TRIUMPH OF THE WORD OF GOD, BOTH WRITTEN AND SPOKEN.
(JUNE TO AUGUST 1535.)
Rome had set up, beside the Bible and even above it, the word and the
traditions of men. The Reformation demanded that the Holy Scriptures
should be read by all and preached from the pulpits. The written Word
and oral teaching were to displace that pretended infallible chair,
which alone was authorized (they said) to set forth the will of God.
[Sidenote: THE FRENCH BIBLE PRINTED.]
One fact of great importance was being accomplished at this time. The
discussion maintained at Geneva by Farel, Bernard, Chapuis, and Caroli
was but a musketry skirmish; but at a little distance from that city—at
Neuchâtel—thanks to the labors of Calvin and Olivetan, a tradesman, a
Picard like themselves, was preparing that great artillery, whose
formidable volleys were to break down the walls of error, on the ruins
of which a divine hand was to establish the truth of Jesus Christ.
Pierre Robert of Noyon, called Olivetan, had finished the work the
Church had intrusted to him. On the 4th of June, 1535, appeared the
first French Bible of the Reformation.[546] 'Possessing a keen and
penetrating mind,' said one of its readers who was thoroughly capable of
appreciating the work, 'the translator is not deficient in learning; he
has spared neither labor, research, nor care, and has ably discharged
the duties of a translator of the Bible.'[547] 'I have done the best I
could,' said the translator himself, on presenting the book to his
brethren; 'I have labored and searched as deeply as I possibly could
into the living mine of pure truth; but I do not pretend to have
entirely exhausted it.'[548] Some people have asserted that Olivetan's
Bible was only a copy of that by Le Fevre of Etaples. The translation of
the Old Testament, probably begun before Olivetan's journey to the
Valleys, is the best part of his work, and it may be said to be
original.[549] Calvin's cousin no doubt had his predecessor's
translation before him; but the latter does not contain three
consecutive verses in which Olivetan has not changed something. His New
Testament is more like Le Fevre's; still numerous changes were
introduced into it. It has been calculated that the new translator had
corrected the biblical text of the Sorbonne doctor in twenty-three
thousand five hundred places, and in more than sixty thousand, if
account be taken of all the minutiæ of style.[550] Calvin's share has
reference particularly to the later editions of this Bible. With regard
to the mechanical part, the two cousins had found a distinguished
auxiliary.
Pierre de Wingle (called also Pérot Picard) was one of the good printers
of the sixteenth century. The episcopal court of Lyons, where he lived,
had prosecuted him for printing 'certain writings come from Germany;' he
then took refuge at Geneva, but the impression of the New Testament and
various pamphlets had compelled him, in 1532, to flee to Neuchâtel—a
reformed city since 1530—which behaved more hospitably, and shortly
after made him a citizen. About half an hour's walk from Neuchâtel, is
the little village of Serrière; here Wingle set up his presses, and this
modest but happy locality, which first had heard the Gospel preached by
Farel, was destined also to be the first to witness the birth of
Olivetan's Bible. The latter had dated his dedication,
_Des Alpes, ce_ XIIᵉ _de feburier 1535_,
as if he wished to confound the Vaudois valleys of the Cottian Alps,
where the idea had been conceived, with the parts of Switzerland where
it had been carried out. The Vaudois had collected for this publication
five hundred golden crowns, a sum equivalent to about 2,400_l._
sterling.
[Sidenote: OLIVETAN TO THE CHURCH.]
The volume had scarcely left the press, when Wingle and his friends sent
it wherever the French language was spoken. 'Has not the King of kings
proclaimed,' they thought, 'that His _Word should go forth to the ends
of the world_?' 'The people who make thee this present,' said Olivetan
to the Church, 'are the true people of patience who, in silence and
hope, have overcome all assaults. For a long time they have seen thee
maltreated, seeming rather a poor slave than the daughter and heiress of
the universal Ruler. But now that thou beginnest to recognize thy
origin, these people, thy brothers, come forward and lovingly offer thee
their all. Cheer up then, poor little Church! go and cleanse thy
spattered rags; go and wash thy befouled hands. Desirest thou to be
always subject to masters? Is it not time to think of the Bridegroom?
