THE REFORMERS AND THE REFORMATION ENTER GENEVA.
(OCTOBER 1532.)
On one fine autumn day (2nd October), Farel and Saunier 'having finished
their journey through Piedmont,' reached that beautiful neighbourhood
where the Alps and the Jura, drawing near each other, form a rich
valley, in the midst of which calmly sleep the pure waters of an azure
lake. They soon distinguished the three old towers of the cathedral of
Geneva rising high above the houses. They pressed their horses, whose
speed was relaxed through fatigue, and entered the city of the
huguenots. They had been directed to the Tour Percée,[494] which they
found in a street situated on the left bank of the Rhone, and bearing
its name. They stopped in front of the inn, dismounted from their
horses, spoke to the landlord, and took up their quarters under his
roof.
[Sidenote: FAREL CONSULTS WITH OLIVETAN.]
One of their first thoughts, after resting themselves, was to inform
Robert Olivetan of their arrival. Calvin's cousin, who was still tutor
to Jean Chautemps' children, hastened to them, delighted at the coming
of his brethren. Farel desired to consult with him on the best means of
advancing the knowledge of the Gospel in Geneva; but another idea had
also occupied him during his journey. Knowing how learned Olivetan was
in Greek and Hebrew, he had cast his eyes on him to make the translation
of the Bible which the Waldensian synod had decided upon. Farel having
spoken to him about it, Olivetan exclaimed in alarm: 'I cannot accept
such a commission, considering the great difficulty of the work and my
own weakness.'[495] Farel did not admit the excuse, and continued to
solicit his friend, who would not give way. 'You could do this work much
better yourself,' he said to the travellers. But Farel believed that God
gives every man a calling for which He has prepared him, and that
Olivetan was a scholar while he was an evangelist. 'God has not given me
leisure,' said Farel, 'He calls me to another work. He wills me to sow
the pure seed of the Word in His field, and water it and make it
flourish like the garden of Eden.'[496] He dropped the subject, however,
in order to talk with Olivetan about the evangelisation of Geneva.
Chautemps' tutor, who had so often sunk under the weight of his task,
and so earnestly called for a stronger hand, looked upon Farel as one
sent from heaven. But how to begin? The evangelist of Orbe took from his
pocket the letters given him at Berne for some of the chief huguenots.
Olivetan saw that a door was opening for the Gospel, and without loss of
time the two friends went out to deliver the letters to their addresses.
Olivetan gave Farel the information he required, and explained to him
that although some of those to whom he was introduced inclined to the
side of the Gospel, the majority were content to throw off the Romish
superstitions, and were simply true patriots.
The huguenots having opened the letters that Farel presented, found that
the bearer was William Farel, preacher of the Gospel, and that their
Bernese friends invited them to hear him speak. This was great news. No
name was better known than Farel's in the districts bathed by the lakes
of Geneva, Morat, Bienne, and Neuchatel. The huguenots, delighted to see
him, looked attentively at him, and some of them reflected on such an
unexpected incident, which religious and political motives rendered most
important in their eyes. Friends of the Reformation had often told them
that the independence of Geneva would never be secure until the dominion
of the bishop and the pope had given place to that of the Gospel, and
now the Gospel was knocking at their doors in the person of Farel. Was
it not he who had filled Aigle, Morat, Neuchatel, Valengin, Orbe, and
Grandson with the evangelical doctrine? Political men hoped that at his
voice the temporal dominion of the church would fall, and the phantoms
of the middle ages, which still entangled liberty, would flee away in
alarm to distant hiding-places. Religious men, who had found pleasure in
the words of Am Thun, of Olivetan, and of the Gospel more especially,
expected that this great preacher would make the light of heaven to
shine in their hearts. All, therefore, expressed themselves ready to
hear him,[497] and Farel, saying he should be happy to see them at his
inn, took his leave.
[Sidenote: HUGUENOTS GO TO HEAR FAREL.]
The news of the reformer's arrival spread through the city in a
moment.[498] 'Let us go and hear him,' said the huguenots; 'it is the
man they call _the scourge of the little priests_.'[499] But the nuns,
bigots, and friars were filled with anger. 'A shabby little preacher,'
said the sisters of St. Claire; 'one Master William, a native of Gap in
Dauphiny, has just arrived in the city.'[500] Every one prepared for the
morrow.
