had come from France with his men-at-arms to attack Geneva, laid aside
his warlike humour when he found the Swiss in the city, and, wishing to
conciliate the Genevans, repeated to all who came near him that he had
never intended to do them any harm, and would punish severely everybody
who was guilty of violence towards them. A truce was concluded at St.
Julien. The definitive treaty of peace was referred to a Swiss diet to
be held at Payerne. The bishop released the merchants, the cows, and the
goats he had seized, and the Genevans set Mandolla at liberty; 'but,'
adds Bonivard, 'I was not taken out of Chillon.'[852]
[Footnote 830: _Journal de Balard_, pp. 274-280. Registres du Conseil
des 23 juin; 5, 8, 19 juillet; 9 août. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 576.
Galiffe fils, _Besançon Hugues_, pp. 398, 399. Gautier MS.]
[Footnote 831: MS. _Hist. of Geneva_ in the Berne library, erroneously
ascribed to Bonivard.]
[Footnote 832: _Journal de Balard_, pp. 274-280. Registres du Conseil
des 23 juin; 5, 8, 19 juillet; 9 août. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 576.
Galiffe fils, _Besançon Hugues_, pp. 398, 399. Gautier MS.]
[Footnote 833: _Journal de Balard_, p. 280.]
[Footnote 834: Roset MS. _Chroniq._ liv. ii. ch. xlix. Registres du
Conseil du 4 juillet et du 12 août.]
[Footnote 835: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. pp. 577, 578. Besson, _Mémoires
du Diocèse de Genève_, p. 62. Gautier MS.]
[Footnote 836: See vol. i. p. 69.]
[Footnote 837: Gautier MS. Besson, _Mémoires du Diocèse de Genève_.
Galiffe fils, _Besançon Hugues_, p. 400. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. pp.
577, 578.]
[Footnote 838: _Journal de Balard_, p. 286.]
[Footnote 839: Ibid. p. 287.]
[Footnote 840: _Journal de Balard_, p. 289.]
[Footnote 841: Sleidan, _Hist. de la Réformation_, liv. vii. _Journal de
Balard_, p. 289.]
[Footnote 842: 'Als der Kayser mit Herzog Friedrichen und andern Fürsten
des Krieges vor Genf zu reden worden.'—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 421.]
[Footnote 843: 'Hat der Kayser unter andern in Französisch geredet: Ey,
der Herzog hat die Sache zu früh angefangen.'—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 421.]
[Footnote 844: 2 Kings vi. 17.]
[Footnote 845: _Journal de Balard_, pp. 289, 290.]
[Footnote 846: 'Ils vivaient sur le bon homme.' _Bon homme_ was a term
applied by the nobles to the peasantry. Hence the war of _Jacques
Bon-homme_ in France.]
[Footnote 847: Their convent was in the upper part of the city where the
palace of justice now stands, in the Bourg de Four.]
[Footnote 848: La Sœur J. de Jussie, pp. 11-14.]
[Footnote 849: La Sœur J. de Jussie, p. 18.]
[Footnote 850: La Sœur J. de Jussie, p. 21.]
[Footnote 851: La Sœur J. de Jussie, pp. 23-25.]
[Footnote 852: Ibid. pp. 20-25. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 586. Gautier
MS.]
CHAPTER XII.
GENEVA RECLAIMED BY THE BISHOP AND AWAKENED BY THE
GOSPEL.
(NOVEMBER 1530 TO OCTOBER 1531.)
[Sidenote: IMPERIAL LETTER TO GENEVA]
Thus had failed the attack of the bishop-prince against his city; and it
was much to be feared that such an act, instead of restoring his power,
would only accelerate his fall. Pierre de la Baume saw this, and
resolved to employ other means to regain in Geneva the authority he had
lost.
The thought that the Helvetic league was to be the arbiter between
Geneva and her bishop-prince oppressed him like a nightmare: he did not
doubt that the diet would pronounce against him. A clever idea occurred
to him. 'If,' said he, 'I could but have the emperor as arbiter, instead
of the Swiss.... Surely the monarch, who is preserving the papacy in
Germany, will preserve it also at Geneva.' Charles V. and the catholic
party were still at Augsburg; and the bishop would have desired to
substitute a congress of princes for a diet of republicans. 'In truth,'
said the emperor, when this petition was laid before him, 'we should not
like the rights of the most reverend father in God, the Bishop of
Geneva, to be prejudiced.... They are of imperial foundation; and it is
our duty, therefore, to maintain them.' Charles had never been more
irritated against the protestants than he was now. It was the middle of
November: the imperial _recess_ had just been rejected by the
evangelicals, because the emperor (they said) had not authority to
command in matters of faith.[853] The deputies of Saxony and Hesse had
left without waiting for the close of the diet. The imperialists assured
the friends of the Bishop of Geneva that he could not have chosen a
better time, and that his cause was gained. On the 19th of November
proclamation was to be made in Augsburg of the re-establishment 'of one
and the same faith throughout the empire.' On the evening before, while
this was being drawn up, the emperor called his secretary, and dictated
to him the following letter, addressed to the people of Geneva:—
'DEAR LIEGEMEN,
'We have been informed that there is a question between you and our
cousin, the Duke of Savoy, about matters touching the rights of our
well-beloved cousin and counsellor, the Bishop of Geneva. We have
desired to write to you about that, enjoining you very expressly to send
to our imperial authority persons well informed on all points in dispute
between the bishop and yourselves. We shall demand the same of the said
lords, the duke and the bishop, our cousins, for the settlement of your
differences, which will be for the welfare and tranquillity of both
parties. You will thus learn the desire we have that _our subjects_
should live in peace, friendship, and concord.
'Dear liegemen, may God watch over you!
'At Augsburg, 18th of November, 1530.
'CHARLES.'
[Sidenote: ANSWER OF THE GENEVESE.]
This letter from his imperial majesty created a great sensation in
Geneva. It was known that Charles V. was preparing to reduce mighty
princes, and every one perceived the danger that threatened the city.
'What!' said the people, 'we are to send deputies to Augsburg, and
perhaps to Austria, where they will meet those of the bishop and the
duke ... and the emperor will be our judge!' The councils assembled
frequently without coming to any decision as to the answer to be
returned. First one and then another was commissioned to draw it up.
Councillor Genoux produced a draft signed 'Your very humble
subjects.'—'We are not subjects,' exclaimed the huguenots. At length
they decided on writing as follows:—
'Most serene, most invincible, very high and mighty Prince Charles,
always august. For this long time past, we, in defence of the authority
and franchises of our prince-bishop and city of Geneva, have suffered
many vexations, great charges, expenses, and dangers, proceeding from
the most illustrious duke. Quite recently we were surrounded by armed
men, his subjects, and outrageously attacked. Nevertheless, by God's
will and the kind succour of the magnificent lords of Berne and Friburg,
we have been preserved from this assault—to relate which would be
wearisome to your majesty.' The council added that, as the settlement
which the emperor desired to undertake would be arranged at Payerne
before the Swiss diet, they could not profit by his good intentions, and
concluded by commending to him the city of Geneva, 'which, from desiring
to observe its strict duty, would have been almost destroyed but for the
grace of God.'[854]
Thus did the little city boldly decline the intervention of the great
emperor. The duke and the bishop had hoped that Charles V., who was in
their opinion called to destroy the Reformation in Germany, would begin
by crushing it in Geneva. Accordingly, when the news of the Genevese
refusal reached the ears of the duke and the bishop, their indignation
knew no bounds. 'Since these rebels reject the peaceful mediation of the
emperor,' they said, 'we must bring the matter to an end with the
sword.' They once more resolved to take the necessary steps, but with as
much secresy as possible, so that the Swiss should not be informed of
them. The Duke of Nemours, who had not made use of his army, instructed
ten thousand lansquenets who were at Montbéliard to move as quietly as
they could behind the Jura, arrive at St. Claude, descend as far as Gex,
and, two days before the opening of the diet of Payerne which the bishop
so much dreaded, _suddenly take Geneva by storm, set it on fire_, and,
leaving a heap of ashes behind them, retire rapidly into Burgundy before
the Swiss could have time to arrive. At the same time messengers were
sent to all the castles of the Pays de Vaud, inviting the gentlemen to
hold themselves in readiness. On his side, the Duke of Savoy, who was
then at Chambéry, made 'great preparation' of armed men and adventurers,
both Italian and French. Everything, he said, was to be completed with
the greatest secresy.
[Sidenote: DECISION OF THE DIET OF PAYERNE.]
But Charles was less discreet than his brother; he could not keep
silence, but boasted of the clever _coup de main_ that he was preparing.
On the other hand, a man coming from Montbéliard to Berne reported that
he had seen ten thousand soldiers reviewed in that town. At this
intelligence, the energetic lords of Berne desired all the cantons to
hold themselves in readiness to succour Geneva, and threatened the
gentry of the Pays de Vaud to waste their country with fire and sword if
they moved. Meanwhile the council called out all the citizens. Thus the
mine was discovered, the blow failed, and the duke, once more
disappointed in his expectations, left Chambéry for Turin.[855] The diet
which met at Payerne, even while conceding the vidamy to the duke (which
he was not in a condition to reclaim), maintained the alliance of
Geneva, Berne, and Friburg, and condemned Charles III. to pay these
three cities 21,000 crowns. Geneva and Berne desired more than this:
they demanded that Bonivard should be set at liberty—'if perchance he be
not dead,' they added. The Count of Chalans replied that M. St. Victor
was 'a lawful prisoner.'[856]
As neither war nor diplomacy had succeeded in restoring the
prince-bishop to his see, he had recourse to less secular means: he
turned to the pope, who determined to grant the city a marvellous favour
by which he hoped to attach once more the bark of Geneva to the ship of
St. Peter. The heroism which the sisters of St. Claire had shown when
the Swiss had come to the help of the city in October 1530, had touched
the pontiff: among the conventuals of Geneva the only men were the
women. The pope therefore granted a general pardon to all who should
perform certain devotions in the church of that convent. On Annunciation
Day (March 25) this remarkable grace was published throughout the
country.
[Sidenote: PILGRIMAGE TO ST. CLAIRE.]
An immense crowd from all the Savoyard villages flocked to the city, 'in
great devotion,' on the first day. Chablais, Faucigny, Genevois, and Gex
were full of devotees strongly opposed to the Reformation; they were
delighted at going to pay homage in Geneva itself to the principles for
which they had so often taken up arms. As they saw these long lines
approach their walls, the citizens felt a certain fear. 'Let us be on
our guard,' they said, 'lest under the dress of pilgrims the knights and
men-at-arms of the Spoon should be concealed.' They suddenly closed the
city gates. The pilgrims continuing to arrive soon made a crowd, and,
being fatigued with their long march, exclaimed in a pitiful voice:
'Pray open the gates, for we have come from a distance.' But the
Genevans were deaf. Then appeared the pilgrims from Faucigny, energetic
and vigorous men, who got angry, and finding words of no avail, they
forced the gates, and proceeded to the church of St. Claire, where they
began unceremoniously to say their _Paters_ and _Aves_. According to a
bull of Adrian VI., it was sufficient to repeat five of these to obtain
seventy thousand years of pardon.[857] The colour mounted to the cheeks
of some of the huguenots, who would have resisted the unlawful
intrusion; but the Faucignerans continued their devotions as calmly as
if they had been in their own villages. Then the syndics went to St.
