Lefevre and Farel persecuted--Difference between the
Lutheran and Reformed Churches--Leclerc posts up his
Placards--Leclerc branded--Berquin's Zeal--Berquin before
the Parliament--Rescued by Francis I.--Mazurier's
Apostacy--Fall and Remorse of
Pavanne--Metz--Chatelain--Peter Toussaint becomes
attentive--Leclerc breaks the Images--Leclerc's Condemnation
and Torture--Martyrdom of Chatelain--Flight.
[Sidenote: LEFEVRE AND FAREL PERSECUTED.]
Lefevre intimidated, Briçonnet drawing back, Farel compelled to
fly--here was a beginning of victory. They already imagined at the
Sorbonne that they had mastered the movement; the doctors and monks
congratulated each other on their triumphs. But this was not enough;
blood had not flowed. They set to work again; and blood, since it must
be so, was erelong to gratify the fanaticism of Rome.
The evangelical Christians of Meaux, seeing their leaders dispersed,
sought to edify one another. The wool-carder, John Leclerc, whom the
lessons of the doctors, the reading of the Bible, and some tracts, had
instructed in the christian doctrine,[844] signalized himself by his
zeal and facility in expounding Scripture. He was one of those men
whom the Spirit of God fills with courage,[845] and soon places at the
head of a religious movement. It was not long before the Church of
Meaux regarded him as its minister.
[844] Aliis pauculis libellis diligenter lectis. Bezæ Icones.
[845] Animosæ fidei plenus. Ibid.
[Sidenote: THE LUTHERAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES.]
The idea of a universal priesthood, such a living principle among the
first Christians, had been re-established by Luther in the sixteenth
century.[846] But this idea seems then to have existed only in theory
in the Lutheran church, and to have been really acted upon solely
among the reformed Christians. The Lutheran Churches (and here they
agree with the Anglican Church) perhaps took a middle course between
the Romish and the Reformed Churches. Among the Lutherans, everything
proceeded from the pastor or the priest; and nothing was counted valid
in the Church that did not flow regularly through its chiefs. But the
Reformed Churches, while they maintained the Divine appointment of the
ministry, which some sects deny, approached nearer to the primitive
condition of the apostolical communities. From the times of which we
are speaking, they recognised and proclaimed that the christian flocks
ought not simply to receive what the pastor gives; that the members of
the Church, as well as its leaders, possess the key of that treasure
whence the latter derive their instruction, for the Bible is in the
hands of all; that the graces of God, the spirit of faith, of wisdom,
of consolation, of light, are not bestowed on the pastor only; that
every man is called upon to employ the gift he has received for the
good of all; and that a certain gift, necessary to the edification of
the Church, may be refused to a minister, and yet granted to one of
his flock. Thus the passive state of the Church was then changed into
a state of general activity; and in France, especially, this
revolution was accomplished. In other countries, the reformers were
almost exclusively pastors and doctors; but in France men of learning
had from the very beginning pious men of the people for their allies.
In that country God selected for his first workmen a doctor of the
Sorbonne and a wool-comber.
[846] See Vol. II. p. 97.
[Sidenote: LECLERC'S PLACARDS--THE BRANDING.]
The wool-comber Leclerc began to visit from house to house, confirming
the disciples. But not stopping short at these ordinary cares, he
would fain have seen the edifice of popery overthrown, and France,
from the midst of these ruins, turning with a cry of joy towards the
Gospel. His unguarded zeal may remind us of that of Hottinger at
Zurich, and of Carlstadt at Wittemberg. He wrote a proclamation
against the Antichrist of Rome, announcing that the Lord was about to
destroy it by the breath of his mouth. He then boldly posted his
"placards" on the gates of the cathedral.[847] Presently all was in
confusion around that ancient edifice. The faithful were amazed; the
priests exasperated. What! a fellow whose employment is wool-combing
dares measure himself with the pope! The Franciscans were outrageous,
and demanded that this once at least a terrible example should be
made. Leclerc was thrown into prison.
[847] Cet hérétique écrivit des pancartes qu'il attacha aux portes de
la grande église de Meaux (MS. de Meaux). See also Bezæ Icones;
Crespin Actes des Martyrs, &c.
His trial was finished in a few days, under the eyes of Briçonnet
himself, who was now to witness and tolerate all that was done. The
carder was condemned to be whipped three days successively through the
city, and on the third to be branded on the forehead. This sad
spectacle soon began. Leclerc was led through the streets with his
hands bound, his back bare, and the executioners inflicted on him the
blows he had drawn upon himself by rising up against the Bishop of
Rome. An immense crowd followed in the track marked by the martyr's
blood. Some yelled with rage against the heretic; others by their
silence gave him no unequivocal marks of their tender compassion. One
woman encouraged the unhappy man by her looks and words: she was his
mother.
[Sidenote: A MOTHER'S CRY--MEETINGS OF BELIEVERS.]
