. A few days
later, Thursday, October 19, the chief magistrate and the councillors
of Berne addressed all their trusty subjects of Vaud, and announced
to them by proclamation that being bound to govern them not only by
means of ‘corporal and outward ordinances, but also by exercising all
diligence to see that they walked according to the will of God, in
the true and living faith which brings forth good works; considering
that the ten conclusions which had been discussed at Lausanne were
based on Holy Scripture, they enjoined everyone to abstain from all
papistical ceremonies, sacrifices, and institutions; to cast down
all images and idols, as well as the altars, and this in an orderly
manner without disturbance; to hear the Word of God, to receive the
preachers with kindness, and not to molest and worry them, so that all
may dwell together in true peace, brotherly love and union.’[420] These
ordinances in the matter of religion and worship would seem strange in
our day; and we might wonder whether such would be tolerated even in
Japan. But they were in accordance with the spirit of that time, and
the rulers of Berne were doing their best.
The Reformation achieved greater triumphs still than the abolition of
images. It could count souls won to the Gospel, not only among the
general population of the country, but also among the very champions
of Rome who had encountered Farel. The amiable captain of the youth,
Ferdinand de Loys, embraced the glorious promises of the Gospel,
and subsequently exerted himself with great earnestness to maintain
Protestantism in France. Moreover, a brilliant testimony to his zeal
was given him. Soubise sent him grateful acknowledgment, as well on his
own behalf as on behalf of the prince of Condé, the Admiral (Coligny)
and other princes and lords.[421] By arrangement with the lords of
Berne, Valais, and Neuchâtel, he had sent to him some men; these men
(_gens_), however, we must add, appear to have been not evangelists but
soldiers. A priest who had taken part in the defence of the papacy, but
who had been convinced by the powerful words of the reformers, Dom Jean
Drogy, also embraced the evangelical faith. He became afterwards pastor
at Bevay in the territory of Neuchâtel. Megander, too, wrote on October
19, to the ministers of Zurich, ‘The disputation of Lausanne has had
the happiest results.’
[Sidenote: CAROLI AND VIRET.]
These successes encouraged the friends of the Reform, and the Bernese
government demanded of the authorities of Lausanne the definitive
establishment of the evangelical faith and worship. The canons opposed
the measure with all their energy, alleging that reverence is due to
all old customs and religions; they conjured the rulers of Lausanne
not to allow their city to be faithless to Rome. At the same time they
sent deputies to Berne. But the council was already treating with the
lords of Berne, partly swayed by conviction and partly by prudence.
The Bernese were disposed to grant various rights, advantages, and
privileges to their new subjects, on condition of their renouncing the
foreign authority of the pope, with which they well knew that it was
impossible to be on good terms, and of their receiving the Gospel,
which enlightens the mind, gives peace to the soul, and promotes the
prosperity of nations. They knew also that in order to persuade men, it
is necessary to act kindly towards them. Consequently, on November 1, a
contract was concluded at Berne, by virtue of which their excellencies
conceded to the burgesses of Lausanne the higher, middle, and lower
jurisdiction in civil and criminal causes, various convents and abbeys,
the châlet and the mill of Gobet, and certain vineyards. With these
gifts the Bernese coupled the promise that, as soon as ‘popery and
its mummery should be abolished,’ their excellencies would exercise
generosity towards the priests. This _grande largition_ was read on the
5th of the same month in grand council at Lausanne, and was solemnly
ratified. Meanwhile the chiefs of Berne presented, November 5, to the
chiefs of Lausanne, as first pastor, Caroli, who was a doctor of the
Sorbonne, and whose fluent talk and engaging manners prepossessed men
in his favor. At this choice the friends of the Gospel were indignant.