Claire (it was the hour of vespers), accompanied by their sergeants
'with drawn swords and stout staves,' and made the usual summons for
these strangers to leave the city. Upon the refusal of the Savoyards,
the public force interfered; the Faucignerans resisted, blows were
exchanged, and finally these extraordinary pilgrims were compelled to
retire without having gained their pardon. This scene increased the
dislike of the Genevans to the Romish ceremonies. To publish indulgences
was a curious means of strengthening catholicism in Geneva. Pope
Clement VII. forgot that Leo X. had thus given the signal for the
Reformation.[858]
When these scenes were described at Rome, they excited great irritation.
The sacred college determined to try again, and to exhibit in the very
midst of this heretic population a still more striking act of Roman
devotion. Clement VII. called his secretary and dictated to him, 'of
divine inspiration,' a new pardon, to which the Bishop of Geneva affixed
his _placet_, and which inflicted the penalty of excommunication on any
who should oppose it. This bull was published in the Savoyard country
adjacent to Geneva. The parish priests had scarcely announced the pardon
from their pulpits, ere the villages were astir, and men and women, old
and young, made their arrangements to go and seek the glorious grace
offered them in the city of the huguenots. The Genevans, friends of
religious liberty and legality, determined to offer no hindrance to
these devotions. But they took their precautions, and the
captain-general called out a strong guard. The pilgrims approached,
staff in hand, some carrying a cross on their shoulders; and erelong a
great crowd of Savoyards appeared before the walls. Here they were
compelled to halt. At each gate were arquebusiers, a great many of them
huguenots, who searched the pilgrims lest they should carry swords
beneath their clothes, in addition to their staves. The examination was
made, not without much grumbling, but no arms were found.
Then the devoted multitude rushed into the city, and crowded into the
church of St. Claire as if it had been that of Our Lady of Loretto. The
Genevans suffered the pilgrims to go through all their forms without
obstruction. If the Savoyards wished to perform their devotions, they
reckoned also, as is usual in affairs of this kind, upon eating and
drinking, and that abundantly. The crowd for this part of the pilgrimage
was so great, that the tavern-keepers, for want of room, were forced to
set tables in the open air. This mixture of praying and drinking made
the spectators smile, and some of the huguenots gave vent to their
sarcastic humour: 'Really,' said one, 'this pardon is quite an
ecclesiastical fair' (_nundinæ ecclesiasticæ_)! 'The fair,' said
another, 'is more useful than people imagine. By these pilgrimages the
priests revive the flagging zeal of their flocks. They are nets in which
the simple birds come and are caught.' 'I very much fear,' added a
third, 'that in order to sell her indulgences, the Church makes many
promises which God certainly will not fulfil.... It is a pious fraud, as
Thomas Aquinas says.'—'Let them alone,' said others, 'let them bring
their money ... and then, when the plate is well filled, we will empty
it.' They did not proceed to such extremities: the syndics merely
forbade the money to be spent out of the city.[859]
[Sidenote: PRIDE OF THE NUNS OF ST. CLAIRE.]
The sisters of St. Claire rejoiced. The pope had honoured them in the
sight of all christendom; their monastery was on the way to become a
celebrated place. They believed themselves to be the favourites of God
and of the heavenly intelligences, and imagined that angels would come
to their assistance. As the plague was then raging in Geneva, they
saw—surprising miracle!—the hosts of heaven leaving their glorious
abodes to preserve the convent: the plague did not visit it. All the
nuns were convinced that this was due to a miraculous intervention. And
when the sisters, in church or in refectory, at vespers or at matins,
conversed about this great grace, they whispered to one another: 'Three
wondrously handsome and formidable knights, each having a beautiful
shining cross on his forehead, keep watch before the gate.... And when
the wicked plague appears, she sees them straight in front of her, and
flees away, fearing the brightness of their faces.' Sister Jeanne de
Jussie informs us of this miraculous fact, and concludes her narrative
with this pious exclamation: 'To God be the honour and praise!' Some
sensible men afterwards asked why these knights, 'with the shining cross
on their foreheads,' had not stationed themselves at the gates of Geneva
to prevent the entrance of that other plague (as Rome called it), the
Reformation?
The means which the pope had selected for reannexing Geneva to Rome, had
quite a different effect: they produced a revival of religion. The Roman
indulgence aroused the Genevans, and made them seek for a real pardon.
Had not Luther, fourteen years before, proclaimed at Wittemberg that
'_every true christian participates in all the blessings of Christ, by
God's gift, and without a letter of indulgence_?'—'This doctrine,' said
certain huguenots who had returned from a journey through the cantons,
'is received in Switzerland, and not at Zurich and Berne alone. There
are many people of Lucerne and Schwytz even, who prefer God's pardon to
the pardons of the pope.'
An invisible hand was at that time stretched over the city, and holding
a blessing in reserve for it. Farel, who was on the shores of the lake
of Neufchatel, was informed of the evangelical movement which followed
the noisy devotions of the Faucignerans, and wrote about it immediately
to Zwingle, his friend and counsellor. This was in October 1531: yet a
few more days, and the reformer of Zurich was to meet his death on the
battle-field of Cappel. This awakening of Geneva was the last news which
came to rejoice his oppressed soul. 'Many in that city,' wrote Farel,
'feel in their hearts holy aspirations after true piety.'[860] And,
according to this energetic reformer, it was something more than vague
movements of the soul that they felt. 'Several Genevans,' he wrote
another day to Zwingle, 'are meditating on the work of Christ.'[861]
[Sidenote: 'DE CHRISTO MEDITARI.']
Thus, then, did that city of Geneva, which had been so engrossed with
political independence, begin to reflect on Jesus Christ. It was the new
topic which the Reformation presented everywhere to the consideration of
earnest men. In Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, still more
than at Geneva, serious minds were beginning to meditate on Christ—_de
Christo meditari_. Some did so in a superficial manner; others devoted
themselves to it in the depths of their soul; and holy thoughts found a
home in the houses of the citizens, in the colleges, in obscure cells,
and even on the throne. 'Christ is the Redeemer of the world,' thought
these meditative minds, 'the restorer of the union with God, which sin
destroyed.... Christ came to establish the kingdom of God upon earth....
But no one can enter that kingdom unless God pardons his sins.... In
order that we may find peace, not only must our souls be relieved from
the penalty, but our consciences must be delivered from the feeling of
the sin that keeps it apart from its God.... An atonement is
necessary.... Christ, like those whom he came to save, a man like them,
is at the same time of an eternal and divine nature, which has given him
power to ransom the entire people of God, and to be the principle of a
new life.... He took upon himself the terrible penalty which we
deserved.... His whole life was one continuous expiatory suffering....
But the crowning of his sorrows, and what gave them truly the character
of expiation, was his death.... Christ, uniting himself to humanity
through love for us, suffered death under a form which bears in the most
striking manner the character of a punishment, that is to say, the pain
of a malefactor condemned by a human tribunal.... He, the Holy One,
wishing to save his people, was made sin upon the cross.... He was
treated as the representative of sinful humanity.... He, the beloved of
the Father, endured for rebellious men the most deadly anguish, the
entire abandonment by God.... From that hour the people of God enjoy the
remission of their sins, they are reconciled with God, they have free
access to the Father.... That sacrifice is of universal
comprehensiveness; no one is excluded from it ... and yet no one
receives the benefit of it, except by a personal appropriation, by being
united to Jesus Christ, by participating, through faith, in his holy and
imperishable life.'
Such, in the sixteenth century, were the meditations of elect souls in
many a secret chamber, and it is in this way that the Reformation was
accomplished. Perhaps one or two Genevans had similar thoughts; but,
generally, their knowledge was not very advanced, and most of the
huguenots desired rather to be delivered from the bishop and the duke
than from sin and condemnation. Farel did not conceal from Zwingle his
anxieties in this respect, and said, in his letter from Granson: 'As for
the degree of fervour with which the Genevans seek after piety—it is
known only to the Lord.'[862]
[Sidenote: FAREL FEELS THE WANTS OF GENEVA.]
No one interested himself more than Farel in the reformation of Geneva.
That year he was at Avenche, Payerne, Orbe, Granson, and other places;
and everywhere he ran the risk of losing his life. In one place a
sacristan threatened him with a pistol; in another, a friar tried to
kill him with a knife concealed under his frock; but Farel never thought
of himself. Of intrepid heart and indomitable will, always burning with
desire to promote the triumph of the Gospel, and prepared to confront
the most violent opposition, he felt himself strongly drawn to Geneva as
soon as he heard that the Reformation had to contend with powerful
adversaries there. He then fixed his eyes on that city, and during his
long career never turned them away from it. In the midst of his labours
at Granson, by the side of the lake, near the old castle, on the famous
battle-field, Geneva occupied his thoughts. He reflected that although
it already had a reputation for heresy, there was in reality no true
reform. What! shall the Reformation die there before it is born? He
desired to see the Word of God preached there publicly, in an
appropriate, vivifying, effective manner, and, as Calvin said, 'by
pressing the people importunately.' He desired to see the pulpit become
the seat of the prophets and apostles, the throne of Christ in his
Church. No time must be lost. The Reformation would be ruined in Geneva,
and the new times would perish with it, if the huguenots, who had ceased
to listen to the mass, were contented, as their only worship, with
walking up and down the church while the priests were chanting. The
ardent passions and warlike humour of the Genevese alarmed him. 'Alas!'
he said, 'there is no other law at Geneva than the law of arms.'[863] He
desired to establish the law of God there. He would have liked to go
there himself, and perhaps he would have carried away some by his lively
eloquence, and alarmed others by the thunders of his voice; but he owed
himself at this time to the places he was evangelising at the peril of
his life. If he quitted the work, Rome would regain her lost ground. He
therefore looked about him for a man fitted to scatter through the city
the seeds of the Word of God.
[Sidenote: CALLS TOUSSAINT TO GO THERE.]
Pierre Toussaint, the young canon of Metz, had quitted France, at the
invitation of Œcolampadius, after his sojourn at the court of the Queen
of Navarre, and had joined Zwingle at Zurich.[864] Farel came to the
determination of sending Toussaint to Geneva: they had occasionally
preached the Gospel together since 1525. 'Make haste to send him into
the Lord's vineyard,' he wrote to Zwingle, 'for you know how well fitted
he is for this work. I entreat you to extend a helping hand.'[865] And,
as if he foresaw the importance of the reformation of Geneva, he added:
'It is no small matter: see that you do not neglect it.[866] Urge
Toussaint to labour strenuously, so as to redeem by his zeal all the
time he has lost.'[867] Zwingle executed the commission. Toussaint, one
of the most amiable among the secondary personages of the Reform,
listened attentively to the great doctor, and at first showed himself
inclined to accept the call.[868] Zwingle spared no pains to bring him
to a decision: he set before him what the Gospel had already done in
Geneva, and what remained to be done. 'Enter into this house of the
Lord,' he said. 'Rend the hoods in pieces, and triumph over the
shavelings.... You will not have much trouble, for the Word of God has
already put them to flight.'[869] He did not mean that Toussaint should
literally tear the friars to pieces, for the expression is figurative;
but the energy of Farel and Zwingle, and what he heard of the Genevan
persecutions, alarmed the poor young man. He had quitted the court of
Francis I. because of the worldliness and cowardice he had encountered
there; and now, seeing in Geneva monks and priests, _bishopers_ and
_commoners_, huguenots and mamelukes, he shrank back in terror, as if
from a den of wild beasts. He had said 'No' to the court, he said 'No'
to the energetic and impetuous city. Geneva wanted heroes—men like Farel
and Calvin. The project failed.