At last, on the third day, when the blood-stained procession was
ended, they halted with Leclerc at the usual place of execution. The
hangman prepared the fire, heated the iron that was to stamp its
burning mark on the evangelist, and approaching him, branded him on
the forehead as a heretic. A shriek was heard, but it did not proceed
from the martyr. His mother, a spectator of the dreadful scene, and
wrung with anguish, endured a bitter strife: it was the enthusiasm of
faith struggling in her heart with maternal love; faith prevailed at
last, and she exclaimed with a voice that made the adversaries
tremble: "Glory to Jesus Christ and to his witnesses!"[848] Thus did
that Frenchwoman of the sixteenth century fulfil the commandment of
the Son of God: "He that loveth his son more than me is not worthy of
me." Such boldness, and at such a moment, merited signal punishment;
but this christian mother had appalled the hearts both of priests and
soldiers. All their fury was controlled by a stronger arm than theirs.
The crowd, respectfully making way, allowed the martyr's mother slowly
to regain her humble dwelling. The monks, and even the town-sergeants,
gazed on her without moving. "Not one of her enemies dared lay hands
upon her," said Theodore Beza. After this execution, Leclerc, being
set at liberty, retired to Rosay in Brie, a small town about six
leagues from Meaux, and subsequently to Metz, where we shall meet with
him again.
[848] Hist. Eccles. de Th. de Bèze, p. 4. Hist. des Martyrs de
Crespin, p. 92.
The adversaries were triumphant. "The Cordeliers having re-captured
the pulpits, propagated their lies and trumpery as usual."[849] But
the poor workmen of the city, prevented from hearing the Word in
regular assemblies, "began to meet in secret," says our chronicler,
"after the manner of the sons of the prophets in the time of Ahab, and
of the Christians of the primitive Church; and, as opportunity
offered, they assembled at one time in a house, at another in some
cave, sometimes also in a vineyard or in a wood. There, he amongst
them who was most versed in the Holy Scriptures exhorted the rest; and
this done, they all prayed together with great courage, supporting
each other by the hope that the Gospel would be revived in France, and
that the tyranny of Antichrist would come to an end."[850] There is no
power that can arrest the progress of truth.
[849] Actes des Martyrs, p. 183.
[850] Ibid.
[Sidenote: BERQUIN'S ZEAL--A DOMICILIARY VISIT.]
But one victim only was not enough; and if the first against whom the
persecution was let loose was a wool-comber, the second was a
gentleman of the court. It was necessary to frighten the nobles as
well as the people. Their reverences of the Sorbonne of Paris could
not think of being outstripped by the Franciscans of Meaux. Berquin,
"the most learned of the nobles," had derived fresh courage from the
Holy Scriptures, and after having attacked "the hornets of the
Sorbonne" in certain epigrams, had openly accused them of
impiety.[851]
[851] Impietatis etiam accusatos, tum voce, tum scriptis. Bezæ Icones.
Beda and Duchesne, who had not ventured to reply in their usual manner
to the witticisms of the king's gentleman, changed their mind, as soon
as they discovered serious convictions latent behind these attacks.
Berquin had become a Christian: his ruin was determined on. Beda and
Duchesne, having seized some of his translations, found in them matter
to burn more heretics than one. "He maintains," said they, "that it is
wrong to invoke the Virgin Mary in place of the Holy Ghost, and to
call her the source of all grace.[852] He inveighs against the
practice of calling her _our hope, our life_, and says that these
titles belong only to the Son of God." There were other matters
besides these. Berquin's study was like a bookseller's shop, whence
works of corruption were circulated through the whole kingdom. The
_Common-places_ of Melancthon, in particular, served, by the elegance
of their style, to shake the faith of the literary men in France. This
pious noble, living only amidst his folios and his _tracts_, had
become, out of christian charity, translator, corrector, printer, and
bookseller......It was essential to check this formidable torrent at
its very source.
[852] Incongrue beatam Virginem invocari pro Spiritu Sancto. Erasm.
Epp. 1279.
[Sidenote: BERQUIN BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT.]
One day, as Berquin was quietly seated at his studies, among his
beloved books, his house was suddenly surrounded by the
sergeants-at-arms, who knocked violently at the door. They were the
Sorbonne and its agents, who, furnished with authority from the
parliament, were making a domiciliary visit. Beda, the formidable
syndic, was at their head, and never did inquisitor perform his duty
better; accompanied by his satellites, he entered Berquin's library,
told him his business, ordered a watchful eye to be kept upon him, and
began his search. Not a book escaped his piercing glance, and an exact
inventory of the whole was drawn up by his orders. Here was a treatise
by Melancthon, there a book by Carlstadt; farther on, a work of
Luther's. Here were heretical books translated from Latin into French
by Berquin himself; there, others of his own composition. All the
works that Beda seized, except two, were filled with Lutheran errors.
He left the house, carrying off his booty, and more elated than ever
was general laden with the spoils of vanquished nations.[853]
[853] Gaillard Hist. de François I. iv. 241. Crévier, Univ. de Paris,
v. 171.
