A JOURNEY TO THE VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT, AND STRUGGLES NEAR NEUCHATEL.
(END OF 1532.)
[Sidenote: FAREL AND FROMENT.]
Farel expelled from Geneva, with a heart full of love for those whom he
had been obliged to quit, meditated on the means of evangelising them,
and like a skilful general, was preparing even during his retreat for a
new and more successful struggle. After having saluted the Christians of
Orbe and Grandson he departed for the village of Yvonand, on the
southern shore of the lake of Neuchatel, where dwelt a youthful
Christian Anthony Froment by name, born at Val de Frières in Dauphiny in
1510, and consequently a year younger than Calvin and his countryman
Farel. The reformer invited several evangelists to meet him in this
village, and about the middle of October there came Olivetan, who had
been unable to stay in Geneva after the departure of his two friends;
Adam, Martin (probably Martin Gonin the Waldensian), and Guido (who must
not be confounded with the Belgian reformer Guido or Guy von Brès) who
with Farel, Saunier, Froment, and others formed a little council. Farel
gave an account of his mission: he described his journey to the valleys
of Piedmont, and the stormy reception he had met with at Geneva. They
all looked with interest on the fugitive missionary who had escaped as
by a miracle from the violence of the Genevan priests. Froment in
particular could not take his eyes off the reformer; every word of
Farel's made a deep impression on him, and disgusted with the ministers
of popery, he pitied the fate of the huguenots deprived of God's word by
the intrigues of the clergy. Farel, fixing his eyes on him, said: 'Go
and try if you can find an entrance into Geneva to preach there.'[534]
Froment was disturbed and speechless. He possessed learning and talents;
but he was young and without experience, and wanted that perseverance
and firmness by which other reformers were distinguished. His feelings
were sensitive, his imagination was ardent, but his character was uneven
and rather fickle. He is believed to have been drawn to the Reformation
more by witnessing the excesses of Rome than by the inner charms of the
Word of God.
'Alas! father,' he said to Farel, 'how can I face the enemies from whom
you were compelled to flee?'—'Begin,' replied Farel, 'as I began at
Aigle, where I was a schoolmaster at first and taught little children,
so that even the priests gave me liberty to preach. True they soon
repented; and even now I seem to hear the curate exclaiming: "I would
sooner have lost my hand than introduced this man, for he will ruin all
our business." But it was too late; the Word of God had begun its work,
and the mass and images fell.' Froment, who was at that time full of
ardour and zeal, began to familiarise himself gradually with the idea of
going to the city that drove out the prophets. Farel, observing this,
persevered, and encouraged his disciple by the recollection of the great
dangers they had once incurred together. 'My dear Froment,' he said,
'you fear the men of Geneva; but were you not with me when I planted the
Gospel at Bienne, among the mountains, in the valley of Saint Imier, at
Tavannes, and near that mountain (Pierre Pertuis) which Julius Cæsar
tunnelled?... Were you not with me when I went to Neuchatel and preached
in the streets and market-place, and in the surrounding villages? Do you
not remember that we very often received our rent (_censes_), that is,
blows and abuse ... once in particular at Valengin, where my blood
remained for more than four years on the pavement of a little chapel,
near which the women and priests bruised my head against the walls, so
that we were both of us nearly killed?'[535] These remembrances were not
very encouraging. Some sided with Farel, others thought that a man of
twenty-two was too young to be launched into such a terrible gulf ...
for Geneva really alarmed them. Froment could not yet make up his mind
to attempt the enterprise. Another thought absorbed Farel.
[Sidenote: OLIVETAN'S SCRUPLES OVERCOME.]