On the morning of the 3d of October, the most notable of the huguenots
left their houses to go to the Tour Perce. They went singly, or at the
most two or three together, with a certain fear. One after another the
following persons might have been seen entering the inn: the amiable and
active Ami Porral, one of the syndics of the year; Baudichon de la
Maison Neuve, who had stuck up the 'Great Pardon of God;' syndic Robert
Vandel and his brother Pierre—all these intimate acquaintances of the
bishop; Claude Roset, secretary of state in the following year, and
father of the chronicler; syndic Claude Savoy, one of the most zealous
defenders of independence; Jean Chautemps, Olivetan's patron; Dominic
Arlod, afterwards syndic; Stephen Dada, descended from an illustrious
Milanese family, and properly called d'Adda, from the city of that name;
Claude Salomon, the friend of the poor and the sick; Claude Bernard;
Jean Goulaz, who had torn down the bill of the Romish jubilee from the
pillar of the cathedral; Jean Sourd, Claude de Genève, and lastly, the
energetic Ami Perrin, who several times syndic, captain-general, and
ambassador of the Republic at Paris, showed much zeal for the
Reformation at first, but afterwards incurred severe reproach.[501]
These citizens, who were the _élite_ of Geneva, with several other
persons of less distinction, arrived at the reformers' lodgings. The
landlord of the Tour Perce introduced them into a private room where
they found Farel and Saunier. The conversation began.
[Sidenote: HE SHOWS THEM THEIR DEFICIENCIES.]
The two evangelists were full of esteem for the men who were struggling
with such courage for independence and liberty against powerful enemies.
They were not slow, however, to observe that if, in a political light,
they held the most elevated sentiments, there were great deficiencies in
them in a religious light. The huguenots wanted neither pope nor
priests; but it was because of the tyranny of the one, and the
licentious conduct of the others;[502] as for the true doctrine of the
Gospel and the necessity of a moral transformation in themselves, they
had not troubled themselves about it. There was also a great void in
their religious system. Before they could become good protestants and
men morally strong, friends at once of order and liberty, this blank
must be filled up. They felt it themselves, and told Farel they desired
nothing better than to be instructed. The landlord brought in a few
benches and stools for them, and then Farel, having Saunier near him,
took his station before a little table. He placed a Bible on it, and
began to speak from the Word of God. An audience so select, an
opportunity so important for announcing the Gospel, had perhaps never
been offered to the reformer. He had before him the earliest champions
of modern liberty. These men had recognised the errors in the state, he
must now show them the errors in the church; they must learn that if man
may throw off despotism in earthly things, it is more lawful still to
throw it off in heavenly things.
Farel undertook the task; he showed the huguenots from Scripture 'that
they had been abused until now by their priests; that the latter amused
them with silly tales that had no substance in them, and further, that
these cheats (_affronteurs_) allured them, if they felt it necessary, by
flattery, and gave the rein to their lusts.' He added that neither
councils nor popes would teach them to know Jesus Christ, but Holy
Scripture only; and urged them to abandon errors and abuses, whose
danger and absurdity he forcibly pointed out to them. The huguenots
listened to him attentively. 'They had no great sentiment or knowledge
or fear of God, but they already aspired to the religion that had been
adopted at Berne,' says a manuscript of the seventeenth century; 'and
God, seeing his people of Geneva stagnating in security, and wishing by
an effort of his mercy to show them the divine sweetness of his
clemency, animated the courage of his servants, Farel and Saunier.'[503]
The simple movement by which Farel, setting aside all patristic,
synodal, scholastic, and papal traditions, turned reverently towards the
fountain-head, and drank from the Word of God the faith that he
preached, specially struck his hearers. They rose, thanked him, and left
the room, saying as they retired that it seemed right to substitute the
Holy Scriptures for the teaching of the pope. This was the principle of
an immense transformation. The Reformation had taken its first step in
Geneva when the placards of the 'general pardon' of God had been stuck
up: it now took the second step.[504]
'There was a great sensation in the city,' said Froment. Some of the
hearers, returning to their families or their friends, astonished them
by saying that henceforth their master should be neither M. La Baume,
nor M. Medicis or even M. St. Peter, 'but the Lord Jesus Christ alone.'