Viret, who had for so many years labored for the diffusion of the
light in his own country, and had done so with perfect earnestness,
wisdom, and self-renunciation, at the risk of his life--Viret, the
true Vaudois reformer--saw this new man, unfit as he was for the work
to be done, preferred to himself. The pastors of Geneva wrote to
Lausanne--‘Everyone knows the labors, the faith, the zeal of Viret,
and we are astonished to learn that they are treating him in that
way. We cannot endure it without complaining. If ever it becomes us
to be indignant, surely it is on this occasion.’[422] The Bernese
lords settled Caroli comfortably in the house of the canon Benoît de
Pontareuse, which had beautiful gardens in which he might philosophize
and entertain himself as Epicurus did of old. They assigned him,
besides, an annual salary of five hundred florins. His wife displayed
a degree of luxury which was offensive. Viret was joined with him
as second pastor, but no tithe was assigned to him, nor any means of
living. De Watteville contented himself with requesting him to show
respect for the great merit of his colleague. The Bernese, however,
very soon discovered that they had been mistaken in this matter. They
therefore wrote to Viret, December 1, that since he was already well
acquainted with the country, and Caroli was a sort of novice, they
advised him to give Caroli a gratuity, ‘advancement and service,
and this by way of charity.’[423] This was not giving Viret a sort
of guardianship of Caroli, as has been said. On the contrary, Farel
complained a few days later that it was difficult to say whether the
Bernese or the Lausannese cared least for Viret.[424] The Bernese
merely admitted that the Vaudois reformer, being a native of the
country, had more experience of its customs, ‘of the popular way of
doing things.’ Viret subsequently received a lodging in the Franciscan
convent, with a salary of thirty florins and a certain allowance of
wine and wheat. It was not one-third of the pay of Caroli. Some of the
reformed lent furniture to the humble minister for his room, because he
had no means of buying any.[425]
[Sidenote: REFORM AT VEVEY.]
Of all the districts of the Pays de Vaud, Vevey, a town situated in
that lovely region which, at the extremity of the lake of Geneva, is
so rich both in grace and in brilliancy, appears to have been the most
inclined to embrace the Reform. For eight years past Aigle and the
surrounding villages had heard the Gospel by the ministry of Farel.
The ministers who came and went from Berne to Aigle, and from Aigle
to Berne, passed through Vevey, and left light behind them in their
passage. Moreover, there was frequent intercourse between the people of
the government of Aigle and the people of Vevey. One historian worthy
of credit is even led to believe that the dean Michod and the regent J.
Mimard returned from Lausanne to their own town convinced of the truth
of the theses which they had at first attacked.[426] Even if they were
not themselves much troubled, they might by their narrations awaken
in the people the desire to become acquainted with the Gospel which
had been proclaimed with so much life by Farel, Viret, and Calvin. At
that epoch of the Reformation there was no other public disputation at
which so large a number of the champions of papal dogmas passed over to
the banner of the Gospel. The men of Vevey spontaneously asked for a
pastor; and one was sent them, November 24, whose name was Daillé. This
name became distinguished in the seventeenth century as that of one of
the most learned ministers of the Reformed Churches.
The Gospel met with opposition in the district of La Vaux, which lies
between Vevey and Lausanne. At a consultative meeting, held October
15, the deputies of La Vaux had demanded a general assembly, and had
declared that they would oppose ‘any innovation in the churches.’ Those
of Lutry, a small town bordering on Lausanne, were of the same mind.
But when the bailiff of Lausanne came three days after to dine there,
the wind began to change. The magistrates, flattered with this visit,
offered him with high compliments the wine of honor (_vin d’honneur_);
and all their zeal was limited to getting the papacy buried in the most
decorous manner possible. When the bailiff presented himself, November
2, to burn the images and destroy the altars, the municipal officers
demanded permission to remove them themselves, desiring to do it with
more delicacy. They caused the _Corpus Domini_ to be carried into the
_Grotto_, where they gave it an honorable position, and lighted lamps
just as if it were in the church. They also put there the vessel of
holy water, covering it up carefully. Some weeks later, January 16,
1537, there appeared, on the part of Berne, one Matthieu de la Croix,
a converted monk, a man of discretion and benevolence. He said to the
council, ‘I offer to preach, if you approve it, and even to preach
every day if you will assent to it; and further, when any one dies I
will deliver a sermon for the consolation of the family.’ Anxious still
more powerfully to work upon their hearts, he added, ‘I propose that a
request be addressed to the lords of Berne in favor of the poor.’ One
might fancy that De la Croix did nothing more than put in practice the
proverb, _More flies are to be caught with honey than with vinegar_.
But there is nothing to show that his gracious way did not proceed
from a sincere charity. This zeal for their commune touched the hearts
of the Lutry people, and they accepted the ministry of this man of
goodwill, and at the same time added to their acceptance the express
request to Berne to maintain the poor. On February 8, 1537, the church
was cleansed, and the stones of the altar were removed to a place
apart.[427]
[Sidenote: SEARCH FOR MINISTERS.]
The great transformation was being effected in the whole country. The
lords of Berne, understanding, doubtless, that their hands were not
the right ones for the task, had wisely intrusted to Farel the care
of providing for the spiritual wants of the people. Unfortunately it
was not a very easy matter. ‘He looked round on all sides for faithful
ministers, but could hardly find any.’ The nomination of Caroli by
the Bernese magistrates had annoyed him. He was afraid that men who
preached in its purity the cross of Christ would not be accepted.