Farel was vexed. He who had never shrunk from any summons could not
succeed in sending an evangelist into this city!... He called to mind
that all help comes from a God of mercy, and in his anguish turned to
the Lord: 'O Christ,' he said, 'draw up thy army according to thy good
pleasure; pluck out all apathy from the hearts of those who are to give
thee glory, and arouse them mightily from their slumber.'[870] The
moment was soon to arrive when he would go himself to Geneva; but before
he appeared there, his prayer would be answered. God, whom he had
invoked, was to send there within a few months a strong and modest man,
who would prepare the way for Farel, Calvin, and the Reformation.
Meanwhile several Genevans, who did not understand that a conversion of
the heart is necessary, wished to effect at least a negative reform,
which would have consisted in doing away with the mass, images, and
priests. The more daring asked why Geneva should not do like Zurich,
Berne, and Neufchatel. 'Yes,' answered the more prudent, 'if the
Friburgers would permit.'[871]
These desires for reform, weak as they were, alarmed the Romish party.
Friars, priests, and bigots got up an agitation, and, going in great
numbers before the procurator-fiscal, conjured him to lay aside his
apathy, seeing that this new religion would change everything in Geneva,
and deprive the bishop not only of his spiritual jurisdiction, but of
his secular authority also. The fiscal, who was empowered to watch over
the rights of the prince, called for a severe inquiry upon all suspected
persons.[872] At these words there was silence in the assembly: some of
the members of the council looked at one another, and felt ill at ease,
for they were among the number of the suspected. The fiscal spoke out
more plainly, and filled the hall with complaints and clamour. 'Let us
destroy heresy!' he repeated.[873] The council, perplexed to the highest
degree, evaded the matter by doing nothing either for or against it.
[Sidenote: BERNE AND FRIBURG AT GENEVA.]
The fervent catholics next proceeded to the hotel where the Friburg
ambassadors were staying. 'If Geneva is reformed,' said the latter,
'there is an end to the alliance.' The Friburgers did more than this:
leaving their lodgings, they accosted the more decided liberals, and
repeated to them in a firm tone: 'If Geneva is reformed, there is an end
to the alliance!' The huguenots hurried off to the Bernese ambassadors;
but the battle of Cappel was not far off, and it was a matter of doubt
whether the Reformation could be preserved even in Berne and Zurich. The
Bernese received the Genevans coldly, and the latter returned astonished
and incensed. 'Alas!' said Farel, 'the Bernese show less zeal for the
glory of Christ than the Friburgers for the decrees of the pope.'[874]
A new difficulty arose. The huguenots would have desired to march to the
deliverance of Zurich and the reformed, while the catholics wished to
support Lucerne and the smaller cantons. On the 11th of October—the very
day of the battle of Cappel, but it was not yet known—Berne demanded a
hundred arquebusiers of Geneva; and the next day Friburg wrote desiring
them to send all the help they could against the heretical cantons.
Which side should Geneva take? 'Let us refuse Friburg,' said some. 'Let
us refuse Berne,' said others. The former called to mind the assistance
which the most powerful republic in Switzerland had sent them; the
latter remembered that Friburg had espoused the cause of Geneva when
Berne was against them. The council, impelled in contrary directions,
resolved to preserve a just balance, and extricated themselves from
their embarrassment by the strangest middle course. They resolved that a
hundred Genevans should go and fight in favour of the Reformation, and
appointed Jean Philippe, one of the most zealous huguenots, to command
them; after which they also gave Friburg a favourable answer, and
elected syndic Girardet chief of the auxiliaries intended for the
catholics.[875]
[Footnote 853: _Hist. of the Ref. of the Sixteenth Century_, vol. iv.
bk. xiv. ch. xii.]
[Footnote 854: See the emperor's letter of Nov. 18, 1530, and the answer
of the Council, Dec. 10. Registers, December 9, 1530. Bonivard,
_Chroniq._ ii. pp. 591-594.]
[Footnote 855: _Journal de Balard_, pp. 306-309.]
[Footnote 856: Ibid. pp. 312, 313. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. pp. 595,
607. Galiffe fils, _Besançon Hugues_, p. 407. Ruchat, ii. p. 305.]
[Footnote 857: Chais, _Lettres sur les Jubilés_, ii. p. 583.]
[Footnote 858: La Sœur J. de Jussie, p. 25.]
[Footnote 859: La Sœur J. de Jussie, p. 28.]
[Footnote 860: 'Sunt qui ad pietatem aspirant.'—Farel to Zwingle,
October 1, 1531, _Epp._ ii. p. 647. This letter, written from Granson
eleven days before Zwingle's death, was the last the Zurich reformer
ever received. That which comes after, dated simply from Orbe, 1531, is
evidently anterior to that from Granson.]
[Footnote 861: 'Apud Gebennenses non nihil audio de Christo
meditari.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 862: 'Sed quanto fervore novit Dominus.'—Zwingl. _Epp._ ii.
p. 647.]
[Footnote 863: 'Jus est in armis.'—Zwingl. _Epp._ ii. p. 647.]
[Footnote 864: 'Petrus Tossanus per Œcolampadium sæpe suis vocatus
literis, quibus nostras frequentes addidimus. E Gallis pulsus ad te se
contulit.'—Farel to Zwingle, Orbe, _Epp._ ii. p. 648.]
[Footnote 865: 'Quantum agnoscis idoneum, tantum adige in vineam Domini
properare.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 866: 'Res non parva est, neque contemnenda.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 867: 'Strenue laborare, id studio et diligentia compenset,
quod diu cessans omisit.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 868: 'Petrum sperabam in messem Domini venturum.'—Farel to
Zwingle, _Epp._ ii. p. 648.]
[Footnote 869: 'Fractis cuculatis aliisque rasis, quos pridem Verbum
fugasset.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 870: 'Christus pro sua bona voluntate disponat omnia!
Socordiam omnem et veternum excutias a pectoribus eorum, per quos
Christi honor procurandus venit.'—Farel to Zwingle, Orbe, _Epp._ ii. p.
648.]
[Footnote 871: 'Et si per Friburgenses liceret, asserit excipiendum
prompte Evangelium.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 872: 'In hæreticæ pravitatis suspectos severa diligentia
inquireretur.'—Spanheim, _Geneva Restituta_, p. 37.]
[Footnote 873: 'Clamosa quiritatione et crebro convitio.'—Spanheim,
_Geneva Restituta_, p. 37.]
[Footnote 874: 'Bernenses non ea diligentia laborant pro Christi gloria,
qua Friburgenses pro pontificiis placitis.'—Zwingl. _Epp._ ii. p. 648.]
[Footnote 875: Registres du Conseil des 11, 13, 14 octobre 1531.]
CHAPTER XIII.
DANGER TO WHICH GENEVA IS EXPOSED BY THE DEFEAT OF
CAPPEL.
(OCTOBER 1531 TO JANUARY 1532.)
[Sidenote: GENEVA AGAIN IN DANGER.]
The news of the war between the catholics and the reformed having
reached Turin, the duke thought it a favourable opportunity for
attacking Geneva. It was reported that five thousand lansquenets were
approaching on the side of Burgundy, ten thousand Italians on the side
of the Alps, and that all the states of his highness beyond the
mountains were in motion to fall upon the city. 'There are certain heads
in Geneva,' said the duke, 'that I purpose to set flying.' The Genevans
lost not a moment. 'Let everything be destroyed that may obstruct the
defence of the city,' said the council. 'Let all the suburbs be
levelled—Eaux Vives on the left shore of the lake; St. Victor, at the
other side of St. Antoine; St. Leger, up to the Arve; and the Corraterie
as far as the Rhone. Let every man keep a good look-out; let no one be
absent without leave; let those who are away return to defend the city;
and let solemn prayers and processions be made for three days.'[876]
Thus, while Lucerne and the smaller cantons were attacking Zurich, the
Duke of Savoy and the gentlemen of the Leman were preparing to attack
Geneva. These two cities were in the sixteenth century the capitals of
protestantism in Switzerland. Geneva, however, was still filled with
priests and monks, while the choirs of all the churches reechoed with
the matins and other chants of the Romish ritual,
De pieux fainéants y laissant en leur lieu,
A des chantres gagés, le soin de louer Dieu.
How did it happen that Geneva was at this time coupled with Zurich? It
is because that city, though not yet won over to the Reformation, was
predestined to be so: a solitary example, probably, of a state exposed
to great dangers, not so much on account of what it is, as on account of
what it will be. The beginnings of the evangelical faith to be found
there were so very small, that they would not have sufficed to draw upon
it the anathemas of the bishop and the armies of the duke; but the
election of God was brooding over it; God prepared it, tried it, and
delivered it, because of the great things for which he destined it. The
adversaries of the Gospel seemed to have a secret presentiment of this;
and they desired therefore to destroy by the same blow the city of
Zwingle and that which was to be the city of Calvin.
[Sidenote: DEFEAT AT CAPPEL: TRIUMPH OF ROME.]
All the citizens were afoot. Some armed with arquebuses mounted guard;
others marched out with their mattocks to level the suburbs. At this
moment a messenger arrived from Switzerland announcing the defeat at
Cappel: Zurich had succumbed.... At first the huguenots could not
believe the mournful news; they made the messenger repeat it; but it was
soon confirmed from various quarters, and the friends of independence
and of the Reformation bent their heads in sorrow. The arm in which they
had trusted was rudely broken. The protestant party throughout
Switzerland was disheartened, while the Roman party rejoiced. It was
told at Geneva that the mass had been restored at Bremgarten,
Rapperschwyl, and Soleure, and in all the free bailiwicks, and that the
monks were returning in triumph to their deserted cells. Was it possible
for the Reformation to plant its banners on the shores of Lake Leman, at
the very moment when it was expelled from those places where it seemed
to have been so firmly established?
The Genevan catholics anticipated their triumph. The death of the Swiss
reformer was (they thought) the end of the Reformation; they had only to
strike the final blow. Their secret meetings became more numerous;
detestable plots were concocted. The heroes of the old episcopal party,
resuming their arrogant look, walked boldly in the streets of Geneva,
some rattling their swords, others sweeping the ground with their long
robes. If they chanced to meet any _suspected_ persons, they made
contemptuous gestures at them, picked quarrels with them, insulted, and
even struck them, and the outrages remained unpunished.[877] The
Friburgers, in particular, thought everything was lawful against the
evangelicals,[878] and desiring to subdue Geneva, emulous of the
Waldstettes at the Albis, they marched through the streets in small
bands, and whenever they discovered any huguenot, they surrounded him,
carried him off, and threw him into prison without trial.[879] In this
way the partisans of the bishop expected to restore him to his episcopal
throne. Pierre de la Baume was getting ready to ascend it again.