Here is a precious jewel He sends thee as a wedding-gift and pledge of a
loyal marriage.[551] Art thou afraid that He will some day leave thee a
widow, He who lives for evermore? Courage! bid farewell to that
traitorous hag whom thou hast so long called mother. It is true that
thou canst bring to thy husband nothing of any value; but come, come
boldly with all the nobles and titled ones of thy court, with thy
insulted, excommunicated, imprisoned, banished, and plundered ones! Come
with thy tortured, branded, crop-eared, dismembered ones![552] Such are
those whom Christ calls to triumph with him in his heavenly court.'[553]
If the fruits of the Bible published at Neuchâtel were more numerous,
those of the discussion at Geneva were more prompt. The most candid
catholics were struck at seeing the men who were on the side of the
Reform giving an account of their faith, while those on the other side
stood dumb. There was eloquence in this contrast. Accordingly priests,
laymen, and women, stripped of their prejudices, declared that the truth
of God, brought forward during the discussion, had opened their eyes. No
doubt many simply quitted the forms of popery for the forms of
protestantism. To put aside superstitions, to break images, and to
reject the authority of the pope was in their eyes the Reform: their
chief was Ami Perrin. But with a great number of Genevans, the movement
within, the conversion of the heart, corresponded with the movement
without. There were rivers of running water in that city which no man
could stop, and at which many quenched their thirst.
[Sidenote: DELAYS IN THE COUNCIL.]
The magistrates, however, far from reforming the Roman worship, remained
motionless and silent. The friends of the Gospel took the initiative.
Claude Bernard, the brother of Jacques, one of the captains of the city,
a man full of zeal for the truth, went before the council on June 28th,
accompanied by the ministers and several notables, and represented that
the mass, images, and other inventions and idolatries,[554] being
contrary to Holy Scripture, as the disputation had showed, it was time
they were suppressed. The law of conscience ought to become the law of
the State also. Bernard said: 'Ought a father to permit the children
whose guardianship God has intrusted to him, to become attached to
errors opposed to the truth of God? Magistrates, act like fathers. It
will be to the glory of God and the salvation of the people.'[555]
The syndics and councils could not come to a decision. The step they
were asked to take was that of a giant. They feared to excite the
catholics to take up arms, and the duke of Savoy to surround Geneva with
his artillery. To cross definitively the line which separated the old
times from the new was too much for them. St. Paul and the Apostles had
done it in their day, and the reformers were doing it now; but the
syndics of Geneva were neither Pauls nor Farels. They feared civil war
and escalades; they preferred waiting for the Reform to be accomplished
without them, for everything to be changed without any one's observing
it. The council, therefore, procrastinated and did nothing.[556] 'The
minutes of the discussion take a long time arranging,' answered the
premier syndic to Claude Bernard; 'as soon as they are drawn out, we
will see what is to be done.' The great evolution of the Reformation was
metamorphosed by these worthy ediles into a question of drawing up
minutes. To show their love for the _status quo_, they condemned to
three days' imprisonment, on bread and water and the strappado, a
huguenot who had destroyed the images placed in front of the chapel of
Notre Dame.
Farel's friends determined to wait; but no measure of reform appeared,
although they waited ten times the space required to examine the
minutes. The huguenots thought that the council was taking refuge in
'tortuous hiding-places,' when it ought to act boldly in the light of
day. The evangelicals thought that 'as God gives us everything openly,
the secrets of our hearts ought also to be open and displayed.'