Berquin saw that a great storm had burst upon him; but his courage did
not falter. He despised his enemies too much to fear them. Meanwhile
Beda lost no time. On the 13th of May 1523, the parliament issued a
decree that all the books seized in Berquin's house should be laid
before the faculty of theology. The opinion of the Sorbonne was soon
pronounced; on the 25th of June it condemned all the works, with the
exception of the two already mentioned, to be burnt as heretical, and
ordered that Berquin should abjure his errors. The parliament ratified
this decision.
The nobleman appeared before this formidable body. He knew that the
next step might be to the scaffold; but, like Luther at Worms, he
remained firm. Vainly did the parliament order him to retract. Berquin
was not one of those _who fall away after having been made partakers
of the Holy Ghost_. _Whosoever is begotten of God, keepeth himself,
and that wicked one toucheth him not._[854] Every fall proves that the
previous conversion has been only apparent or partial; but Berquin's
conversion was real. He replied with firmness to the court before
which he stood. The parliament, more severe than the Diet of Worms had
been, ordered its officers to seize the accused, and take him to the
prison of the Conciergerie. This was on the 1st of August 1523. On the
5th the parliament handed over the heretic to the Bishop of Paris, in
order that this prelate might take cognizance of the affair, and that,
assisted by the doctors and councillors, he should pronounce sentence
on the culprit. He was transferred to the episcopal prison.[855]
[854] Hebrews vi. 4; 1 John v. 18.
[855] Ductus est in carcerem, reus hæreseos periclitatus. Erasmi Epp.
1279; Crévier; Gaillard; loc. cit.
[Sidenote: DELIVERED BY FRANCIS I.--ERASMUS AND BERQUIN.]
Thus was Berquin passed from court to court and from one prison to
another. Beda, Duchesne, and their cabal had their victim in their
grasp; but the court still cherished a grudge against the Sorbonne,
and Francis was more powerful than Beda. This transaction excited
great indignation among the nobles. Do these monks and priests forget
what the sword of a gentleman is worth? "Of what is he accused?" said
they to Francis I.; "of blaming the custom of invoking the Virgin in
place of the Holy Ghost? But Erasmus and many others blame it
likewise. Is it for such trifles that they imprison a king's
officer?[856] This attack is aimed at literature, true religion, the
nobility, chivalry, nay the crown itself." The king was glad to have
another opportunity of vexing the whole company. He issued letters
transferring the cause to the royal council, and on the 8th of August
an usher appeared at the bishop's prison with an order from the king
to set Berquin at liberty.
[856] Ob hujusmodi nœnias. Erasm. Epp. 1279.
The question now was whether the monks would give way. Francis I., who
had anticipated some resistance, said to the agent commissioned to
execute his orders: "If you meet with any resistance, I authorize you
to break open the gates." This language was clear. The monks and the
Sorbonne submitted to the affront, and Berquin being restored to
liberty appeared before the king's council, by which he was
acquitted.[857]
[857] At judices, ubi viderunt causam esse nullius momenti,
absolverunt hominem. Ibid.
Thus did Francis I. humiliate the Church. Berquin imagined that
France, under his reign, might emancipate herself from the papacy, and
had thoughts of renewing the war. For this purpose he entered into
communication with Erasmus, who at once recognised him as a man of
worth.[858] But, ever timid and temporizing, the philosopher said to
him: "Beware of treading on a hornet's nest, and pursue your studies
in peace.[859] Above all, do not mix me up with your affair; that
would neither serve you nor me."[860]
[858] Ex epistola visus est mihi vir bonus. Ibid.
[859] Sineret crabrones et suis se studiis oblectaret. Ibid.
[860] Deinde ne me involveret suæ causæ. Ibid.
This rebuff did not discourage Berquin; if the mightiest genius of the
age draws back, he will put his trust in God who never falters. God's
work will be done either with or without the aid of man. "Berquin,"
said Erasmus, "had some resemblance to the palm-tree; he rose up
again, and became proud and towering against those who sought to alarm
him."[861]
[861] Ille, ut habebat quiddam cum palma commune, adversus deterrentem
tollebat animos. Ibid. There is probably an allusion to Pliny's
Natural History, xvi. 42.
[Sidenote: MAZURIER'S APOSTACY.]
Such were not all who had embraced the evangelical doctrine. Martial
Mazurier had been one of the most zealous preachers. He was accused of
teaching very erroneous opinions,[862] and even of having committed
certain acts of violence while at Meaux. "This Martial Mazurier, being
at Meaux," says a manuscript of that city, which we have already
quoted, "going to the church of the reverend Grayfriars, and seeing
the image of St. Francis, with the five wounds, outside the
convent-gate, where that of St. Roch now stands, threw it down and
broke it in pieces." Mazurier was apprehended, and sent to the
Conciergerie,[863] where he suddenly fell into deep reflection and
severe anguish. It was the morality rather than the doctrine of the
Gospel that had attracted him to the ranks of the reformers; and
morality left him without strength. Alarmed at the prospect of the
stake, and decidedly of opinion that in France the victory would
remain on the side of Rome, he easily persuaded himself that he would
enjoy more influence and honour by returning to the papacy.