The huguenots, astonished at the perpetration of such outrages in the
presence of the Swiss, and even by the Swiss, applied once more to the
Bernese, but in vain. The latter were unwilling to countenance a
struggle in Geneva which they were checking in other quarters. 'Let
there be no petulance, no violence,' they said; 'we have the orders of
the senate.' But, as the Genevans were not disposed to remain quiet, the
envoys of Berne assumed a grave countenance, and, putting on a
magisterial haughtiness, dismissed their unseasonable visitors. The
Genevans withdrew murmuring: 'What scandalous neglect and cowardice!'
they said; 'Messieurs of Berne think a great deal more of this world
than of the world to come.'—'The senate of Berne,' repeated Farel,
'would not put up with the slightest insult to one of their ambassadors,
and yet they make light of serious insults offered to the Gospel of
Christ.'[880]
[Sidenote: APPROACH OF THE DUKE AND HIS ARMY.]
The defeat of Zurich redoubled the energy of Duke Charles. Desirous of
adorning his brows with laurels similar to those of the victors at
Cappel, he gave orders for a general attack. The troops of Vaud and
Savoy surrounded Geneva, and cut off the supplies; the boats were seized
on both shores of the lake, and the duke arrived at Gex, three leagues
from the city, with a strong force of cavalry to superintend the
assault. Under these gloomy auspices the year 1532 began in Geneva. The
danger appeared such that, at seven in the evening of the 2nd of
January, all the heads of families assembled and resolved to keep night
and day under arms, to wall up the gates, and to die rather than
renounce the Swiss alliance and their dearest liberties. A greater
misfortune was about to befall them.[881]
On the 7th of January, five days after this courageous resolution, three
Bernese deputies, De Diesbach, De Watteville, and Nägueli, appeared
before the council. Sadness was depicted on their faces, and everything
betokened that they were the bearers of a distressful message. 'We are
come from Gex, where the duke is lying,' they said. 'He consents to
treat with you, if you will first renounce the alliance with the
cantons. Remember, he is a mighty prince, and able to do you much harm.
You have not yet paid for the last army we sent you; we cannot set
another on foot. We conjure you to come to some arrangement with his
highness.'
During this speech the Genevans flushed with anger and indignation. They
could not understand how the proud canton of Berne could ask them to
renounce the cause of independence and the Swiss alliance. The deputy
having ended his address—the general council of the people had been
convened to hear it—the premier syndic replied: 'We will listen to no
arrangement except how to preserve the alliance. The more we are
threatened, the firmer we shall be. We will maintain our rights even
till death. We trust in God and in Messieurs of the two cities. And if,
to pay you what we owe, we must pawn our property, our wives, and our
children, we will do so. As for the alliance, we are resolved to live
and die for it.' The syndic had scarcely done speaking, when all the
people cried out: 'So be it! We will do nothing else—we will die first!'
The arquebusiers of Jean Philippe and of Richardet were of the same
mind. The ambassadors thought it strange that they should dare to resist
Berne. 'We will carry your answer back to our lords,' they said, 'and
they will do what pleases them.' They then retired. The people held up
their hands, and all swore to be faithful to the alliance.
The Bernese envoys had left. The people were in great agitation. The
cause of liberty had just been vanquished at Cappel; the armies of the
duke surrounded the city, and the Swiss desired to cancel the alliance.
Geneva was not exempt from secret terrors: the women shed tears, and
even the men felt an oppression like that of the nightmare; but
enthusiasm for liberty prevailed over every fear. Deprived of the help
of men, the Genevans raised their eyes to heaven. Many of them
experienced extraordinary emotions, and were the victims of strange
spectral hallucinations. One night, the sentries posted on the walls saw
seven headless horsemen, dressed in black, keeping guard around the
city. They were dressed in black, for all Geneva was in mourning; they
were without heads, for no one could reckon upon preserving his own; and
then these Genevans fancied, in their enthusiasm, that they could defend
Geneva, even when their heads were off. The duke, having learnt that
some mysterious allies had come to the help of the city, quitted Gex,
and hurried off to Chambéry. It is probable, however, that his
conference with the three lords of Berne had more influence in arresting
the execution of his designs, than the apparition of the seven black
horsemen.[882]
[Sidenote: GOD PREPARES GENEVA BY TRIAL.]
The trials, the terrors, the repeated attacks that Geneva was forced to
undergo at the hands of her enemies, are the characteristics of her
history at the epoch of the Reformation. Her citizens, plundered, hunted
down, captured, thrown into the dungeons of the castles, always between
life and death, lived continually in the apprehension of an assault, and
almost every year their fears were changed into terrible realities; of
this we have seen several instances, and we shall see more. There is
probably no city of the sixteenth century which arrived at the
possession of truth and liberty through such great perils. When their
supplies failed, when their communications, with Switzerland were
interrupted, when no one could leave the city, when all around the arms
of the Savoyards were seen flashing in the rays of the sun, the citizens
no doubt displayed an heroic courage; but yet the women and the aged
men, and even men in the vigour of life, felt a mortal fear and anguish.
'Christians are not logs of wood,' it was said subsequently in this
city, and we may well apply the words to the Genevans of this epoch;
'they are not so devoid of human feeling, that they are not touched by
sorrow, that they do not fear danger, that poverty is not a burden to
them, and persecution sharp and difficult to bear. This is why they feel
sad when they are tried.'[883] Long ago in the early days of
Christianity, famines, earthquakes, plagues, persecution, and
afterwards, at the period of the invasion of the barbarians, the
devastations with which that calamity was attended, made serious souls
feel the presence of God, and led them to the cross. An earthquake which
threw down part of the city of Philippi, terrified a gaoler, until then
hardened in superstition, humbled him, and made him listen to the
teaching of the disciples which he had previously despised;[884] and,
later still, a similar calamity in Africa brought a great number of
pagans to confess the Gospel and be baptised.
It was by such trials as these that Geneva was now prepared. God was
ploughing the field which he wished to sow. Distresses and deliverances
continually repeated revealed to thoughtful men the power of God: to
this even the Registers of the Council bear witness. Did this rough
school lead any souls further? Were there any who sought beyond the
world for life incorruptible?... The inward travail of men's minds is
generally concealed, and the chroniclers give us no information on this
point (it is not their department); but we cannot doubt that the end for
which God sent the trial was attained. Perhaps at that time there were
souls which, in the midst of the evils they saw around them, were led to
discover in themselves the supreme evil—sin; perhaps in some private
chamber humble voices were then raised to heaven; perhaps the judgments
of God, which were suspended over their heads and those of their wives
and children, induced some to dread the last judgment; and perhaps there
were many who embraced the eternal love, that inexhaustible source of
salvation, who believed in the Gospel of the Son of God and found peace
therein. We know not what took place in the secret depths of men's
hearts; but certainly the times which we are describing were times of
trial which contributed to make Geneva what it subsequently became: it
was a 'burning furnace from which came forth fine brass.'[885] If Geneva
shone out in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was partly
because at the epoch of the Reformation it had been sorely tried, and,
if the expression be allowable, 'brightly burnished.'—'We are as it were
annealed in the furnace of God,' may be said of this city, 'and the scum
of our faith has been thus purged away.'[886]
[Sidenote: SWISS PATRICIANS CANCEL THE ALLIANCE.]
On the 7th of February, 1532, five ambassadors—two from Berne, and three
from Friburg—with Sebastian de Diesbach at their head, appeared at
Geneva before the Council of Two Hundred; they were the representatives
of the Swiss aristocracy, of those proud captains who figured in battles
and appeared in the courts of kings. They discharged their mission with
as little ceremony as they observed in taking cities, and demanded that
Geneva should renounce its alliance with the Swiss and put the Duke of
Savoy again in possession of his supremacy.... What will the Genevans
do? Even Friburg, which had at first appeared favourable to them, failed
them now.... Two hundred voices exclaimed: 'We will die sooner!' The
next day, when the general council was assembled, the greatest
excitement prevailed among them; everybody seemed eager to speak at
once; loud clamours arose on every side: 'All the people began to
shout,' say the minutes of this assembly. The language of Diesbach was
urgent, imperative, and threatening.... A hurricane was blowing over
Geneva; the tree must bend or break. But it neither bent nor broke. The
ambassadors, amazed and indignant, returned to their own country.[887]
The Genevans, left alone, asked what was to be done.... The cup was
overflowing. Suddenly a happy idea crossed the minds of certain
patriots. Although the patricians and pensioners are opposed to the
rights of Geneva, will not the people, and the grand council which
represents them, be in favour of liberty? When the Reformation was
established at Berne, in 1528, the noblest resolutions were formed. The
indigent had been clothed with the church ornaments, the pensions of the
princes renounced, and the military capitulations which bound the Swiss
to the service of foreign powers abolished. Then the enthusiasm had
cooled down; the pensioners regretted the old times; they tampered with
the more influential people of the city, and exasperated them against
the alliance with Geneva which displeased their old master the duke.
'Let us make an attempt,' exclaimed some of the Genevese, 'to revive in
Berne the noble aspirations for Reform and liberty.' Robert Vandel and
two other deputies departed for the banks of the Aar.
Vandel was well suited for this mission. Ever since the day when he saw
his aged father illegally seized by the bishop and thrown into prison,
he had given his heart to independence, as he subsequently gave it to
the Gospel. He knew that the people had retained their sympathy for
Geneva, and that if the patricians prevailed in the little council, the
citizens prevailed in the great council: he therefore appeared before
this body. He explained to them the dangers of the Genevans, their love
of independence, and their resolution to risk everything rather than
separate from the Swiss. His language moved the hearts of the Bernese,
and the good cause prevailed. 'We will maintain the alliance,' they
said; 'and, if necessary, we will march to defend your rights.' Friburg
adopted the resolutions of Berne.[888] Thus after the trial came the
deliverance; Geneva began to breathe freely. Yet another sorrow was in
store for it.
[Sidenote: RESIGNATION AND DEATH OF HUGUES.]
On the 20th of February, Besançon Hugues appeared before the council and
resigned all his functions. 'I am growing old,' he said (he was only
forty-five); 'I have many children, and I desire to devote myself to my
own affairs.' There is no doubt that the motives assigned by Hugues had
some part in his determination; we may, however, ask if they were the
only ones. He watched attentively the movement of men's minds in Geneva,
and, being devoted to Roman-catholicism and the bishop, he could not
help seeing that the opposite party was gaining more followers every
day. He had spared neither time, trouble, fortune, nor health to bring
about the alliance with the Swiss. Seeing that it existed no longer
solely in the parchments of the archives, but in the hearts of the
people, he thought that he had fulfilled his task, and that for the new
work Geneva ought to have new leaders. If Hugues was not old, he was
ailing; he already felt the approaches of that disease which carried him
off a few months later. He declined rapidly, and breathed his last
towards the end of the year.
The death of Besançon Hugues did not proceed from an ordinary sickness:
he died of a broken heart. Although still a catholic, at the moment when
the Reform was about to enter his country, a crown ought to be laid upon
his grave. The continual anxiety which the perils of Geneva had caused
him; more than forty official missions; his incessant labours in the
Genevan cause; the new burdens continually imposed upon him; the
reverses which rent his heart; his precipitate flight, his dangers on
the roads and in the cities, cold, watchings, and the cares of a
family—('I commend to you my poor household,' he said sometimes in his
letters to the council); his disappointments; the reproaches he had to
endure from both parties; his struggles with the pensioners, the agents
of Savoy, the knights of the Spoon, and some of his fellow-citizens—all
these vexations contributed to his disease and death. The head of
Besançon Hugues did not fall under the sword of the executioner, like
those of Berthelier and Lévrier; but the pacific hero sank under the
weight of fatigue and sorrow. An invisible sword struck him; and it may
be said that the deaths of the three great men of Genevan emancipation
were the deaths of martyrs.