Never had courage and firmness been more necessary. Great miseries were
beginning. Since the disputation not a sack of wheat or a load of wood
had entered the city, while previously they used to enter in great
numbers twice a week. There were no eggs, or butter, or cheese, or
cattle. One day, however, a cow was brought by a man from a neighboring
village; what a supply for a whole city! But the man had scarcely got
out of the city, when the enemy seized him roughly and made him pay
three times the price he had received. If friends wanted to bring some
trifling stores from the nearest farms, they dared not do it by
daylight.[557] Finding themselves reduced to such extremities, a few
citizens on one or two occasions went out of the city to procure bread:
they were insulted and beaten. 'Alas!' said the poor creatures, 'we have
only to move the tips of our fingers, or go a nail's breadth out of the
city, to make our enemies cry out that we are upsetting heaven and
earth.'[558]
Seeing that no progress was made, the evangelicals determined to assert
the free publication of the Word of God. It was not enough for them to
have it printed, they wanted it preached,—not only in their own houses
or in the great hall of Rive, but in the churches. They had within their
walls one of the most powerful preachers of the age—Farel: they believed
that their duty towards God and their fellow-citizens called upon them
to make his eloquent voice heard by the multitude.
[Sidenote: FAREL AT THE MADELEINE.]
The 22d of July was the feast of Mary Magdalen. The bells had been
solemnly rung to call worshippers to the church of that name, and
already a great number of catholics and even evangelicals had gathered
within its walls. Was it by a Latin mass that the memory of that
Magdalen ought to be commemorated to whom Jesus had said: _Thy faith
hath saved thee_? Ought not those words to be preached which Jesus had
addressed to her, and not the rubbish with which the priests sent their
flocks to sleep? This was what the reformers asked each other. They
observed, moreover, that the catholics, less numerous than the
protestants, had six churches, while the latter had scarcely one or two
places of worship. They added that if the marvellous work begun in
Geneva was to be completed, great meetings must be held in the temples.
Some persons called out, 'Farel.'—'Yes, Farel,' repeated many: 'let us
go and fetch him;' and they all ran to the convent of Rive. The reformer
had just gone into the pulpit when the message was handed to him. Farel
was always ready and believed he had a right to speak in a church. 'My
friends,' he said to his congregation, 'we must to-day preach the good
news under the vaulted roof of the Madeleine, and abolish idolatry
there.' He then came down from the pulpit and bent his way towards that
huge old gothic church, with its Carlovingian tower, whose foundation
dates from the eleventh century. The crowd of his hearers followed him.
He entered: his friends made signs of joy: the priest standing before
the altar, where he was celebrating mass, stopped in alarm and ran away;
his acolytes followed him, and all the worshippers wished to do the
same. But the huguenots, thinking that the Word of God was specially
necessary for them, shut the doors. This roused the catholics, the
frightened women shrieked, and all made such an uproar, that the
reformers opened the doors and let those depart who pleased. There
remained, however, a certain number of undecided persons; and Farel
began to preach with power, that Saviour who had pardoned the Magdalen
and who still pardons sinners.
Meantime those who had fled, dispersing in the streets and houses, cried
out against the scandal, while the parish priest, running off to the
hôtel-de-ville, complained to the council. Farel was forbidden to preach
again in that church. When the sermon was ended, the catholics returned
and the priests sang mass in it with more fervor than ever. The
huguenots made no opposition, but they also claimed that no one should
oppose their meetings. The two worships were to be free. In fact the
very same day at vespers, 'those rascals (_canailles_),' says Sister
Jeanne, 'again took possession of the holy church, and every day
afterwards it was the usual custom to preach in it.'[559]
The irritated council summoned Farel before them on the 30th of July.
'Sirs,' said the reformer, 'you have yourselves acknowledged that
whatever cannot be proved by Scripture ought to be suppressed; why then
do you delay doing so? Were not the defenders of popery vanquished in
our debates? And has not almost the whole city recognized the finger of
God in this signal defeat of the papacy? Give us orders which we can
obey, for fear we should be constrained to answer you with Scripture,
that _it is better to obey God rather than men_. Assemble the Council of
Two Hundred and let them decide.' The syndics, knowing that the friends
of Reform had a majority in that assembly, refused the demand, and
repeated their prohibition to Farel, adding: _For good reasons_.