Accordingly he retracted what he had taught, and caused doctrines the
very opposite of those he had previously held to be preached in his
parish;[864] and subsequently joining the most fanatical doctors, and
particularly the celebrated Ignatius Loyola, he became from that time
the most zealous supporter of the papal cause.[865] From the days of
the Emperor Julian, apostates, after their infidelity, have always
become the most merciless persecutors of the doctrines they had once
professed.
[862] Hist. de l'Université, par Crévier, v. 203.
[863] Gaillard, Hist. de François I. v. 234.
[864] "Comme il était homme adroit, il esquiva la condemnation," says
Crévier, v. 203.
[865] Cum Ignatio Loyola init amicitiam. Launoi, Navarræ gymnasti
historia, p. 621.
[Sidenote: FALL AND CONTRITION OF PAVANNE.]
Mazurier soon found an opportunity of showing his zeal. The youthful
James Pavanne had also been thrown into prison. Martial hoped that, by
making him fall like himself, he might cover his own shame. The youth,
amiability, learning, and uprightness of Pavanne, created a general
interest in his favour, and Mazurier imagined that he would himself be
less culpable, if he could persuade Master James to follow his
example. He visited him in prison, and began his manœuvres by
pretending that he had advanced further than Pavanne in the knowledge
of the truth: "You are mistaken, James," he often repeated to him;
"you have not gone to the depths of the sea; you only know the surface
of the waters."[866] Nothing was spared, neither sophistry, promises,
nor threats. The unhappy youth, seduced, agitated, and shaken, sunk at
last under these perfidious attacks, and publicly retracted his
pretended errors on the morrow of Christmas-day 1524. But from that
hour a spirit of dejection and remorse was sent on Pavanne by the
Almighty. A deep sadness preyed upon him, and he was continually
sighing. "Alas!" repeated he, "there is nothing but bitterness for me
in life." Sad wages of unbelief!
[866] Actes des Martyrs, p. 99.
[Sidenote: METZ--AGRIPPA AND CHATELAIN.]
Nevertheless, among those who had received the Word of God in France,
were men of more intrepid spirit than Mazurier and Pavanne. About the
end of the year 1523, Leclerc had withdrawn to Metz in Lorraine, and
there, says Theodore Beza, he had followed the example of Saint Paul
at Corinth, who, while working at his trade as a tentmaker, persuaded
the Jews and the Greeks.[867] Leclerc, still pursuing his occupation
as a wool-carder, instructed the people of his own condition; and many
of them had been really converted. Thus did this humble artisan lay
the foundation of a church which afterwards became celebrated.
[867] Acts of the Apostles, xviii. 3, 4.--Apostoli apud Corinthios
exemplum secutus. Bezæ Icones.
Leclerc was not the first individual who had endeavoured to shed the
new light of the Gospel over Metz. A scholar, renowned in that age for
his skill in the occult sciences, Master Agrippa of Nettesheim, "a
marvellously learned clerk, of small stature, who had spent much time
in travel, who spoke every language, and had studied every
science,"[868] had fixed his residence at Metz, and had even become
syndic of the city. Agrippa had procured Luther's works, and
communicated them to his friends,[869]and among others to Master John,
priest of Sainte-Croix, himself a great clerk, and with whom Master
Agrippa was very intimate. Many of the clergy, nobility, and citizens,
stirred by the courage Luther had shown at Worms, were gained over to
his cause,[870] and already in March 1522, an evangelical placard
extolling what Luther had done was posted in large letters on a corner
of the episcopal palace, and excited much public attention. But when
Leclerc arrived, the flames, for an instant overpowered, sprung up
with renewed energy. In the council-room, in the hall of the chapter,
and in the homes of the citizens, the conversation turned perpetually
on the Lutheran business. "Many great clerks and learned persons were
daily questioning, discussing, and debating this matter, and for the
most part taking Luther's side, and already preaching and proclaiming
that accursed sect."[871]
[868] Les chroniques de la ville de Metz. Metz, 1838.
[869] Apud Metenses mihi nonnulla Lutherana communicare dignatus sis.
Amicus ad Agrippam, Epp. lib. iii. ep. 10.
[870] Lambert von Avignon, by Prof. Baum, p. 59.
[871] Chroniques de Metz, anno 1523.
Erelong the evangelical cause received a powerful reinforcement.
"About this same time (1524)," says the chronicle, "there came to Metz
an Augustine friar named John Chaistellain (Chatelain), a man
declining in years, and of agreeable manners, a great preacher and
very eloquent, a wondrous comforter to the poorer sort. By which means
he gained the good-will of most of the people (not of all), especially
of the majority of the priests and great rabbins, against whom the
said friar John preached daily, setting forth their vices and their
sins, saying that they abused the poor people, by which great
animosity was stirred up."[872]
[872] Ibid. p. 808.