[Footnote 876: Registres du Conseil du 11 octobre 1531.]
[Footnote 877: 'Alii impune injuria afficiuntur.'—Zwingl. _Epp._ ii. p.
648.]
[Footnote 878: 'Nihil pene non licet Friburgensibus in pios.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 879: 'Indicta causa, rapiuntur in carceres.'—Zwingl. _Epp._
ii. p. 648.]
[Footnote 880: 'Non putarim senatum Bernensem olim ita laturum levem
injuriam in nuntium sicut gravem in Evangelium perfert.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 881: Registres du Conseil du 2 janvier 1532.]
[Footnote 882: Registres du Conseil des 7, 8, 9 janvier 1532. Savyon,
_Annales_.]
[Footnote 883: Calvin on 1 Peter i. 7.]
[Footnote 884: Acts xvi. 23, 24.]
[Footnote 885: Revelation i. 15.]
[Footnote 886: Calvin.]
[Footnote 887: Registres du Conseil des 4, 7, 8 février 1532.]
[Footnote 888: _History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century_,
bk. xv. ch. iii. Ruchat, ii. p. 83. Galiffe fils, _B. Hugues_, p. 442.]
CHAPTER XIV.
AN EMPEROR AND A SCHOOLMASTER.
(SPRING 1532.)
[Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S NEW SCHEME.]
Just as the noble citizen, who had defended with such devotedness the
independence of his country, had retired from the stage of the world,
new plots were got up against Geneva; but new strength came also to her
help. An emperor was rising against the city, and a schoolmaster was
bringing it the everlasting Word.
The imperial court was then at Ratisbon, where the Germanic diet was to
assemble. The Duke and Duchess of Savoy, who could not make up their
minds to resign Geneva, had ordered their ambassador accredited to
Charles V. to solicit the influence of that prince in order to induce
the bishop, his partisan, to cede his temporal principality to the
duke's second son. The duchess, who appears to have been anxious to
bring about this cession, made every possible exertion to attain her
object. The emperor, who was very fond of Beatrice, answered: 'I desire
this arrangement, because of the singular love, goodwill, and affection
I feel towards my dearly beloved cousin and sister-in-law.' He added,
moreover, that he desired it also 'in the interest of the holy faith and
for the preservation of mother Church.' He undertook to persuade Pierre
de la Baume to transfer his temporality to the young prince; and, that
he might bring the negotiation to a favourable issue, he applied to the
Count of Montrevel, the head of the bishop's family. On the 14th of
April, 1532, he dictated and forwarded the following letter to that
nobleman: 'The emperor, king, duke, and count of Burgundy, to his very
dear liegeman: We require and order you very expressly, that as soon as
possible, and at the earliest opportunity and convenience, you proceed
to the Bishop of Geneva, and tell him, as you may see most fitting, the
desire we have that he should _please our said cousins_, the duke and
duchess; employing with him soft words of persuasion, according to your
accustomed prudence. He can all the easier yield to our prayer, because,
as the successor-designate of the Archbishop of Besançon, he must
necessarily leave Geneva to reside in that city.' The emperor, moreover,
used his influence with the Marshal of Burgundy, the Baron of St.
Sorlin, Pierre de la Baume's brother. The prelate was to be attacked on
every side. Charles's recommendations could hardly have been more urgent
if the safety of the German empire had been at stake.[889]
The duke, who was delighted at these letters of the emperor, began to
take such measures as would enable him to profit by them. Since the
puissant Charles V. gives Geneva to his son, he will go in quest of the
young prince's new states. In the following month (May 1532) everything
foreboded that some new attack was preparing against Geneva. There was
great commotion in the castles; trumpets were sounding, banners flying,
and priests raising loud their voices. It might have been imagined that
they were preparing for a crusade like those which had taken place of
yore against the Albigenses or the Saracens. The Genevans, who had not a
moment's repose, mournfully told one another the news. 'In the states of
Savoy there are loud rumours of war,' they said; 'the nobles are enraged
against the evangelicals, whom they call _Lutherans_; and some of the
gentry are assembled already, and going to and fro under arms.' The
citizens did not give way to dejection; on the contrary, the knowledge
of these intrigues and preparations made them long the more earnestly
for the emancipation of Geneva. They said that from the day when the
pope had deprived the citizens of the choice of their ruler, and had
nominated creatures or members of the house of Savoy as bishops at
Geneva, there had been in the city nothing but disorders, violence,
extortion, imprisonment, confiscations, tortures, and cruel punishments.
They asked if it was not time to return to the primitive form of
Christianity, to the popular organisation of the Church; they repeated
that Geneva would never secure her independence and her liberty, except
by trusting to the great principles of the Reformation. 'Zurich,' they
said, 'has resumed the rights which Rome had taken away: it is time that
Geneva followed her example.'[890]
[Sidenote: NEGATIVE PROTESTANTISM INSUFFICIENT.]
The Reformation was neither a movement of liberty nor a philosophical
development, but a christian, a heavenly renewal. It sought after God,
and, having found him, restored him to man: that was its work. But, at
the same time, wherever it was established, at least under the
Calvinistic form, civil liberty followed it. We must acknowledge,
however, that the reformers, with the exception of Zwingle, did not
trouble themselves much about this. It was grace that filled them with
enthusiasm. It was the great idea of a free pardon, and not artillery,
which shattered the power of the pope. Every man was then invited to the
foot of the cross, to receive immediately from Christ, and through no
sacerdotal channel, an inestimable gift. But Christianity, which the
priesthood had monopolised, vitiated, and made a trade of during the
middle ages, became common property in the sixteenth century. It passed
from the pomps of the altar to men of humble and contrite heart, from
the gloomy and solitary cloisters to the domestic hearth, from isolated
Rome to universal society. Once more launched into the midst of the
nations, it everywhere restored to man faith, hope, and morality, light,
liberty, and life.
[Sidenote: OLIVÉTAN ARRIVES AT GENEVA.]
At the very time when a beautiful princess was coveting Geneva, an
ambitious duke intriguing, and courtiers agitating, and when a puissant
monarch was granting his imperial favours, a humble schoolmaster arrived
in the city. And while all those pomps and ceremonies were among the
number of things worn out and passing away, this teacher brought with
him the principles of a new life. Farel, as we have seen, ardently
desired that the Word of God should be circulated and even publicly
preached at Geneva. He thought that then only would the Reformation be
truly established and independence secured. It is probable that the
person who arrived in this city, and whom he had long known, was sent by
him; but we have no proof that such was the case. However, this man was
not, properly speaking, a preacher; he was merely a schoolmaster, and
yet he was to perform a work greater than that of the emperor. At that
time Geneva passed for protestant; but her protestantism was limited to
throwing off despotism and superstition. But it is not sufficient to
reject what is false; the truth preached by Christ and the apostles must
be believed. _Faith_ is the principle of the Reformation. There was at
Geneva, to some extent, that negative protestantism which rejects not
only the abuses of popery, but also evangelical truth itself; which can
create nothing, and which is little else than a form—and certainly one
of the least interesting forms—of philosophy. If Geneva was to be
reformed, to become a centre of light and morality, and to maintain her
political independence, she must have a positive and living
christianity; and it was this that Olivétan, Farel, and Calvin were
about to bring her.
[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF CHAUTEMPS.]
In the street of the Croix d'Or, not far from the Place du Molard, lived
an enlightened, wealthy, and influential citizen, Jean Chautemps, a
member of council. He was a quiet and conscientious man, yielding
unhesitatingly to his convictions. Chautemps valued learning highly, and
having sons desired to see them well educated. People spoke to him of a
Frenchman, born at Noyon, in Picardy, who, after a long residence at
Paris, had been compelled to leave France in consequence of one of the
attacks so frequently made upon the _Lutherans_ at that time. 'Besides,'
added his informant, 'he is a very learned man.' Indeed, without being
either a Reuchlin in Hebrew or a Melanchthon in Greek, he had a sound
knowledge of both languages; it was his practice to read the Holy
Scriptures in the original text, and he was fond of inserting in his
writings passages from the Old Testament, where they still appear in
beautiful Hebrew characters, in the midst of his antiquated French. His
name was Peter Robert Olivétan—the same who, during his residence in
Paris, had had the happiness of bringing to a knowledge of evangelical
truth one of his cousins and fellow-townsmen, John Calvin. Chautemps,
considering it fortunate to have such a master for his children,
received him into his house.
Calvin's cousin boldly set to work. He taught his patron's children,
and, as it would appear, some others that had been placed with them. He
taught with love and clearness, according to 'the right mode' of
Mathurin Cordier, whom he had known at Paris. He believed, as Calvin
says, that 'roughness and servile austerity excite children to
rebellion, and extinguish in them the holy affections of love and
reverence,' and he strove 'by moderate and kind treatment to increase in
them the will and readiness to obey.'[891]
The schoolmaster, as he is termed in the Registers of the Council of
Geneva, did not restrict himself to teaching Latin and Greek. He was
simple and modest, and calls himself, in the preface to the book which
has immortalised him (the translation of the Bible), '_the humble and
lowly translator_.' But God had kindled a divine fire in his heart. He
believed that the christian ought to carry a lighted lamp in his hand to
show others the way of life, and he never failed to do so. He sometimes
accompanied Chautemps to the churches, and was observed to be deeply
moved by the errors which he heard there; he would leave the temple in
agitation, return home, and, seated with his patron, refute by Holy
Scripture the opinions of the priests, and faithfully explain the true
Christian doctrine. The councillor, who had early sided with those who
inclined towards the Reformation, was struck with these conversations,
and, far from resisting the truth that was set before him, joyfully
yielded himself to it. He presently displayed, according to Froment's
testimony, 'if not a perfect knowledge, at least a great desire for
learning, with much love and zeal to show himself as a friend of the
Reformation.'[892] From that hour the pious councillor always came
forward whenever there was a question of upholding the evangelical cause
in Geneva. When that great missionary, Farel, arrived, Chautemps was
among the first to welcome him. When a dispute occurred with the curate
of St. Magdalen's, he was one of those who defended the teaching of the
Scriptures.[893] And subsequently he boldly declared, in full council,
that he desired to live according to the Gospel and the Word of God.[894]
Olivétan's zeal was not confined to the house in which he lived; he
laboured to make the Gospel known to the councillor's friends, and even
to everybody whom he found accessible to the Divine Word. He exerted
himself, and overcame obstacles; by means of the Scriptures he
endeavoured to 'point out _with gentleness_' to the priests the errors
which they taught, and would not allow himself to be hindered by any
fear. Such zeal was not without danger, for the priests had still much
power in Geneva. Chautemps and his friends accordingly advised Olivétan
to be prudent, lest he should come to harm; but the schoolmaster said
like his cousin: 'It is God's will that his truth should be proclaimed,
happen what may; it must be published, even should the depths of hell
pour forth their rage against it.[895] Olivétan once reproved a priest
with so much boldness that the latter stirred up all the clergy against
him, and he was ordered (without being brought to trial) to leave the
city; but this belongs to a later time.