The astonishment was still greater in the political and ecclesiastical
bodies. Hitherto they had only had to deal with the heroes of liberal
emancipation; now they were in presence of the champions of the
religious movement. 'This thing having come to the notice of the
council, canons, and priests of the city, they were suddenly troubled
and disturbed.'[505] The monks were either astounded or very angry,
while the nuns of St. Claire were quite alarmed at 'this wretched
preacher, who was beginning to speak secretly at his quarters, in a
room, seeking to infect the people with his heresy.'[506] All of them
foresaw that this act would have innumerable and fatal consequences.
[Sidenote: FAREL'S SECOND LECTURE.]
There was soon a second meeting. Many of those who had not been at the
first wished to be present at this; and from the city, the Molard, and
the Rhone bridge, many citizens took their way towards the Tour Perce.
There were no women among them, but the men filled every corner of the
room, anxious to hear the Gospel. As Farel on the former occasion had
spoken particularly of scripture, he now addressed the huguenots on the
subject of living grace. He showed them that it was not the pardon of
the Church, but the pardon of God, that saves. Those prelates and
masters who, puffed out with magnificent titles, were continually
recommending pious works, were (he said) building the temple of God with
straw and stubble, instead of bringing together the living stones of
which scripture speaks. He maintained that when the priests spoke so
much of penance, vows, masses, fasts, aves, macerations, flagellations,
indulgences, pilgrimages, invocations to the Virgin and the saints, they
hardly left Jesus Christ the hundredth part of the work of redemption.
Farel and Saunier repeated strongly that pardon resides wholly in the
Saviour, and not in part only, 'at which those who heard him took great
pleasure.' Some meditated as they went away on what they had heard, and
that silent conversation of the soul speaking with its God began in the
quiet chamber of many a house. 'By this means a goodly number of
Genevans received a knowledge of the Gospel.'[507] Some of
them—Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve and Claude Salomon amongst
others—earnestly besought Farel to come and explain the Scriptures in
their own houses.
This second meeting added considerably to the alarm in the catholic
camp, and the commotion was particularly great among the women, who were
at that time the main support of the papacy in Geneva. 'There is not one
of them,' said a reformer, 'that has any desire to learn the truth, so
tainted are they with the breath, teaching, life, and conversation of
their priests. There is a great intimacy between them; some are their
brothers, others their friends, neighbours, gossips.... I shall say
nothing more at present,' he added, 'to save the honour of the
ladies.'[508] The priests told their female parishioners that if they
did not turn out these unbelievers everything was lost. The Genevan
ladies, therefore, entreated their husbands and brothers to expel the
heretic preachers. A few citizens, who cared very little about the
Reformation, were carried away by their wives, and proceeding angry and
heated to the Tour Perce, desired Farel and Saunier to leave Geneva at
once, if they did not wish to be turned out forcibly. 'If we cannot
maintain what we say,' replied the reformers, 'we offer ourselves to
death.'[509] Having God for the author of their faith, they were
tranquil in the midst of tempests.[510]
Thus, despite all the efforts of the husbands urged by their wives, and
of the wives urged by the priests, Farel remained. At that time a great
agitation prevailed in Geneva: canons, rectors, monks, and curates ran
up and down, talking with one another, 'and holding counsel together,
asked what they should do with those persons.'[511]
[Sidenote: FAREL BEFORE THE TOWN-COUNCIL.]
The magistrates, noticing the commotion occasioned by the arrival of
Farel and Saunier in the city, summoned them to appear before the bench,
and met to consult as to what should be said and done to them. The
council had not made up their minds either for or against the
Reformation, and many of the members arrived at the town-hall not
knowing clearly what they ought to do. Ex-syndic Balard, who was then
discharging the functions of vidame, a zealous Catholic whom Froment
calls (probably with some exaggeration) 'the head servant of the
priests,' was for immediate repression, and a few were ready to vote
with him. The majority, composed of men of moderate views, had no desire
to offend the canons and priests, but feared still more to offend Berne.