That pious reformer's heart was still full of the glorious synod of the
valleys at which it had been decided to translate the Bible. He had
several times already entreated Olivetan to undertake that great work:
he repeated his entreaties both in the assembly and in private. Near
Yvonand there is a number of hills which form a sort of labyrinth around
a little river. Beautiful forests of majestic oaks stretch their
branches so wide and high that it is possible to walk beneath their
immense leafy arches—a circumstance which has earned for this district
the name of Arcadia. Was it in a private room or in these woods that
Farel urged Olivetan, as they trampled underfoot the dry leaves which
autumn had already loosened from the trees? I cannot tell: in either
case he no longer solicited, he 'importuned;'[536] but Olivetan—like
Froment with respect to Geneva—repeated his unwillingness to 'venture'
upon such a task. 'How,' said he, 'can I express Hebrew and Greek
eloquence in French, which is but a barbarous language compared with
them? You know it is as difficult as to teach the hoarse raven to sing
the song of the nightingale.'[537] Farel tried to encourage him: he
might do it. Olivetan's style is, considering the time, one of
remarkable elegance. But Calvin's cousin alleged other reasons: he had
certain fears. 'Such an undertaking,' he said, 'is like a ball in a
public building wherein everybody dances as he likes. I shall be
encompassed with critics, correctors, and calumniators.... They will not
be friends, I am very sure, but strangers devoid of charity, Christians
who will philosophise about the dot over an _i_, and bring forward a
thousand false imputations.'[538]—'St. Jerome undertook a similar work,'
said Farel. 'St. Jerome!' exclaimed Olivetan, 'he had more trouble in
answering such people than in all his work. How could I do it—I who am
but a petty page, a mere varlet, compared with such a knight?'[539] But
Farel pressed him so much that he thought himself bound to undertake it.
He promised, and it was well known that what he promised he would
perform.
Farel had won a great victory. The French churches would have a good
translation of scripture. But a journey was necessary. 'Cross the Alps,'
he said to his friend; 'go to the Waldensian valleys, and come to an
understanding with the brethren about the translation.' Then turning
towards other members of the synod, he added: 'And you, Adam Martin and
Guido, go with him and preach to them the doctrine that will correct all
their errors.'
This mission, which was to result in the publication of the Bible in
French, was not without importance or without danger. The evangelists
proposed to take the direct road by Mount St. Bernard; but before
reaching the lake of Geneva they would have to cross a district
belonging to the Duke of Savoy. Now the duke, the Count of Challans, and
the Sieur de Bellegarde were not at all anxious that the Waldensians of
the Piedmontese valleys should unite with the reformers of Switzerland.
The four friends determined, therefore, to travel by night. Having
supped at Yvonand with Farel and the other brethren, they began their
journey immediately after. It was at the end of October. They travelled
through the darkness, led by a guide who knew the country well. They
successfully accomplished their night journey, and arrived at Vevey the
next day before dinner-time. They began immediately to speak of Christ,
for they had no wish to fall into sloth and carelessness.[540] From
Vevey they proceeded to Aigle, where they found the evangelical
Christians of the place assembled to receive them. 'I salute you in
Christ,' said Adam, 'and exhort you to reprove one another as becomes
brethren and ministers of the word of truth.'[541]
[Sidenote: A MINISTER'S HOME.]
When they had almost reached the pretty village of Bex, in the midst of
its orchards and walnut trees, in front of the picturesque Dent de
Morcles, and the huge Dent du Midi, Martin was attacked with severe
pains. His companions immediately looked for a house where they could
lodge the sick man, but the country was so poor that they could not find
a room fit to receive him.[542] These poor brethren were on the highway
with their suffering friend, anxious and yet not knowing what to do.
Some one told them that about a league behind them, at the village of
Ollon, lived the minister Claude who would gladly receive them. They
accordingly retraced their steps, and arrived at Ollon, a little place
in the midst of the shady woods which extend to the foot of the mountain
on which are situated the charming hamlets of Chesières and Villars.
They asked for the pastor's house and it was shown them; they dragged
their friend to it and knocked at the door. Claude opened it himself,
and at the sight of a pale and fainting man invited the strangers in.
But on a sudden hasty footsteps were heard, a woman appeared flushed
with anger and with fiery eyes—a violent, wicked, pitiless, scolding
woman: she was the unfortunate pastor's wife. She screamed and
gesticulated, and instead of being grave, as Scripture requires such
women to be, she forgot all restraint and broke out: 'What's this, a
sick man? If you receive him into the house, I will leave it.'[543]
Claude durst not say a word: the voice of this Xantippe rose higher and
higher, and at last she turned her back on her husband and the
strangers, and disappeared in a passion.[544] Poor Claude was sorely
vexed and ashamed. 'We will not be the cause of a divorce,' said Adam,
'we will go away.'[545] The pastor, a good but weak man, who could not
keep his wife in order, let them go.