Conversation did not suffice, and if any persons showed a desire to
learn the new doctrine, Olivétan explained it to them. He did not do so
before large audiences; it was generally to small parties. Yet a
document speaks of assemblies held not only in private houses, but in
public, in the open places, and in front of the churches.[896] Olivétan,
therefore, like his illustrious relative, called to mind that in the
beginning of christianity the doctrine of the Lord did not remain
'hidden as it were in little comers, and that never was thunder heard so
loud and so piercing as the sound of the preaching of the Gospel,
reverberating from one end of the world to the other.'[897] He sometimes
quitted the humble conventicle and preached the Word of truth under the
vault of heaven. Alarmed at the great disorders in which those men
indulged who were one day to bear the name of 'libertines,' he attacked
the conscience with holy intrepidity.
[Sidenote: OLIVÉTAN'S MISSION.]
One day, one of those 'private assemblies' was held, of which the
emperor had complained to the syndics. It was, we may suppose, in the
house of Chautemps or some other huguenot (public meetings were, I
think, rare exceptions) in the street of the Croix d'Or or of the
_Allemands_, so called because some German Switzers, friends of the
Reformation, lived in it. A few men and women, most of them known to the
master of the house, came and took their seats on the benches in front
of the evangelist. Olivétan, who saw before him souls slumbering in
false security and heedless of the Supreme Judge, 'magnificently
discharged the embassy intrusted to him' (according to Calvin's
expression). 'One day,' he said, 'when thou shalt hear the Lord calling
thee to judgment, will there be found anything in thee but fear and
trembling, flight and concealment? Look! Access to the Lord is cut off,
because of sin. With whom wilt thou take refuge? In what place wilt thou
find relief? God, the avenger of sin, from whom nothing can be hid, is
everywhere present ... and everywhere terrifies the guilty conscience.'
Then, imagining that he saw some of those Genevans, whose morals, as
depraved as those of the monks, alienated them from the Gospel, he
exclaimed: 'The flesh excludes the Spirit, and stops the way, so that
the entrance of the heart is not opened to it. The flesh desires present
pleasures, it follows vanity, it carefully seeks after the delights of
the body, by eating and drinking, by idleness, licentious pursuits, and
other such things, in which it is entirely absorbed. Reason, illumined
by the Spirit, strives after good things, and fights against the flesh;
but the sensual man is nothing more than a brute, and gives himself up
entirely to things that belong to brutes.'
Among those who sat on the humble benches and listened to the preacher,
were also some of those intellectual men, numerous in Geneva, who would
have liked to come to the faith, but whom the doctrine of Christ
astonished and even alarmed. 'You believe,' said the evangelist, 'and
yet you do not believe. You willingly hear the words of salvation, and
yet you are terrified at them. There is nothing that we hear from the
mouth of the Saviour which, without a mediator, should not be terrifying
to us, and the flesh is quite dismayed that it should be necessary to
possess such faith.'
Then the schoolmaster raised the trumpet of the Gospel to his lips and
announced the great mystery of Redemption, without concealing what the
Greeks would have called its _foolishness_. 'Let us turn then,' he
exclaimed, 'to the Mediator, who has consummated the alliance and
purified us by his own blood, with which our consciences are sprinkled
and watered. The Old Covenant always depended on the blood of beasts;
the New Covenant depends on new blood. Eternal Redemption was effected
by an eternal sacrifice. The alliance is indissoluble, perpetual, and
perfect through the eternal blood which was of God.... The kingdom of
the Messiah has no end; its king must therefore be immortal; and the new
men, also immortal, are citizens of an everlasting kingdom.'
The huguenots were fond of debating, even unseasonably. Some of those
seated in front of Olivétan were astonished at hearing this doctrine of
Christ's sacrifice set forth, and maintained that, if they were to judge
from facts, it did not do much to free man from sin. 'No doubt,' said
Olivétan, 'if the Holy Ghost does not teach us. We cannot attain true
holiness if the Holy Ghost, who is the reformer of hearts, is absent. By
the Spirit of Jesus Christ the remains of sin in us diminish little by
little. The Spirit of Christ burns gently and cleanses away the stains
of the heart.... What a profound mystery! He who was hung upon the
cross, who even ascended into heaven to finish everything, comes and
dwells in us, and there accomplishes the perfect work of eternal
Redemption.'[898]
Thus spoke the tutor of Councillor Chautemps' children.
Olivétan was a mysterious personage, a singular reformer. At Paris he
called Calvin to the Gospel, and gave him to Christianity as the apostle
of the new times. At Geneva, he was the forerunner of his illustrious
relative; like a pioneer in the forest, he cut down the secular trees,
and prepared the soil into which his pious and mighty successor so
copiously scattered the seed. Later, as we shall see, he gave to the
reformed French Church its first Bible, a translation which, revised by
Calvin, so greatly advanced the kingdom of God. Perhaps Olivétan, during
his residence in Geneva, may have thought that his cousin would
hereafter occupy this post. He appears in history only as the precursor
of the reformer, and Calvin had hardly set foot in this city when
Olivétan crossed the Alps, went to Italy, even to the city of the
pontiffs, as if he desired now to accomplish a new work, to come to
close quarters with the papacy, and prepare Rome for the Reformation as
he had prepared Geneva. But there he suddenly disappeared—poisoned, as
some say. There is a veil over his death as over his life. He is spoken
of no more, and scarcely any one appears to know either his work or his
name. But we must not anticipate: we shall meet him again erelong.
Olivétan certainly played an important part in the great change which
has renewed modern society, and his name deserves to be enrolled among
those which are carved on the foundation-stones of the vast temple of
the Reformation.
[Footnote 889: The emperor's letter to the Count of Montrevel. Galiffe
fils, _B. Hugues, Pièces Justificatives_, p. 494.]
[Footnote 890: Zwinglii _Opp._ iii. p. 439. _Archives de Genève._ James
Fazy, _Précis de l'Histoire de la République de Genève_, pp. 183-191.]
[Footnote 891: Calvini _Opera_.]
[Footnote 892: Froment, _Actes et Gestes de Genève_, p. 4.]
[Footnote 893: Registres du Conseil du 31 décembre 1532.]
[Footnote 894: Ibid. du 8 janvier 1534.]
[Footnote 895: Calvin, _Comm. sur les Actes_.]
[Footnote 896: _Archives de Genève, Pièces Historiques_, nᵒ 7069, 8
juillet 1532.]
[Footnote 897: Calvin, on Matthew x. 36.]
[Footnote 898: Olivétan. Introduction to his French translation of the
Bible. Fol. Neuchatel, 1535.]
CHAPTER XV.
THE PARDON OF ROME AND THE PARDON OF HEAVEN.
(JUNE AND JULY 1532.)
Olivétan's teaching had not been fruitless. There occurred erelong an
evangelical manifestation in Geneva, which was an important step, and
the first public act of Reform. Calvin's cousin may have been the
instrument, though Clement VII. was the proximate cause.
[Sidenote: THE JUBILEE.]
The pope was preparing at that time to publish, not a local pardon like
that of St. Claire, but a universal jubilee. It was the general topic of
conversation in many places, and some told how it had originated. 'On
the eve of the new year, 1300,' said a scholar, jeeringly, 'a report
spread suddenly through Rome (no one knew from whence it came) that a
plenary indulgence would be granted to all who should go next morning to
St. Peter's. A great crowd of Romans and foreigners hurried there, and
in the midst of the multitude was an aged man who, stooping and leaning
on his staff, wished also to take part in the festival. He was a hundred
and seven years old, people said. He was conducted to the pope, the
proud and daring Boniface VIII. The old man told him how, a century
before, an indulgence of a hundred years had been granted on account of
the jubilee; he remembered it well, he said. Boniface, taking advantage
of the declaration of this man, whose mind was weakened by age, decreed
that there should be a plenary indulgence every hundred years.'[899] The
great gains which were made out of it, led to the jubilee being
appointed to be held successively every fifty years, thirty-three years,
and twenty-five years. But the jubilee of the twenty-fifth year did not
always hinder that of the thirty-third.[900]
At Geneva people were already beginning to talk much about the coming
jubilee. Olivétan and his friends were scandalised at it. The heart of
this just and upright man was distressed at seeing the pardon of God set
aside in favour of a festival of human invention, in which, in order to
obtain remission of sins, it was necessary to frequent the churches
during a fixed number of days, and perform certain works, and whose
surest effect was a large increase to the revenues of the pope. The
schoolmaster maintained that if any one sought to find repose of
conscience in such inventions, he would waste his time; his heart would
be lulled to sleep in forgetfulness of God, or be full of fear and
trembling until it had found repose in Jesus Christ. 'Christ alone is
our peace,' he said, 'and alone gives our conscience the assurance that
God is appeased and reconciled with it.'
Men's minds were soon in a great ferment in Geneva. People met and
talked about it in the streets, and everywhere began to murmur. 'A fine
tariff is the pope's!' said the more decided of the huguenots. 'Do you
want an indulgence for a false oath? Pay 29 livres 5 sols. Do you want
an indulgence for murder? A man's life is cheaper; a murder will only
cost you 15 livres 2 sols 6 deniers.' They added, 'that the pretended
treasury of indulgences, from which the pope took the wares he sold to
every comer, was an invention of the devil.'
[Sidenote: ENCROACHMENTS OF THE CLERGY.]
It was thus that the christians, whom preceding ages had kept down,
began to reappear in the Church. The lay spirit was manifested in
Geneva. Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve, one of the most determined
huguenots, had frequent conversations with other good _Lutherans_, all
of whom complained of the domineering spirit of the clergy, who had
monopolised everything. Such complaints were, however, universal
throughout christendom. In the earliest times, said the people, the
_priests_ began by confiscating the rights of the laity; and erelong
these shepherds had nothing but silly _sheep_ under their crooks.... But
while the priests were engrossed in this work, another was going on
behind their backs which they did not observe. The _bishops_ did to the
priests what the priests had done to the laity; and when the inferior
functionaries of the Church had succeeded in catching the flocks in
their trap, they found in their turn that they had fallen into the
bishops' pitfall. At the Council of Cologne (A.D. 346) there were ten
priests, presbyters, or elders, in addition to the fourteen bishops; but
that was the last time. At the Councils of Poitiers, Vaison, Paris, and
Valence (all held in the latter half of the fourth century), none but
bishops were present. Subsequently, indeed, a _delegated_ priest was
found in three councils; but at last this single priest was politely
dismissed. While the bishops were busied with this conquest, another was
going on; and they had no sooner confiscated the rights of the priests
(as the priests had confiscated those of the laity), than they found
their own confiscated by the _pope_. All rights had come to an end.
Flocks, priests, bishops—all had lost their liberty. The pope was the
Church. One monster had swallowed the other, to be swallowed in its
turn. Nothing is more sad, nothing more disastrous, than this tragic
history. _Quod des devorat._[901] The Romish hierarchy devours
everything that is given to it. The Reformation was to restore that
christian society which the clerical society had put out of sight.
[Sidenote: GOD'S PARDON.]
And so it happened at Geneva. Their rights as christians were among the
first claimed by these Genevans, who were so enamoured of their rights
as citizens. 'If the pope _sells_ indulgences,' said they, 'the Gospel
_gives_ a free pardon. Since Rome advertises her pardon, let us
advertise that of the Lord.' These reformers, who were probably among
the number of Olivétan's hearers, drew up, conjointly, a 'heavenly
proclamation,' in simple and evangelical terms: it is possible that
Olivétan himself was the author. Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve took the
draft, hurried off with it to a printer, and ordered him to print it in
bold characters. After that, certain huguenots, the most zealous of whom
were Maison-Neuve and Goulaz, arranged their plans; and early in the
morning of the 9th of June they posted on the walls, in different parts
of the city, the _great general pardon_ _of Jesus Christ_,[902] at such
a height that every one could read it. At that time there was in front
of St. Pierre's a pillar on which the clerical notices were displayed;
Goulaz went to it, and over one of the announcements of the Roman
jubilee he fastened the proclamation of Gospel pardon.