[Sidenote: LAMBERT AT WITTEMBERG.]
John Chatelain, an Augustine monk of Tournay, and doctor of divinity,
had been brought to the knowledge of God[873] by his intercourse with
the Augustines of Antwerp. The doctrine of Christ, when preached by
him attired in chasuble and stole, appeared less extraordinary to the
inhabitants of Metz, than when it fell from the lips of a poor
artisan, who laid aside the comb with which he carded his wool, to
explain a French version of the Gospel.
[873] Vocatus ad cognitionem Dei. Act. Mart. p. 180.
Everything was fermenting in Metz during that famous Lent of 1524,
when a new character appeared on the stage, a priest, a doctor, an
ex-friar, and (what had never yet been seen in France or Lorraine)
having a wife with him.[874] This was Lambert of Avignon.
[874] Y vient ung, se disant docteur, qui premier avait esté
religieulx et à présent estait marié. Chroniques de Metz, p. 807.
On Lambert's arrival at Wittemberg, which had been the object of his
journey on leaving the convent, he was well received by Luther, and
the reformer had hastened to recommend to Spalatin and to the elector
this friar, who, "on account of persecution, had chosen poverty and
exile......He pleases me in all respects," added Luther.[875] Lambert
had begun to lecture on the prophet Hosea at the university, before an
auditory who could not conceal their surprise at hearing such things
from the mouth of a Gaul.[876] And then, with eyes ever turned towards
his native land, he had begun to translate into French and Italian
several evangelical pamphlets published by Luther and other doctors.
He was not the only Frenchman at Wittemberg: he there met with counts,
knights, nobles, and others come from France to see the elector and to
converse with Luther, "the overseer of the works that were
accomplishing in the world."[877] These Frenchmen mutually encouraged
each other, and, as is usual with emigrants, exaggerated the state of
affairs, imagining that a speedy revolution would lead to the triumph
in their own country of the cause which they had so much at heart.
"Almost the whole of Gaul is stirring," wrote Lambert to the Elector
of Saxony. "Although in France the truth has no master and no leader,
its friends are very numerous."[878]
[875] Ob persecutionem exul atque pauper factus; mihi per omnia placet
vir. L. Epp. ii. 302.
[876] Aliquid nostri Martini consilio exordiar, vel Oseam Prophetam,
vel Psalmos, vel Lucam, vel aliquid tale. Schelhorn, Amœnitates
Litt. iv. 336.
[877] Veniunt passim Wittembergam Comites, Equites, Nobiles, et alii
etiam e Gallia nostra ut te inclytum Ducem (the Elector) videant, et
Præfectum Operum, M. Lutherum. Comment. in Oseam præf.
[878] Gallia pene omnis commota est, et absque magistro sinceros habet
veritatis dilectores. Schelhorn, Amœn. iv.
[Sidenote: EVANGELICAL PRESS AT HAMBURG.]
One thing alone checked these Frenchmen at Wittemberg: the printing of
the pamphlets intended for their countrymen. "Would that I could find
some one," exclaimed Lambert, "that could print not only in Latin, but
in French and even in Italian."[879] This was the posture of affairs
when certain strangers appeared: they were from Hamburg. "We come to
ask you for some French treatises," said they to Lambert; "for we have
some one in Hamburg who will print them carefully."[880] It would
appear that there were also a number of French emigrants at Hamburg,
and a printer among the rest. Lambert could not restrain his joy; but
there was still another difficulty: "And how," said he, "can we convey
these books into France from the banks of the Elbe?"--"By sea; by the
vessels that sail to and fro," replied the Hamburgers.[881] "Every
necessary arrangement has been made." Thus the Gospel had hardly been
restored to the Church, before the ocean became an instrument of its
dissemination. _The Lord hath made a way in the sea._[882]
[879] Si inveniatur qui imprimat non tantum Latine sed Gallice et
Italice, hæc atque alia tradam. Ibid.
[880] Quod ad me ex Amburgo nuntii advenerint tractatus Gallicos
postulantes; aiunt enim quod illic sit qui ea lingua elimatissimos
posset cudere libros. Ibid. p. 343.
[881] Quos demum navigio in Galliam mittit. Ibid.
[882] Isaiah xliii. 16.
Yet this could not suffice; every Frenchman returning into France was
to carry a few books with him, although the scaffold might be the
reward of his enterprise. _Now_ there is more talking, _then_ there
was more action. A young French nobleman, Claude of Taureau, who left
Wittemberg in May 1523, took with him a great number of evangelical
treatises and letters which Lambert had written to many of the most
conspicuous men of France and Savoy.[883]
[883] Occupatus multis scriptis potissimum quæ pluribus in Gallia
misi. Junior quippe nobilis Claudius de Tauro abiit. Ibid.