‘They do not care much for those who preach Jesus Christ purely, and
they praise to the skies braggarts and hypocrites.’ However, he was
not disheartened. ‘Write,’ said he to his friend Fabri, ‘beseech,
come to our aid; send us competent men.’ One circumstance, unhappy
in itself, facilitated Farel’s work. Persecution was driving many
evangelical Christians out of France; and these men, full of love for
the faith which they had confessed in their native land, rejoiced
in the opportunity of preaching it in the beautiful valley of the
Leman. Farel, who was at that time the real bishop of these churches,
was indefatigable in his inquiries. As soon as he had found any
pious ministers, he recommended them to the lords of Berne, and the
bailiffs settled them in the various parishes. But as there were not
ministers enough for all, the same pastor had frequently to preach in
three different churches. A few priests were called to the ministry,
who did not seem to be mere deserters, with Christ on the lips only.
These were, in addition to those already mentioned, Tissot, Gredat,
Goudot, Meige, Malingre de la Molière, Motin, and Jacques d’Yverdon.
Some others also took charge of souls. Dubois was sent to Payerne, Du
Rivier to Moudon, Le Coq to Morges, J. Vallier to Aubonne, Melchior
d’Yvonant to Rolle, Morand to Nyon, Furet to Coppet, Colomb to Concise,
Masuyer to Cossonay, Epilon to Yvonant, and Eustache André (also named
Fortunat), to Cully.[428] For the most part they were foreigners. Some
of them had attended the disputation, and had been gained over by the
Christian eloquence of Farel, Viret, and Calvin. But whether they came
from the battle of Lausanne or from the ruder battles of France, they
all desired to publish the good news of the Gospel; and some of them
were inflamed with a zeal so ardent that ‘that one passion swallowed
up all others.’ They were well aware that they would have to face a
keen opposition; but ‘they were going willingly to offer their heads,
to receive all the obloquy which evil-minded men cast on God.’ The
following is the formula, somewhat free in character, which the lords
of Berne usually employed in their letters to these evangelists:--‘Have
ordered that thou, forthwith on receiving these presents, go to our
bailiff of ----, who will present thee to our subjects of ----, and then
thou wilt exercise the office of minister of the Gospel, according to
the grace which God has given thee.’ The bailiffs, for the purpose
of preparing people’s minds, went frequently beforehand with Viret
and other ministers into parishes that were to be provided for. They
preached and endeavored to make evident the great benefits of the
Reformation. But there was many a village in which the curé endeavored
to keep the people away from the sermon, excited his friends, who threw
stones at those who were hearers, and did the worst they could.[429]
[Sidenote: TRIALS OF FABRI.]
Farel persevered in his exertions, exhorting and consoling. Fabri,
pastor at Thonon, in the Chablais, had to pass through trials of
special severity. He wrote to Farel, ‘I cannot tell you how cruel are
the crosses which so violent an opposition lays upon me.’ Farel was
prompt to offer him consolation, and he shows in his answer how well he
had himself learnt to profit by the blows struck at him by the enemies
of the Gospel. ‘There is no ground for dejection,’ said he, ‘although
so many distresses weigh on you. It is in this way that the Lord
teaches us to depend entirely on him, and to call down by our sighing
the favor of our heavenly Father, which we are so backward to do.’ At
the same time Farel communicated to his friend his own experiences, and
made fresh allusion to the case of Caroli and Viret, which appears to
have greatly troubled him. ‘I am bidden,’ he said, ‘to call ministers
from all quarters, but where to find them I cannot tell. People slight
those who are the fittest, and who always breathe Jesus Christ; but
they exalt to the skies those who are mere masks, and breathe nothing
but arrogance. Some ministers, of too fastidious taste, are unwilling
to come into this country; they would rather bury themselves in the
tombs of Egypt than eat manna in the desert and be led by the pillar of
fire.’[430] At the same time that Farel wrote to Fabri at the foot of
the Alps, he wrote also to Hugues, pastor of Gex, at the foot of the
Jura. ‘Act with firmness,’ he said to him, ‘but with wisdom and without
passion. Put forward weighty proofs drawn from Scripture, and let your
words always be accompanied with the moderation of Christ.’[431] He
wrote likewise to many others. Calvin began at this time to exercise
the functions pertaining to the government of the Church. A minister,
Denis Lambert, formerly a monk, but who having been since 1534 pastor
in the country of Neuchâtel, had been chosen almoner to the little army
which marched in 1534 to the aid of Geneva, and fought the battle of
Gingins, had been settled by the Bernese as pastor in the neighborhood
of that town. He had remained full of monkery (_moinerie_), and he
had a wife of sorry reputation; so that their life and their manners
might ruin, but could not build up the Church. Some better ministers,
particularly Henry de la Mare, having been preferred to him, he flew
into a great rage at a colloquy held at the beginning of December,
1536. ‘Everybody persecutes me,’ he exclaimed; ‘it is not on the part
of men that I am sent!’ And he loaded his colleagues with insults,
threats, and innumerable calumnies. ‘Truly,’ said Farel, ‘the man
speaks like a Mars or a Bacchus.’[432] ‘It is not I,’ Farel said to
him, ‘that made you a preacher; I always suspected you too much.’