William Hugues, the premier syndic and Besançon's brother, was rather
favourable to the reformers. Only a small number of decided huguenots
were convinced that the new doctrine alone could free them from the
bickerings of the bishops and the dukes. Farel and Saunier were
conducted to the town-hall and taken into the council chamber. As they
entered, everybody looked with curious eye on that man with keen look
and red beard who was setting all the country in a blaze from the Alps
to the Jura. One of the magistrates most devoted to the Church
addressing Farel rudely, said: 'It is you then that do nothing but
disturb the world; it is your tongue that is stirring up tumult
everywhere and trumpeting rebellion. You are a busybody who have come
here only to create discord. We order you to depart from the city
instantly.' The angry looks of some of the councillors were at the same
time turned upon Farel, who being regarded as the scourge of the
priests, 'was for that reason supremely hated by them.'[512] The
reformer contained himself, and answered: 'I am not a deluder, I am not
a trumpet of sedition; I simply proclaim the truth.[513] I am ready to
prove out of God's Word that my doctrine is true, and,' added he in a
voice trembling with emotion, 'not only to sacrifice my ease but to shed
the last drop of my blood for it.'
The reformer's noble simplicity touched the members of the council, and
supplied the huguenots with sufficient motives to undertake his defence.
Farel's judges appeared to be softened by his moderation. Then calling
to mind that St. Paul under similar circumstances had invoked the
respected name of imperial Rome, the evangelist resolved to follow his
example. 'Most honoured lords,' he said, 'are you not allies and
co-burgesses of Berne? Know, then, that my lords of Berne, who have at
heart to advance the Gospel, have given me letters wherein they bear
witness to my innocence and doctrine, and beg you to hear me preach
peacefully, assuring you that by so doing you will confer a pleasure on
them.' At the same time Farel produced the credentials with which their
excellencies had furnished him. The syndics took the letter. 'If you
condemn me unheard,' continued Farel, 'you insult God, and also, as you
see, my lords of Berne.' The latter plea touched the magistrates of
Geneva closely; and, accordingly, changing countenance, they gently
dismissed Farel and Saunier without imposing any punishment on them, but
begging them only not to disturb the public tranquillity by new
doctrines. The two ministers quitted the council chamber.[514]
[Sidenote: DELIBERATIONS OF THE CLERGY.]
Meanwhile an episcopal council was being held; and jurists, canons, and
priests were assembling at the house of the grand vicar. Monseigneur de
Gingins, abbot of Bonmont, deliberated as to what should be done. The
Reformation and the reformers, of whom there had been so much talk these
fifteen years, were in Geneva at last. The rock so long suspended over
their heads was at length detached from the mountain, and threatened to
destroy everything. What was to be done? The tumult was still greater in
the city than in the grand vicar's house. A crowd, attracted by the
summons of Farel and Saunier before the council, 'was scattered up and
down the streets,' and priests paraded the city, 'carrying arms under
their frocks.'[515] The reformers had some trouble to reach their
lodgings.
The episcopal council prolonged its sittings. Monseigneur de Bonmont, a
sincere but moderate and liberal catholic, was ill at ease. Seeing angry
faces and flashing eyes around him, he represented that it would be
necessary to proceed cautiously and in accordance with justice. Some of
those present were exasperated, for in their eyes De Gingins' moderation
was flagrant treason. In their opinion it was necessary to prosecute
immediately not only the foreign preachers, but 'all who inviting them
into their houses (as Maison-Neuve for instance) to converse about the
Gospel, wished to live differently from what their forefathers, pastors,
and bishops had taught them.' The most reverend vicar represented that
persons were not convicted without being heard, that they must summon
these strangers before them, call upon them to explain their doctrine,
and then they would be sentenced upon full knowledge of the facts. This
alarmed the council, and Dom Stephen Piard, proctor to the chapter,
exclaimed with a frown:[516] 'If we dispute, all our office is at an
end.'[517] He urged that 'to discuss theological questions was to
overlook the authority of the church; that we must believe because Rome
has spoken; that these people with their Bibles were subtle spirits and
dangerous adversaries, ... and that the authority of the chapter would
be overthrown if they permitted any disputation.'
[Sidenote: CONSPIRACY AGAINST FAREL.]
Dom Stephen enjoyed a certain authority; the assembly was about to
refuse to hear Farel, when it was opposed by some of the members who
were most notorious for their fanatical zeal. In the sixteenth century
not only jurists regarded it as a duty to condemn heretics to death, but
devout persons, laymen as well as priests, thought they did an
acceptable thing to God by putting them to death. It would appear that
these latter persons had made up their minds to this meritorious work.
