[406] Mathieu Dimonet, a devout Protestant of Lyons, was arrested in
that town the 9th January 1553. In his letters to the ministers of
Geneva he has himself related the details of his trial:--"On Monday
9 January being in my house in presence of the king's lieutenant
and the official, who, after they had searched and visited my
books, found nothing, except a little book of spiritual songs set
to music...." Dimonet underwent a first examination, and was then
led away to the prison of the officialty. "I have undergone," says
he, "great assaults and temptations ... for on the one side, they
set before me tortures and death, then the shame and dishonour of
myself and my relations, the sorrow of my mother, who they said was
dying with grief and many other things ... which would have been
very hard for me to bear, unless the Lord had strengthened me by
his Holy Spirit." The prisoner courageously withstood the threats
of the inquisitor Oritz, and the pressing entreaties of his family.
The 15th July 1553, quite cheerfully, and praying to the Lord, he
endured the torment of death.--_Histoire des Martyrs_, p. 247.
Exhortation to patience and constancy under persecution.
_The 10th of January 1553._
VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Although I have not at present to sustain
the like conflicts that you have, yet you will suffer the word of
exhortation from me as if I were your fellow-prisoner, and in truth
the zeal which moves me to write to you proceeds from nothing else.
Yet I pray you to consider how we ought to refer all to the will
and disposal of our heavenly Father, who calls every one of us in
the order that he pleases. Sometimes he spares his children, until
he has gradually led and prepared them, as we hear it said to St.
Peter by the Master's own lips, "When thou shalt be old, they shall
carry thee whither thou wouldst not." But it sometimes happens
that he chooses novices, or at least such as have not been long
disciplined to warfare. However that may be, there is this advantage
that he is no less powerful to put forth his strength in the weak,
rendering them at once invincible, than to continue it to those who
have long experienced it. From what I hear, you have not been one of
the first called to his knowledge; yet God has nevertheless put you
among the foremost of his witnesses. He has bestowed such strength
and steadfastness upon you at the first assault, that the enemies
of truth have taken knowledge of the mark of Jesus Christ, which
they cannot bear. I feel indeed by the sympathy I have for you (as
I ought) that Satan ceases not to give you new alarms; but you must
have recourse to Him who has made so good a beginning, praying him
to complete his own work. If you have many trials, do not be greatly
amazed on that account, even although you feel such frailty in
yourself that you are almost ready to be shaken. Rather learn that
it is by such means that God would humble you, that his help should
be the better recognized by your need of it; and, moreover, that he
invites you to call on his name, and to have all dependence on his
grace, seeing there is need that we be forcibly driven to do so. I
doubt not but that there may also be firebrands from without, who,
under cover of friendship and relationship, will prove your worst
and most mortal enemies, since to save the body they will do their
utmost to draw the soul downward to perdition. And then, men's fancy
is a marvellous workshop for forging out foolish imaginations, which
disturb the true rest which we ought to have in the holy calling of
our God, who commands us to look simply to himself, as indeed we
have very good reason to do. Therefore we have need to be armed and
accoutred at every point. But you need not be daunted, seeing that
God has promised to equip his own according as they are assaulted by
Satan. Only commit yourself to him, distrusting all in yourself, and
hope that he only will suffice to sustain you. Further you have to
take heed chiefly to two things: first, what the side is you defend,
and next, what crown is promised to those who continue steadfast in
the Gospel. The service of God, the boundless grace which he has
manifested to us in his Son, and all the glory of his kingdom, are
such precious things, that no mortal man ought to think it hard to
spend his life in fighting against the base corruptions, whose reign
throughout the world tends to bring to nought those blessings. And
then, we know what will be the end of our warfare, and that He who
has bought us will never suffer so dear a price as his blood to be
lost, if we be but signed with it. Now we know how he owns as his
own, and declares solemnly that he will own at the last day, all
those who have confessed him here below. We do not know as yet what
he has determined to do concerning you, but there is nothing better
for you than to sacrifice your life to him, being ready to part with
it whenever he wills, and yet hoping that he will preserve it, in so
far as he knows it to be profitable for your salvation. And although
this be difficult to the flesh, yet it is the true happiness of his
faithful ones; and you must pray that it may please this gracious
God so to imprint it upon your heart that it may never be effaced
therefrom. For our part, we also shall pray that he would make you
feel his power, and vouchsafe you the full assurance that you are
under his keeping; that he bridles the rage of your enemies, and in
every way manifests himself as your God and Father.
As I hear that our brother, Peter Berger,[407] is in the same prison
with you, I beg you to greet him from me, and to give him my letters
as common to you both. Let us go forward, until we have arrived at
our goal--the being gathered together into the everlasting kingdom.
[407] Peter Berger of Bar-sur-Seine, burgess of Geneva, was seized
at Lyons three days after the scholars of Lausanne, whom he rejoined
in the dungeons and preceded to martyrdom. "Having mounted the
stake, he said, 'Lord, I commit my soul to thee.' Then looking up
to heaven with steadfast gaze, and crying aloud, he said, 'To-day I
see heaven open;' and immediately after, this saint yielded up his
spirit to God."--_Histoire des Martyrs_, p. 234.
* * * * *
I had forgotten one point, which is, that you should reply to
adversaries reverently and modestly, according to the measure of
faith God gives you. I say this because it is not given to every one
to dispute. Indeed the martyrs themselves were no great scholars,
nor subtile to enter upon profound disputations. Thus humbling
yourself under the guidance of the Spirit of God, answer soberly,
according to your knowledge, following the rule of Scripture, "I
have believed, therefore I speak." Yet let not that hinder you from
speaking frankly and plainly, in the full persuasion that He who has
promised to give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay, will never fail you.
[_Fr._--_Printed in Histoire des Martyrs_, lib. iv. p. 247.]