[Sidenote: LAMBERT'S MARRIAGE--LONGINGS FOR FRANCE.]
On the 13th of July 1523, Lambert, then at the age of thirty-six,
"determined (in his own words) to flee the paths of impurity as he had
always done," entered into the holy bonds of wedlock, two years before
Luther, and the first of the French monks or priests. When married, he
called to mind that he ought not to think "how he might please his
wife, but how he might please the Lord." Christina, the daughter of a
worthy citizen of Herzberg, was ready to be the companion of his
sufferings. Lambert told his Wittemberg friends that he intended
returning to France.
Luther and Melancthon were terrified at the thought. "It is rather
from France to Germany," said Luther, "than from Germany to France,
that you should go."[884] Lambert, all whose thoughts were in France,
paid no attention to the reformers advice.[885]
[884] Potius ad nos illinc, quam ad vos hinc, cuiquam migrandum esse.
L. Epp. ad Gerbellium Strasburg, ii. 438.
[885] Nec audit meum consilium, sic occupatus suo proprio. Ibid. 437.
[Sidenote: THE LOTS.]
And yet Luther's sentiments could not fail to make some impression on
him. Should he go to Zurich, whither Luther urges him? or to France or
Lorraine, where Farel and, as he believes, Christ himself are calling
him? He was in great perplexity.[886] At Zurich he would find peace
and safety; in France peril and death.[887] His rest was broken, he
could find no repose;[888] he wandered through the streets of
Wittemberg with downcast eyes, and his wife could not restore him to
serenity. At last he fell on his knees, and called upon the Lord to
put an end to his struggle, by making known His will in the casting of
lots.[889] He took two slips of paper; on one he wrote _France_, on
the other _Switzerland_; he closed his eyes and drew; the lot had
fallen on France.[890] Again he fell on his knees: "O God," said he,
"if thou wilt not close these lips that desire to utter thy praise,
deign to make known thy pleasure."[891] Again he tried, and the answer
still was _France_. And some hours after, recollecting (said he) that
Gideon, when called to march against the Midianites, had thrice asked
for a sign from heaven near the oak of Ophrah,[892] he prayed God a
third time, and a third time the lot replied _France_. From that hour
he hesitated no longer, and Luther, who could not put such confidence
in the lot, for the sake of peace, ceased urging his objections, and
Lambert, in the month of February or March 1524, taking his wife with
him, departed for Strasburg, whence he repaired to Metz.
[886] In gravissima perplexitate. Lambert de Fidelium vocatione, cap.
22.
[887] In priore vocatione erat pax et serenitas; in alia vero multa et
eadem gravissima, etiam mortis pericula erant.
[888] Nulla erat misero requies, ut quidem vixdum somnium caperet.
Ibid.
[889] Oravit Dominum, ut hanc contradictionem sorte dirimeret. Ibid.
[890] Et sors cecidit super vocatione secunda. Lambert de Fidelium
vocatione, cap. 22.
[891] Ut non clauderetur omnino os Deum laudare volentis. Ibid. I
agree with Professor Baum in thinking that Lambert's narrative refers
to this circumstance.
[892] Judges vi. 20-40.
He soon became intimate with Chatelain, whom he called "his Jonathan,"
and appearing before a meeting commissioned to inquire into his
doctrines: "Suffer me to preach in public," said the man of Avignon,
"and I will forthwith publish one hundred and sixteen theses
explanatory of my doctrine, and which I will defend against all manner
of persons."
The Chamber of XIII., messieurs the clerks, and messeigneurs of
justice, before whom Lambert had been called, were frightened at such
a request, and refused permission; and shortly after, the whole troop
of Antichrist was in commotion, said Lambert; canons, monks,
inquisitors, the bishop's officials, and all their partisans,
endeavoured to seize and throw him into the dungeon of some
cloister.[893] The magistrates protected Lambert, but intimated that
he had better leave the city. Lambert obeyed. "I will flee," said he
to his Master, "but will still confess thy name! Whenever it be thy
good pleasure, I will endure death. I am in thy hands; I flee, and yet
I flee not; it is the flight which becometh all those who are made
perfect."[894] Lambert had not been a fortnight in Metz. He was to
learn that God makes known his will by other means than the drawing of
lots. It was not for France that this monk from the banks of the Rhone
was destined; we shall soon behold him playing an important part in
Germany, as reformer of Hesse. He returned to Strasburg, leaving
Chatelain and Leclerc at Metz.
[893] Sed mox insanavit tota Antichristi cohors, nempe canonici,
monachi, inquisitor, officialis, et reliqui qui sunt ex parte eorum et
me capere voluerunt. Epistola ad Franciscum regem.
[894] In manu tua sum, sic fugio quasi non fugiam. Hæc est fuga
omnibus perfectissimis conveniens. De vocatione fidelium, cap. 15.
[Sidenote: PETER TOUSSAINT.]