'Having deliberated to kill Farel and his companion,' says a manuscript,
'they found the best means of getting them to come would be by giving
them to understand that they desired to debate with them.' The pious
sister Jeanne de Jussie corroborates this statement.[518] The
conspirators carried the proposal to summon Farel. He was never to go
out again from the vicar-general's house; but first of all it was
necessary for him to enter it. Machard, the bishop's secretary, was
deputed to summon Farel and Saunier, and also Olivetan, 'to retract
publicly, or to explain before the episcopal council what they had
preached in the inn.'
Ere long something transpired of the plot of these fanatical
ecclesiastics, and the huguenots, forming part of the little council at
that moment assembled in the town-hall, represented to their colleagues
that the priests had no other object than to draw the ministers into a
trap. Accordingly the two chief magistrates, Hugues and Balard,
accompanied Machard to the Tour Perce, to give a guarantee to Farel and
his friends. Some persons suspected Balard of wishing to get Farel and
Saunier into trouble. 'There is nothing more prejudicial to Geneva than
division,' he said; 'I wish those who disturb us were well out of us.'
But he was neither a coward nor a traitor; he was determined to send the
reformers away from Geneva, but to protect their lives.'[519] On
reaching the inn the bishop's secretary informed the evangelists that
the episcopal council invited them to retract the doctrines they had
taught, the presence of Balard and Hugues giving weight to the request.
Farel answered: 'We affirm these doctrines in the strongest way
possible, and again offer to die if we cannot prove them out of
scripture.' 'In that case,' resumed Machard, 'come before the episcopal
council to discuss with the priests, and maintain what you have said.'
'No harm shall be done you,' said the premier syndic and the vidame, 'we
pledge our word to it.' Farel and Saunier, delighted with this
opportunity of announcing the Gospel, set off, accompanied by Olivetan.
They were calm and full of joy, doubtless not expecting what awaited
them, but ready nevertheless to give up their lives.
[494] Tour Percée. The sign of this inn was in existence until recently;
there was a _hole in the tower_.
[495] Olivetan's Bible, _Apologie du translateur_.
[496] Ibid.
[497] Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 3.
[498] 'Percrebuit rumor de Farelli adventu.'—Spanheim, _Geneva
restituta_, p. 43.
[499] 'Sacrificulorum flagellum.'—Ibid.
[500] La Sœur J. de Jussie, _le Levain du Calvinisme_, p. 46.
Choupard MSS.; Roset MSS. liv. III. ch. 1.
[501] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 4. Galiffe, _Notices généalogiques_, &c.
[502] 'Cives multi non inviti, etsi nounullos, non tam pietatis cura,
quam Romanæ tyrannidis odium movebat.'—MS. of Benedict Turretini,
entitled _Initium et progressus Reformationis quæ facta est Genevæ_, in
the Berne Library, MS. _Hist. Helv._ v. p. 125.
[503] _Hist. de la Réf. de Genève_, MS. of Badollet, regent of the
college of Geneva in the seventeenth century. Berne library, _Hist.
Helv._ v. p. 125.
[504] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 5. Gautier MS. Spon I. p. 467. Roser
and Choupard MSS.
[505] Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 3.
[506] La Sœur de Jussie, _le Levain du Calvinisme_, p. 46.
[507] Choupard MS.
[508] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 4.
[509] Ibid. Choupard MS.
[510] Calvin.
[511] Choupard MS.
[512] Ruchat, III. p. 177.
[513] 'Se non seditionis tubam sed veritatis præconem esse.'—Spanheim,
_Geneva restituta_, p. 43.
[514] Choupard MS. Spanheim, _Geneva restituta_, p. 43.
[515] Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 4.
[516] 'Supercilio adducto.'—Spanheim, _Geneva restituta_, p. 44.
[517] 'Si disputetur, totum ministerium nostrum destruetur.'—Froment,
_Gestes de Genève_, p. 5. This is differently reported: Froment and
Choupard give _ministerium_: Roset and Spanheim _mysterium_. I have
preferred the former as the better reading.
[518] Choupard MS. La Sœur J. de Jussie, _le Levain du Calvinisme_,
p. 47.
[519] _Mém. d'Archéologie de la Soc. d'Hist. de Genève_, x. p.
cviii.