[Sidenote: THE SUFFERING MISSIONARIES.]
Thus not a house was opened to receive an expiring missionary. The poor
evangelists were quite disheartened. 'Let us cheer up,' said they, 'and
make haste to reach the Alps.'[546] The four travellers resumed their
journey, Martin probably on horseback; but on arriving at the foot of
the mountain beyond Martigny his pains increased. Martin was half dead,
Olivetan suffered from an inflammation of the bowels, Guido was
exhausted with fatigue, and Adam alone was unaffected. But ere long he
too was attacked. Seized with cholera (it is his own word[547]) he
thought his end was come. The four missionaries dragged themselves
painfully along the brink of the torrent, whose noisy waters alone
disturbed the silence around them. They lifted their eyes mournfully
towards those gigantic mountains which it seemed impossible for them to
cross, and ineffectually sought a refuge in the poorest of cottages. One
thing, however, was left them—the faithfulness of their Master. They
said to one another: 'God takes us down into the abyss when He pleases,
but His grace is almighty to lift us out of it again.'[548] At this
moment they caught sight of a wretched house. They went up to it,
explained their condition, and happily they were received in
consideration of their money. God, whom they had invoked, alleviated
their disorder, and the next day they were able to resume their journey,
feebly at starting, but gradually the mountain air gave them strength.
They had been forced to incur extraordinary expenses, and Adam, who held
the purse, smiled as he saw its shrunken condition. Their good humour
began to return: he showed his friends the lean little bag, and said
merrily: 'Alas! our purse has been seized with such cruel pains in the
inside that there is scarcely anything left in it.'[549] They climbed
the mountain, and needing rest entered an inn situated between Martigny
and the convent of St. Bernard. They soon observed one of the monks, and
approaching him desired in spite of their weakness to discharge their
duty: they spoke to him of Jesus Christ, and of the grace he gives to
sinners. The monk, who belonged to the Augustine order, listened
attentively to their words, and began to talk with them, while the
evangelists pressed him closely by means of the Holy Scriptures. He was
touched and convinced. 'I will quit Antichrist,' he exclaimed. Adam
immediately took paper, sat down and wrote: 'Here is a letter for Master
Farel,' he said to the friar, 'go to him, and he will tell you what you
have to do.' The evangelist and the monk separated. Even down to our
days conversions have been effected among the brethren of this
monastery.
At last the four friends arrived among the Waldenses, who listened
joyfully to their words of truth and love: some of these Alpine
shepherds were even known to have gone two days' journey to hear
them.[550] These poor Christians handed over to Olivetan towards the
printing of the Bible 500 gold crowns—an immense sum for them, and
begged that the publication should be hurried on.[551] Olivetan and the
barbes came to terms. Here finishes this episode, which to some may have
little interest except so far as it is connected with the history of the
French protestant translation of the Holy Scriptures.
[Sidenote: DEPUTATION OF PEASANTS.]
When this news reached Farel, his eyes were fixed upon another country.
The young and gentle Fabri, whom the reformer loved as a father loves a
son, was preaching at Neuchatel, when one day he saw some peasants
arrive who had been deputed from the village of Bole in the parish of
Boudry. These good people entreated him to come and settle among them.
The parish priest, a worthy man by the way, looked upon the Gospel not
as a proclamation of grace, but as a second law more perfect than the
first. Having heard the reformers inveigh against the corruption that
prevailed in the church, he had at first gone with them; but he soon
hesitated and shrunk back, when he found that their new morality reposed
on a new faith. In fact the ministers who preached in those quarters
said that the Gospel substituted a regenerative doctrine for the dead
ordinances of the law; that Christ's religion did not consist in
practices commanded by the priests, or even in a purely outward
morality, but in a new heart from which proceeds a new life. 'The law,'
said Calvin in later years, 'is like grammar, which after it has taught
the first elements, refers the learners to theology or some other
science, in order that they may be perfected.' The priest of Boudry
would have thought himself but too happy to see his parishioners endowed
with that external morality which did not satisfy the evangelicals. A
zealous doctor of the law, he turned against the doctors of grace, and
hence it happened that a few of his parishioners hastened to Neuchatel.