Owing to the zeal of these two men the light of the Gospel spread more
and more through the whole city. A very devout woman, named Toussaint,
of the middle rank, had a son called Peter, with whom, in the midst of
his sports, she would often converse in a serious strain. Everywhere,
even in the homes of the townspeople, something extraordinary was
expected. One day the child, indulging in the amusements natural to
his age, was riding on a stick in his mother's room, when the latter,
conversing with her friends on the things of God, said to them with an
agitated voice: "Antichrist will soon come with great power, and
destroy those who have been converted at the preaching of Elias."[895]
These words being frequently repeated attracted the child's attention,
and he recollected them long after. Peter Toussaint was no longer a
child when the doctor of theology and the wool-comber were preaching
the Gospel at Metz. His relations and friends, surprised at his
youthful genius, hoped to see him one day filling an eminent station
in the Church. One of his uncles, his father's brother, was dean of
Metz; it was the highest dignity in the chapter.[896] The Cardinal
John of Lorraine, son of Duke René, who maintained a large
establishment, testified much regard for the dean and his nephew. The
latter, notwithstanding his youth, had just obtained a prebend, when
he began to lend an attentive ear to the Gospel. Might not the
preaching of Chatelain and Leclerc be that of Elias? It is true,
Antichrist is already arming against it in every quarter. But it
matters not. "Let us lift up our heads to the Lord," said he, "for he
will come and will not tarry."[897]
[895] Cum equitabam in arundine longa, memini sæpe audisse me a matre
venturum Antichristum cum potentia magna, perditurumque eos qui essent
ad Eliæ prædicationem conversi. Tossanus Farello, 4th September 1525,
MS. in the conclave of Neufchatel.
[896] Ibid. 21st July 1525.
[897] Levemus interim capita nostra ad Dominum qui veniet et non
tardabit. Tossanus Farello, 4th September 1525.
[Sidenote: D'ESCH--THE IMAGES.]
The evangelical doctrine was making its way into the first families of
Metz. The chevalier D'Esch, a man highly respected, and the dean's
intimate friend, had just been converted.[898] The friends of the
Gospel rejoiced. "The knight, our worthy master,"......repeated Peter,
adding with noble candour; "if, however, we are permitted to have a
master upon earth."[899]
[898] Clarissimum illum equitem......cui multum familiaritatis et
amicitiæ, cum primicerio Metensi, patruo meo. Ibid. 2d Aug. 1524.
[899] Ibid. 21st July 1525. MS. of Neufchatel.
Thus Metz was about to become a focus of light, when the imprudent
zeal of Leclerc suddenly arrested this slow but sure progress, and
aroused a storm that threatened utter ruin to the rising church. The
common people of Metz continued walking in their old superstitions,
and Leclerc's heart was vexed at seeing this great city plunged in
"idolatry." One of their great festivals was approaching. About a
league from the city stood a chapel containing images of the Virgin
and of the most celebrated saints of the country, and whither all the
inhabitants of Metz were in the habit of making a pilgrimage on a
certain day in the year, to worship the images and to obtain the
pardon of their sins.
[Sidenote: THE IMAGES BROKEN--THE PROCESSION.]
The eve of the festival had arrived: Leclerc's pious and courageous
soul was violently agitated. Has not God said: _Thou shalt not bow
down to their gods; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite
break down their images?_[900] Leclerc thought that this command was
addressed to him, and without consulting either Chatelain, Esch, or
any of those whom he might have suspected would have dissuaded him,
quitted the city in the evening, just as night was coming on, and
approached the chapel. There he pondered a while sitting silently
before the statues. He still had it in his power to withdraw;
but......to-morrow, in a few hours, the whole city that should worship
God alone will be kneeling down before these blocks of wood and stone.
A struggle ensued in the wool-comber's bosom, like that which we trace
in so many Christians of the primitive ages of the Church. What
matters it to him that what he sees are the images of saints, and not
of heathen gods and goddesses? Does not the worship which the people
pay to these images belong to God alone? Like Polyeucte before the
idols in the temple, his heart shudders, his courage revives:
Ne perdons plus de temps, le sacrifice est prêt,
Allons y du vrai Dieu soutenir l'intérêt;
Allons fouler aux pieds ce foudre ridicule,
Dont arme un bois pourri ce peuple trop crédule;
Allons en éclairer l'aveuglement fatal,
Allons briser ces dieux de pierre et de métal;
Abandonnons nos jours à cette ardeur céleste--
Faisons triompher Dieu;--qu'il dispose du reste.[901]
_Corneille, Polyeucte._
[900] Exodus xx. 4; xxiii. 24.
[901] What many admire in verse they condemn in history.
Leclerc arose, approached the images, took them down and broke them in
pieces, indignantly scattering their fragments before the altar. He
doubted not that the Spirit of the Lord had excited him to this
action, and Theodore Beza thinks the same.[902] After this, Leclerc
returned to Metz, which he entered at daybreak, unnoticed save by a
few persons as he was entering the gates.[903]
[902] Divini spiritus afflatu impulsus. Bezæ Icones.