Farel thought their reasons bad. In such a matter he knew but one really
good: _Preach the Gospel to every creature_, the Lord had said. He set
no bounds either to his desire for the triumph of the truth, or to his
expectation of help from God to give him the victory. A holy ambition
that would not be straitened, animated him, and according to the words
of Elisha, he _smote five or six times_ until the enemy was vanquished.
Farel was one of those men whom God raises up for great and salutary
revolutions: opposition only served to inflame his courage.
[Sidenote: FAREL AT SAINT-GERVAIS.]
On the 1st of August he went to Saint-Gervais, where the friends of the
Reform were numerous. The uneasy syndics sent a guard of fifty men; but
Farel went into the pulpit and preached in the old church the ever new
Gospel of Jesus Christ. On the 5th of August he became still bolder, and
proclaimed the anti-Roman doctrine in the church dedicated to St.
Dominic, the father of the Inquisition. This evangelist did not perform
his office at his own time only and according to his own convenience: he
never spared himself, whatever were the vexations he gathered from his
labors. He summoned weary souls to rest at the feet of Christ; he
followed up the obstinate; he argued, reproved, entreated, exhorted. He
multiplied the inducements to make the dilatory enter upon the way of
life, and 'his vehemence was always tempered with meekness.' The hour
had arrived when divine truth was to triumph over human errors; he
therefore multiplied his attacks. The greatest blow yet remained to be
struck. A thunder-clap was about to bring down an abundant rain upon the
thirsty earth, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost which cometh from
heaven.[560]
The cathedral of St. Pierre, whose three old towers soar above the city,
played a great part in its history, and every Genevan was attached to
its stones, though they were now (as it were) broken and scattered, and
the divine service was contaminated by mournful profanations. But the
greater the desolation, the more did pious men desire to see that august
temple purified and the good news proclaimed beneath its vaulted roof.
Fourteen canons still belonged to it, established to defend it; but
those unhappy clerks, isolated, scared, and conquered before a blow was
struck, waited trembling until the tide of Reform, which still kept
rising, invaded their sanctuary. They had not long to wait. On Sunday
morning, 8th of August, a crowd of reformed Genevans mounted the streets
leading to the church, and approached it with the firm intention of
replacing the light upon the candlestick. 'When rust has tarnished
iron,' said a reformer, 'we endeavor to restore it to its former
brightness: must we not, then, cleanse away from the Church of Christ
the thick rust which ages of darkness have accumulated on it?'[561]
Having entered the noble edifice, the reformers began to ring the great
bell to call the people to hear the Gospel. _Clémence_ was tolling the
last hour of the Middle Ages, the _De Defunctis_ of images, 'those gods
of the priests,' as the huguenots called them. The chapel which
contained the arm of St. Anthony, on which men used to swear in serious
cases, was to be pulled down; all that mass of waxen hands offered by
devotees, and a thousand other relics equally stupid, were to disappear.
In that temple, now 'crammed with idols,' God and his Word were
henceforward to reign alone.
[Sidenote: FAREL IN THE PULPIT.]
Farel arrived and went into the pulpit. The worship they were about to
celebrate was not to be an ordinary service: a religious revolution was
about to be accomplished. Ceremonies were the essence of popery. Now
Farel was full of the idea that there are no ceremonial laws in
Christianity; that an act of worship, discharged according to the rules
of the Church, is not on that account pleasing to God and meritorious:
that to overburden believers with festivals, bowing of the head,
crossing, kneeling before pictures, and ceremonies, is opposed to
worship in the spirit; that to fill the churches with images, offerings,
relics, and tapers is dealing a blow at justification by faith and the
merit of Christ's death which alone save the sinner. He believed with
his whole heart that divine worship, according to the New Testament,
does not consist in processions, elevations, salutations, bowings,
genuflexions before the host, and other superstitious usages; that its
essence is faith in the Gospel, the charity which flows from it,
patience in bearing the cross, public confession of Jesus Christ, and
the living prayer of the heart. At the sight of the statues, the
pictures, the votive offerings which surrounded him—at the recollection
of the superstitious ceremonies which for centuries had profaned that
cathedral, Farel in great emotion was ready to do anything, even at the
risk of his life, to establish that religion which is _spirit and life_.