‘No,’ replied Denis, ‘I was sent by the Bernese, and we shall see
whether you dare resist them.’ Calvin then rose to speak, and we must
notice it as the first occasion of his taking part in the government of
the Church. He entreated Denis in the name of them all to resign the
holy ministry, promised that he should be provided for. Denis cared
nothing for this young doctor, and refused to comply with his request.
Farel desired to separate him from the population to which his life was
a scandal. The Bernese bailiff of Thonon thought that Denis was monk
from head to foot, and that he ought to be relegated to the convent of
the Augustinians of that town.
Although they were influenced quite as much by political as by
religious motives, and made some mistakes, as in the case of Caroli,
the lords of Berne neglected no means of enlightening the Vaudois, and
of leading them to accept with their heart the evangelical doctrines.
They enjoined on all fathers and mothers, all pastors and bailiffs,
the duty of seeing that children were well instructed according to the
Gospel. Without going so far as to say, as some have alleged, that
education is everything, the Bernese did believe that _if a child be
trained up in the way he should go, he will not depart from it_.[433]
[Sidenote: BERNESE EDICT OF REFORMATION.]
To crown its work, the council of Berne made, on Christmas eve,
December 24, 1536, a complete edict of reformation for its new
territories; and at the beginning of 1537 it caused proclamation to be
made in all the country that the ministers were to preach purely the
Word of God; that they were to celebrate only two sacraments, baptism
and the supper; that it was lawful to eat flesh at any time; that
ecclesiastics were not forbidden to marry; that all popish ceremonies,
masses, processions, lustrations, pilgrimages, and ringing of bells
for the dead and for bad weather, were abolished. These were followed
by many ordinances against gluttony, drunkenness, impurity, adultery,
blasphemy, gaming, military service abroad, and dancing. Three modest
dances for marriage festivals were, however, conceded.[434] Priests
and monks were at liberty to remain in the country, where they
received fitting allowances, or if they preferred it, to withdraw
into a Catholic country. The canons of Lausanne having no wish to be
witnesses of such a reform, took the latter course. They crossed the
lake and settled at Evian. The sisters of Sainte-Claire of Vevey did
the same.[435]
Calvin and the other ministers of Geneva and its neighborhood watched
with interest the changes which were taking place in the Pays de Vaud.
But they did not conceal from themselves how much there still remained
to do. On October 13, Calvin, before he started for Berne, whither
he was summoned, wrote from Lausanne to one of his friends--‘Already
in many places the idols and the altars of the papacy have begun to
totter, and I hope that ere long all the superstitions that still
prevail will be abolished. The Lord grant that idolatry may be
altogether uprooted in all hearts.’[436] These words characterize the
condition of the Pays de Vaud at that epoch.
On November 21, 1536, a conference was held at Geneva, at which the
pastors of the surrounding districts appear to have been present. Those
of the Pays de Gex and of the Chablais undoubtedly attended.[437] A
letter addressed by the conference to their brethren of Lausanne and
of Vaud sufficiently refutes the calumnies cast upon the Reformation,
and shows to what extent the reformers took heed of the purity of
the Church. ‘The pontifical tyranny has been overthrown,’ they said;
‘silence has been imposed upon the monks, because of their doctrines
and their unchaste lives. Brethren, take heed lest another tyranny
erect itself in place of the former. See that order and discipline be
maintained among you, and everything that becomes a holy assembly. To
that end seek your directions, not from any pontiff, nor in the rites
of the pope, but from Jesus Christ and in his Word.... Examine with
the utmost care the brethren whom you accept as pastors; see that
their doctrine be pure and their lives spotless. Inform yourselves
even of their family and the family of their wives, as St. Paul
enjoins. Without such care you will prepare your own ruin and that of
your people. As for ceremonies, let them be wholesome. Exercise your
Christian liberty, but in such a way as to cause offence to no one.’
The pastors of Geneva, they said, had received two letters in which
they found no Christian charity or moderation at all, but which savored
of pontifical authority. This passage doubtless refers to Caroli.