[903] Mane apud urbis portas deprehensus.
[Sidenote: LECLERC CONDEMNED AND TORTURED.]
Meanwhile all were in motion in the ancient city; bells were ringing;
the brotherhoods were assembling; and the whole population of Metz,
headed by the canons, priests, and monks, went forth in solemn
procession; they recited prayers or sung hymns to the saints they were
going to adore; crosses and banners moved on in due order, and
instruments of music or drums responded to the voices of the faithful.
At length, after nearly an hour's march, the procession reached the
place of pilgrimage. But what was the astonishment of the priests,
when advancing, censer in hand, they discovered the images they had
come to worship mutilated and covering the earth with their fragments.
They recoiled with horror, and announced this sacrilegious act to the
crowd. Suddenly the chanting ceased, the instruments were silent, the
banners lowered, and the whole multitude was in a state of
indescribable agitation. The canons, priests, and monks endeavoured to
inflame their minds, and excited the people to search for the
criminal, and demand his death.[904] But one cry burst from every lip:
"Death, death to the sacrilegious wretch!" They returned to Metz in
haste and in disorder.
[904] Totam civitatem concitarunt ad auctorem ejus facinoris
quærendum. Act. Mart. Lat. p. 189.
Leclerc was known to all; many times he had called the images idols.
Besides had he not been seen at daybreak returning from the direction
of the chapel. He was seized; he immediately confessed his crime, and
conjured the people to worship God alone. But this language still
further exasperated the fury of the multitude, who would have dragged
him to instant death. When led before his judges, he boldly declared
that Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, should alone be adored.
He was sentenced to be burnt alive, and taken out to the place of
execution.
[Sidenote: THE MARTYR'S COURAGE--CHATELAIN BURNT.]
Here a fearful scene awaited him. The cruelty of his persecutors had
been contriving all that could render his punishment more horrible.
Near the scaffold men were heating pincers that were to serve as the
instruments of their rage. Leclerc, firm and calm, heard unmoved the
wild yells of the monks and people. They began by cutting off his
right hand; then taking up the burning pincers, they tore off his
nose; after this, they lacerated his arms, and when they had thus
mangled them in several places, they concluded by burning his
breasts.[905] While his enemies were in this manner wreaking their
vengeance on his body, Leclerc's mind was at rest. He recited solemnly
and with a loud voice[906] these words of David: _Their idols are
silver and_ _gold, the work of men's hands_. _They have mouths, but
they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but
they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands,
but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak
they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so
is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield._ (Psalm cxv. 4-9). The sight of
such fortitude daunted the enemies, and strengthened the
faithful;[907] the people, who had before shown so much anger, were
astonished and touched with compassion.[908] After these tortures
Leclerc was burnt by a slow fire, in conformity with his sentence.
Such was the death of the first martyr of the Gospel in France.
[905] Naso candentibus forcipibus abrepto, iisdemque brachio utroque
ipsisque mammis crudelissime perustis. Bezæ Icones; MS. de Meaux,
Crespin, &c.
[906] Altissima voce recitans. Bezæ Icones.
[907] Adversariis territis, piis magnopere confirmatis. Bezæ Icones.
[908] Nemo qui non commoveretur, attonitus. Act. Mart. Lat. p. 189.
But the priests of Metz were not satisfied. In vain had they
endeavoured to shake the constancy of Chatelain. "He is deaf as an
adder," said they, "and refuses to hear the truth."[909] He was seized
by the creatures of the Cardinal of Lorraine and carried to the castle
of Nommeny.
[909] Instar aspidis serpentis aures omni surditate affectas. Ibid. p.
183.
He was then degraded by the bishop's officers, who stripped him of his
priestly vestments, and scraped his fingers with a piece of glass,
saying: "By this scraping, we deprive thee of the power to sacrifice,
consecrate, and bless, which thou receivedst by the anointing of
hands."[910] Then, throwing over him a layman's dress, they
surrendered him to the secular power, which condemned him to be burnt
alive. The pile was soon erected, and the minister of Christ consumed
by the flames. "Lutheranism spread not the less through the whole
district of Metz," say the authors of the history of the Gallican
Church, who in other respects highly approve of this severity.
[910] Utriusque manus digitos lamina vitrea erasit. Ibid. p. 66.
[Sidenote: FAREL AND HIS BROTHERS.]
As soon as this storm began to beat upon the Church at Metz,
tribulation had entered into Toussaint's family. His uncle, the dean,
without taking an active part in the measures directed against Leclerc
and Chatelain, shuddered at the thought that his nephew was one of
their party. His mother's alarm was greater still. There was not a
moment to lose; the liberty and life of all who had lent their ear to
the Gospel were endangered. The blood that the inquisitors had shed
had only increased their thirst: more scaffolds would erelong be
raised. Peter Toussaint, the knight Esch, and many others, hastily
quitted Metz, and sought refuge at Basle.