The sun had risen above the Alps: it was already broad daylight; the
city woke from its slumbers; windows and doors were opened, and the
people began to pass through the streets. They stared and stood still in
surprise before these proclamations.... Men and women, priests and
friars, crowded in front of the placards, and read with amazement the
following words, which sounded strange to them:—
GOD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
PROMISES
A GENERAL PARDON OF ALL HIS SINS
TO EVERY ONE WHO FEELS SINCERE REPENTANCE,
AND POSSESSES
A LIVELY FAITH IN THE DEATH AND PROMISES
OF
JESUS CHRIST.
'This cannot surely be a papal indulgence,' said certain huguenots, 'for
money is not mentioned in it. Salvation given gratuitously must
certainly come from heaven.' But the priests thought differently; they
looked upon the placard as a defiance of the pope's pardon, and their
wrath grew fiercer than ever. They insulted those whom they believed to
be the authors of the proclamation, overwhelmed them with abuse, and
attacked them not only with their fists, but with the weapons which they
had provided.[903] 'The clergy made a great uproar,' says the
pseudo-Bonivard; 'and when the priests tried to tear down the said
placards, the believers, whom they called _Lutherans_, showed themselves
and prevented them, which caused a great commotion among the
people.'[904] In a short time the parties were organised: the burghers
gathered together in groups. On one side were the citizens, who defended
the placards; on the other, the priests and their followers, who wanted
to pull them down.
A canon, named Wernly, a native of Friburg, had remained in Geneva; he
was a stout active man, of hasty temper, a fanatical papist, who could
handle the sword as skilfully as the censer, and give a blow as readily
as he gave holy water. Having heard the tumult, he ran out of his house,
went towards the cathedral, and just as he was about to enter he caught
sight of the placard which Goulaz had fastened to the pillar. He flew
into a rage, rushed up to the paper, and tore it down with a coarse
oath. Goulaz, one of those bold spirits who brave those whom they
despise, was standing close by, watching all that took place. Seeing
what the canon had done, he went up to the pillar, and calmly put
another paper in the place of that which Wernly had pulled down.
Immediately the Friburger lost all self-control: the heretic and not the
paper was the object of his rage. He rushed at Goulaz, dealt him a
violent blow; and then, not content with this chastisement, drew his
sword (for the canons wore swords at that time), and would have struck
him. Goulaz was by no means a man of patient temper, and, seeing the
canon's sword, immediately drew his own, put himself on the defensive,
and in the struggle wounded Wernly in the arm. There was a great uproar
immediately; the partisans of the priests fell upon the audacious man
who had dared defend himself against that holy personage; the huguenots,
on their part, rallied round Goulaz, and defended him.
[Sidenote: STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO POWERS.]
A battle between the priest and the layman, a struggle between clerical
and secular society, then occurred in Geneva. The priests had determined
that the placards should be torn down everywhere; and, accordingly,
there was a loud noise of discord and battle, not only in front of the
porch of St. Pierre's, but through great part of the city. 'Nothing
could be seen,' says a writer, 'but strife, conflicts, and drawn
swords.'[905] Two men of the priests' party were wounded in the Bourg de
Four. The magistrates, being informed of what was going on, hurried to
the spot, and separated the combatants.
Goulaz certainly did not represent the Reform; he was merely a Genevese
patriot, and somewhat hasty; but the Romish Church could not disown a
canon; he was truly its representative, and men asked whether the Church
intended to combat the Gospel with sword and fist. During this sharp
skirmish between the ultramontanes and the huguenots, one party held
aloof and rejoiced in secret: they were the partisans of Savoy. They
imagined that since the two great Genevan parties were quarrelling, they
would be found erelong, wearied with civil discord, bending the knee to
the absolute government of his most serene highness. Division would be
their strength.[906]
The news of this battle soon reached Friburg. People there had already
begun to talk of a certain schoolmaster who was preaching the Gospel at
Geneva, and the placard which had set all the city in commotion was
(they thought) the result of his sermons. Friburg was excited, for in
this matter there was something far more alarming than a blow dealt at a
Friburger—it was a blow aimed against the papacy.
[Sidenote: THE INTERDICT OF THE COUNCIL.]
On the 24th of June, Councillor Laurent Brandebourg arrived at Geneva,
and having been introduced to the council, he complained, in the name of
the catholic canton, of what had taken place, and particularly of the
books and placards which led men to 'the new law,' and threw contempt on
the authority of the bishop and the pope. 'Everybody assures us,' he
said, 'that you belong to the Lutheran party. If it be so, gentlemen, we
shall tear up the act of alliance and throw the pieces at your feet.'
These words, accompanied by a corresponding gesture, alarmed the
council. 'The Friburg alliance has never been more necessary than now,'
they whispered to one another. There were still among the Genevans many
zealous Roman-catholics; the evangelicals were the rare exceptions; a
great number, as we have said, held to a certain negative middle way.
The threats of Friburg disturbed the magistrates. 'We are not
Lutherans,' answered the premier syndic. 'Well, then,' resumed the
catholic Brandebourg, 'summon Goulaz before the ecclesiastical court.'
The council replied that the _general pardons_ had been stuck up without
their knowledge, that they disapproved of such excesses, that Goulaz had
only struck the canon in self-defence, after having received a blow and
seen him draw his sword, and that, nevertheless, he had been fined. The
council added that they would go further to satisfy Friburg. Immediately
they forbade, by sound of trumpet, any papers to be posted up without
their permission; and then, as the priests cried out louder against
Olivétan than against Goulaz, the syndics ordered that, 'for the
present, _the schoolmaster_ should discontinue preaching the
Gospel.'[907] They fancied they had thus completely rooted out the evil.
The ultramontane party, delighted at this triumph, thought the moment
had arrived for effecting a thorough reaction. The priests began to
search after the Holy Scriptures, visiting every family, and demanding
the surrender of their New Testaments.
The people began to murmur. 'The priests want to rob us of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ,' said the huguenots, 'and in its place they will give
us ... what?... Romish fables.... We must begin again to read the stories
in the Golden Legend. Really it is quite enough to hear them at church.'
Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve and his friends urged the council to show
themselves christians. They represented that it was shameful to see
priests and monks set so little store by the gospels and epistles, and
fill the ears of their congregations with human inventions. Olivétan had
often told them that there was no intention of introducing a new
religion, but of reestablishing an old one—that of the apostles. This
idea, so simple and so true, was easily understood. The triumph of which
the priests had dreamt was changed into a triumph for the Gospel. 'The
party of the _Lutherans_,' says an ancient manuscript, 'or, as they
called themselves, of the _evangelicals_, became more numerous and
stronger every day among the magistrates and people.'[908] The friends
of the Reformation who were on the council began to speak out boldly of
the rights of the Word of God. Others who were not Lutherans were
generally honest men, and they thought it very christian-like, and even
quite catholic, to preach the Gospel, and not mere fables. They were
unwilling that it should be said of the Church to which they belonged,
that it was supported by visions and sham miracles. The council
therefore ordered (unanimously, as it would appear) the grand vicar, De
Gingins of Bonmont, 'to take measures that in every parish and convent
the Gospel should be preached _according to the truth, without any
mixture of fables_ or other human inventions.'[909] The evangelicals, in
their turn, were delighted at this order. They knew that the magistrates
did not intend abolishing the Roman worship; yet it was the first
official act in Geneva in a direction favourable to the Reformation.
They accordingly showed great respect for the syndics under whom this
decree was passed: they were Guillaume Hugues, Besançon's brother;
Claude Savoie, a man of great energy; Claude du Molard, and Ami Porral,
a clever, intelligent man, already gained to the Gospel.
[Sidenote: NUNCIO AND ARCHBISHOP AT CHAMBÉRY.]
Without the city, men's opinions were very different. The preachings 'in
the houses of Geneva, the _abominable Lutheran heresy_ that was taught
even in the schools,'[910] had caused a lively emotion in the catholic
provinces adjoining the city, which was increased by the _general pardon
of Jesus Christ_. At Chambéry people's minds were greatly agitated.
Some, losing all self-control, would have liked to see the thunderbolts
of heaven hurled against Geneva; others, more merciful and perhaps more
prudent, would have entreated the Genevese, even with tears, to remain
faithful to the papacy. There happened at this time to be a great crowd
of priests at the palace of the Bishop of Chambéry; a papal nuncio was
passing through that city, and the archbishop, the nuncio, and his
attendants had some conversation about Geneva, loudly deploring its
apostasy. The nuncio, a violent Romanist, would immediately have brought
the facts to the knowledge of the pope, in order that the court of Rome
should take proceedings in conformity with the severity of the
ecclesiastical laws. The archbishop checked him; he preferred making a
prior application to the council. Accordingly he wrote a letter to the
syndics, in which, after mentioning the various charges against the
Genevese, he added: 'Can it be true that such things are taking place in
a city so long renowned for its faith?... This would be so serious a
matter that we should be compelled to report it immediately to Rome....
Put it in our power to tell the holy father that you will preserve a
perpetual confidence in the holy apostolic see.'[911]
The syndics, who had no desire to declare either in favour of Rome or of
Wittemberg, were greatly embarrassed. One of them, however, found a way
of getting out of the difficulty. 'Let us make no reply,' he said. When
the archbishop's messenger came for their answer, the syndics called him
before them, and gave him this verbal message: 'Tell Monseigneur that we
desire to live in a christian manner, and in accordance with the law of
Christ.' The archbishop, the nuncio, and the pope might understand that
as they pleased. It was soon seen that Rome and Savoy had no intention
of permitting Geneva to live according to that _law of Christ_ which the
city had invoked.
But if the papacy was uneasy, evangelical christians rejoiced. They
believed that an important position had been gained by the Reformation,
and, supposing the Genevese to be more advanced in the faith than they
really were, rejoiced in anticipation over the victories which these new
members of the evangelical body would win for their common standard.
'The Genevans,' said one of them, 'are true _christian knights_, who,
having no respect for men who will soon pass away, do not fear to offend
their superiors, the enemies of truth.'—'The Genevans,' said another,
'are energetic men: if they embrace the Gospel, they will know how to
propagate it elsewhere.'[912]
The old evangelicals went further than this: they felt full of love for
the new brethren. They desired to give them a welcome, to stretch out
the hand of brotherhood to them, to receive them, with the charity of
Christ, into that small and humble Church which was to increase from
year to year and from age to age. They were not too sanguine, however:
they knew the moral state of the Genevans; they knew that the little
flock was still weak, and but just beginning to pronounce the name of
Christ and to walk in his way. These old christians desired, therefore,
to approach it as a father approaches his child, to take it by the hand,
to point out the dangers by which it was surrounded, and to conjure it
to remain firm, and to increase in that faith which it was beginning to
confess boldly.
[Sidenote: LETTER FROM THE BRETHREN AT PAYERNE.]