'Those idols,' he said, pointing from the pulpit to the images around
him, 'the mass and the whole body of popery are condemned by the Holy
Ghost. The magistrates, ordained by God, ought to pull down everything
that is raised in opposition to God's glory.' The images, if they
remained, would be in his eyes a sign of the victory of catholicism; but
if they fell, their fall would proclaim the victory of the Reformation.
This point had been often discussed: the priests and devout people
opposed Farel's intentions with all their power, and maintained that
such changes required the consent of a general council. The alarmed
politicians objected that if they pulled down the images, then for one
enemy Geneva would have a hundred—the duke of Savoy, the king of France,
the emperor, the pope, the cardinals, and all the bishops in the world.
There were at this time two powers and two systems in the city:—the
reformers, whose ideal theories had not yet been modified by reality,
said that the State, as well as individuals, ought to become a new
creature; that the Gospel would accomplish this work of transformation;
that the Church would change the people and would make of the State a
kingdom of God upon earth.... Alas! that task is still far from being
accomplished, and can it ever be? On the other hand the politicians,
without wishing to reject the influence of the Gospel, thought that the
State occupied the first place in human society, and that order was not
possible without it. They believed that the magistrates, without being
the masters of the faith, ought to be the source of regularity in the
Church, and accordingly the State undertook to restrain the
evangelicals. It was attempted later in Calvin's day; now it was done in
Farel's. The council sent for him after the sermon at St. Pierre's and
asked him why he had preached in the cathedral. 'I am surprised,' said
the reformer, 'that you make a crime of what is in accordance with
Scripture.' If, however, he rendered unto God the things that were
God's, he was willing to render unto Cæsar the things that were Cæsar's.
He therefore expressed a desire that the reformers should be summoned by
the legitimate authority, and renewed his demand for the convocation of
the Council of Two Hundred.
The syndics ordered him to discontinue his sermons at St. Pierre's until
further notice.[562]
[546] Annales de Boyne, ad annum.
[547] Calvin, Letter at the head of the Bible of 1535.
[548] Preface to the Bible of 1535.
[549] Olivetan took advantage of all the Hebrew commentaries and
paraphrases contained in the Bible of Bomberg. (Venice, 1518-1526.) See
the articles in the _Revue de Strasbourg_, by M. Reuss.
[550] Em. Pétavel, _La Bible en France_, pp. 106, 107.
[551] According to Olivetan, the Bible is the 'corbeille de mariage'—the
casket containing the jewels and presents which the bridegroom sends to
the bride.
[552] 'Viens avec tes tenaillés (torn with red-hot pincers), tes
flétris, tes oreillés, tes démembrés.'
[553] Calvin placed two writings at the head of the volume: _Une épître
à tous empereurs, rois, princes, et peuples soumis à l'empire de
Christ_, and a _Discours préliminaire_, which was long at the head of
the ancient Genevan Bibles.
[554] 'Idolotramenta.' Registres du Conseil du 28 Juin 1535.—Farellus
Calvino.
[555] 'Magistratus fungeretur officio patris . . . . officium faceret
pro gloria Dei et plebis salute.' Farel to Calvin, _Epist.
Calv._—Chronique MSC. de Roset, iii. p. 37.
[556] 'Le conseil donc, délayant, ne faisait rien.'—Chronique MSC. de
Roset, iii. p. 37.
[557] Collection Galiffe.
[558] Dépêches des Syndics, du 18 Juillet, aux Cantons Suisses.
[559] Jeanne de Jussie, _Commencement de l'Hérésie dans Genève_,
p. 127.—Registres du Conseil du 23 Juillet.
[560] Registres du Conseil du 30 Juillet.
[561] Calvin.
[562] Registres du Conseil du 8 Août 1535.—Froment, _Gestes de Genève_,
pp. 142, 144.