Between the Alps and the Jura, on the road leading from Lausanne to
Berne, is situated a small town, clustered ages ago round an abbey which
the famous Queen Bertha had declared exempt from all suzerainty, even
from that of the pope, and which, in 1208, had resisted the Emperor
Rodolph of Hapsburg. In one of the houses of this town of Payerne, some
pious christians assembled in June 1532, under their pastor Anthony
Saunier of Moirans, in Dauphiny, a friend of Farel. They conversed about
_the destruction of the papistical realm_, and the news they had
received from Geneva, and were full of hope that that city would
contribute erelong towards the so much desired destruction. One of them
proposed to send a letter to the Genevese. They began to write it
immediately, and here are the words which these simple-minded christians
addressed to the episcopal city:—
'We have heard that the glory of God has visited you, of his grace, as
his elect children, and that he is now calling you with his
everlastingly saving voice. Beloved in Jesus Christ, receive the word of
the Great Shepherd, who gave himself once and was offered up a living
host (sacrifice) for the salvation of all believers. God is manifesting
to you the great riches of his glory; he invites us to forsake the
doctrine of men, and to follow that of our only Saviour Jesus Christ,
which makes us new creatures and heirs of the kingdom of God. Believe in
this doctrine with all your heart, without shame or fear of men; having
the assurance that it is good, holy, and alone able to save, and that
all others which are opposed to it are wicked and damnable. Fear not the
great number and power of your enemies; but, for the love of Jesus
Christ, who has perfected your redemption, and who has granted us
remission of all our sins, be ready not only to abandon your honour,
your goods, and your families, but even to renounce yourselves,
declaring with St. Paul, that neither glory, nor tribulation, nor death,
nor life, shall separate you from the Gospel of salvation....
'Now we, your brethren in the second and spiritual birth, pray the
Father of lights to complete what he has begun in you, and to illumine
the eyes of your heart by the true Gospel light, to the end that you may
know the great and inexpressible riches prepared for those who are
sanctified by the blood of Christ. Renounce, therefore, the king of this
world, and all his followers, under whose banner you and we once walked,
and acknowledge our Lord as your only master, your only God and Saviour,
who gives us the kingdom of heaven without money and without price.
Follow not what appears good and pleasant to you, but the commandment of
God our Father, adding nothing, and taking nothing away. May his grace
be written in your hearts, and may you impart it to those who are still
ignorant and weak, by means of a meek and tender teaching, so that the
flock of Jesus Christ may be increased by you daily. Our Lord God is for
you, and the whole world cannot prevail against him. Be the
standard-bearers upon earth of the colours of our Saviour, so that by
your means the Holy Gospel may be borne into many countries.'
The council deposited the letter among the city archives, where it may
still be seen.[913]
[Sidenote: STANDARD RAISED AT GENEVA.]
Geneva was still far from the pure and living Christianity which
breathes in this letter. The fight between Goulaz and Wernly, the tumult
occasioned in the city by the placards of Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve
and his friends, had little resemblance (impartiality compels us to
acknowledge) to that picture, so full of gentleness, which Jesus Christ
himself drew for us, when he described the servant of God: '_He shall
not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the
streets._'[914] But it is only by degrees that the old man disappears
and the new man takes his place. It would have been too much, perhaps,
to expect that these energetic huguenots, who defended their liberty
with the courage of lions, should suddenly become meek as lambs. But
already there were to be found in that city souls who prized above
everything the _great pardon of Jesus Christ_. The proclamation of
salvation by grace, which we have described, marks an important epoch in
the history of the Reformation of Geneva. All human religions represent
salvation as to be gained by the works and ceremonies of man; the only
divine religion, the Gospel, declares that God gives it, that he gives
it through Jesus Christ, and that whosoever receives this assurance into
his heart becomes a new creature. Such was the standard raised in Geneva
in 1532. The servants of God, whether natives of that city or refugees,
were to be, according to the beautiful language of the letter from
Payerne, 'standard-bearers upon earth;' and, grasping the banner of the
Gospel with a firm hand, they were to be called, perhaps more than
others, in the sixteenth century 'to bear it into many countries.'
Everything gave token that the renovation of Geneva was advancing; but
it had still numerous obstacles to overcome, and great works to achieve.
Powerful instruments were about to appear to accomplish them.
Hitherto the breath of the Reformation has blown to Geneva from the
plains of France and the mountains of Switzerland. The men of God who
were to labour most at the transformation of this city, Farel
especially, have acted upon it from without only. But yet two months
more, and that great-hearted evangelist will enter the city of the
huguenots; others will follow him; they will be expelled from it by the
friends of Rome; but they will return with fresh determination, and
labour with indefatigable zeal, until, after long darkness, we shall at
last see the light of Jesus Christ shining in it.
[Sidenote: GENEVA ATTACKED BY TWO PARTIES.]
The ancient city had not at this time to contend with a single party: it
was attacked by two antagonistic bands at once, by the bishop on the one
hand, and by the reformers on the other. Which of these two armies will
conquer it?—Geneva, strange to say, rejects both. Will that city be
destined to belong neither to the Gospel nor to Rome? It could not be
so, and various symptoms appeared at this time to indicate an
approaching solution.
The fanaticism of the Genevese clergy, the respect felt by the
magistrates for existing institutions, the energy with which one portion
of the people rejected the Reformation, seemed to show that the movement
by which Geneva was then agitated would end simply in the abolition of
the temporal authority of the bishop.
But other signs appeared to point to another conclusion. In proportion
as the love of God's Word increased in men's hearts, respect for the
Romish religion diminished. The evangelical christians said that
salvation was a thing for eternity, while a government, even if
ecclesiastical, was only a temporal thing; that the rights of truth took
precedence of all clerical pretensions, and that the authority of
Scripture was superior to that of the pontiff.
Moreover, a new element appeared. Ecclesiastical society had sunk into
slumber and death; in the sixteenth century the Reformation aroused it
and restored it to activity and life. Farel is one of the most
remarkable types of this christian animation; his unbounded ardour, his
indefatigable labours were, with God's help, to secure the victory.
It is true that this new force soon turned against the Reform. The
Romish Church woke up also, and put itself in motion, particularly after
the foundation of the order of the Jesuits; but its activity differed
widely from that of the reformers. The latter descended from on high;
that of the Roman clergy came from below. At all events, popery soon
became as energetic as protestantism. There was danger in this, but
there was probably a benefit also. If its adversaries had continued to
slumber, the Reformation might have ended by falling asleep likewise.
Activity is far better than inactivity without hope. Let us not be
afraid then. By struggles the Church is purified, the christian grows
stronger, and the cause of truth and of humanity triumphs.
[Sidenote: THE STRUGGLE IN GENEVA.]
Geneva was about to have greater experience of such contests, and the
agitation within her walls was to become fiercer from day to day.
Combats without and combats within. The dawning Reformation and the
ancient (yet new) liberty will see arrayed against them the bishop, the
duke, the emperor, the gentry and their vassals, and the Savoyard
troops, besides veteran Italian bands, commanded by some of the ablest
captains of the age.... At the same time the battle will rage furiously
within. Popery, alarmed at seeing one of its oldest fortresses
threatened, will utter a cry of rage; all the friends of the Romish
priesthood will be aroused, will agitate, and fight; a furious
opposition will raise its angry head. There will be not only secret
councils, traitorous conspiracies, fanatical preachings, and fierce
discussions; but also riots in the streets, armed men endeavouring to
stop the preaching of the Word, cannons planted in the public squares,
assaults with the sword, the arquebuse, and the dagger, imprisonment,
exile, and poisoning.... At the sight of these violent combats and
repeated calamities, the thoughts of the historian become troubled and
confused. It appears to him that the powers of darkness are marshalling
their forces in the ancient city. He fancies he can see that mysterious
being, whom a great poet describes in his immortal verse as plotting the
ruin of the world, at the very moment when, smiling with innocence and
glory, it left the hands of the Creator—he can see Satan descending, as
he once did into Eden, and casting the immense shade of his 'sail-broad
vans' over the gigantic Alps, over their white tops, their calm clear
lakes and smiling hills, and swooping down upon the towers of the old
cathedral to fight against the counsels of the King of Heaven, and, by
scattering his wiles and fury all around, oppose the new creation of a
new world.[915]
But to all these efforts of the powers of darkness the men of the Gospel
will oppose the resplendent army of light. They will proclaim the love
of God, they will announce the work of Christ, they will publish grace.
They will repeat with Jesus Christ that _the flesh profiteth nothing_;
that is to say, that the grandeur of the proud hierarchy of Rome, the
power of its temporal kingdom, the multitude of its servants in so many
countries and under such various uniforms, the pomps by which its
worship strives to captivate the senses, the oracles of its traditions,
sometimes adorned with the seductions of human philosophy—that all is
profitless; but that power belongs to God, that salvation is in the
foolishness of the cross, and that it is _the Spirit that quickeneth_.
And, thanks to the spiritual weapons they employ, two or three humble
instruments of the Word of God will scatter the councils of their
terrible adversary, destroy his fortresses, and humble even to the dust
the barriers he had raised against the knowledge of God. The rough
Farel, the gentle Viret, the weak Froment, will overcome the powers of
Rome in Geneva, even before Calvin, the great captain, appears. God
chooses the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty, and the things which are not to bring to nought things that
are.[916]
[Footnote 899: See the Bull _Antiquorum habet_ in the _Extravagant.
Commun._ lib. v. tit. ix. cap. 1.]
[Footnote 900: In our time Leo XII. celebrated a jubilee in 1825, and
Gregory XVI. in 1833.]
[Footnote 901: Plautus.]
[Footnote 902: Roset says positively (liv. ii. chap, lxvi.) that these
placards were printed. See also Berne MSS., _Hist. Helvet._ v. p. 12.]
[Footnote 903: 'Exarsit hic statim furor, nec verbis tantum erupit, sed
et armis.—_Geneva Restituta_, p. 37.]
[Footnote 904: History under the name of Bonivard, Berne MSS. _Hist.
Helvet._ v. p. 12.]
[Footnote 905: 'Hinc rixæ, conflictus, et enses utrinque expediti.'—
_Geneva Restituta_, p. 37.]
[Footnote 906: 'Dissidiis civilibus fessa imperium acciperet.'—_Geneva
Restituta_, p. 38.]
[Footnote 907: 'De prædicante Evangelii.'—Registres du Conseil des 24,
27, 30 juin, et du 25 juillet. Spon, _Hist. de Genève_, ii. p. 463.]
[Footnote 908: Berne MSS. _Hist. Helvet._ v. p. 12.]
[Footnote 909: Registres du Conseil des 30 juin, 12 juillet, 20 août.
Spon, _Hist. de Genève_, ii. pp. 464-466.]
[Footnote 910: Archives de Genève, No. 1069.]
[Footnote 911: Archives de Genève, No. 1069. Spon, _Hist. de Genève_, i.
p. 466. Gaberel, i. p. 110.]
[Footnote 912: Ruchat, iii. pp. 136-140. 'Epître des amateurs de la
sainte Evangile de Payerne à ceux de Genève.' Archives de Genève, No.
1070. _France Protestante_, art. _Saunier_.]
[Footnote 913: Archives, No. 1070. 'Epître des amateurs de la sainte
Evangile de Payerne.']
[Footnote 914: Matthew xii. 19.]
[Footnote 915:
'He wings his way
Directly towards the new-created world,
And man there placed, with purpose to assay
If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,
By some false guile pervert.'
_Paradise Lost_, bk. iii.]
[Footnote 916: 1 Corinthians i. 27, 28.]
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
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