Fabri followed these honest people, and the gentle and moderate reformer
was immediately engaged in a severe campaign. The village of Bole was
for the reformer; the little town of Boudry for the priest. There were
two places of worship in the parish, the church, and a chapel called the
Pontareuse, situated in a low out-of-the-way place. The government
decided that this should be for the use of both parties. Many catholics,
more fanatical than their priest, entered into a plot to oppose the
worship of the reformed. On the first Sunday in November 1532, the
latter went down full of peace and joy into the wild valley through
which flows the torrent of the Reuse, and where a few remains of the
little chapel are still visible. They entered and took their seats on
the benches, while Fabri went up into the pulpit. Meantime the
catholics, girding on their swords, which was not usually done, entered
the chapel and drew up near the altar.[552] While Fabri was preaching,
all the bells suddenly rang out together so as to drown his voice, and
the more he besought them to let him finish, the louder rang the
catholics in the belfry. Then those who were in the church began to
move, pushing and shouting. Fabri, seeing this disorder and profanation,
ceased speaking, and left the church. He had hardly got outside when the
catholics near the altar ran and shut the door, and fell like madmen on
the surprised, hesitating, and unarmed congregation.[553] The confusion
was very great, and it was this that saved the innocent. No one
distinguished friends from enemies: each man struck the first he met.
One or two evangelicals endeavoured to open the door, and at last they
succeeded and rushed out, but their position was not bettered. 'Their
adversaries, delighted at being able to distinguish them,' says an
eye-witness, 'fell upon them like wolves upon lambs, threatening them
with death.'[554] 'God help us!' exclaimed the poor people scattered
here and there. At last they succeeded in reaching their homes,
miraculously as it were, but with many bruises. They were happy at being
in peace. 'Our heavenly Father fought for us mightily,' they said.[555]
Clubs and swords only served to increase their repugnance for that
theocratical tyranny which men had substituted for the mild gospel of
Jesus Christ.
[Sidenote: A PROTESTANT RISING.]
The next day some of the reformed went to Neuchatel against the advice
of Fabri, who desired to wait for deliverance from the Lord and not from
men. To the friends who met them on the road, they told the story of the
plot to which they had nearly been victims. All the villages between
Boudry and Neuchatel were in commotion, and the peasants of Auvernier
and Colombier flew to arms, ready to join the Neuchatelans if they went
to the help of their brethren.[556] The council of Neuchatel decreed
that henceforth the chapel of Pontareuse should belong entirely to the
reformed.
The catholics resolved to pay no attention to this. On Christmas day the
priest had already sung two masses before the hour appointed for the
evangelical preaching; and at the moment when the reformers arrived, he
resolutely began high mass 'with loud and long singing,' although there
was scarcely anybody to hear it. The reformed waited patiently, but when
the service was ended, and just as they were hoping that their turn had
come, they were surprised to see the catholics arriving in a crowd.
Fabri then wanted to go into the pulpit, but had great difficulty; one
pushed him one way, and one another, and all shouted out against
him.[557] Order being a little restored, one of the reformers went, as
was customary, to take a chalice for the celebration of the Lord's
Supper. The priest who had remained in the church, watching what was
going on, rushed upon him and snatched the vessel from his hands, crying
out, 'Sacrilege! Sacrilege!' The friends of the priests determined to
put an end to the service once for all. 'Some of them rushed like raging
lions upon the reformed, and hit them with their fists; and one of them
struck a governor (probably one of the communal councillors) with a
knife; but God,' says the document we quote, 'permitted only his clothes
to be pierced.' This did not end the battle. Others, going to a room
behind the altar, where they had hidden some large sticks, dealt their
blows lustily on all sides. The women rushed into the vineyards, tore up
the vine-props, and brought them to as many of their husbands as had
neither sticks nor knives. Some of them left the chapel and picked up
stones to throw at the minister, who was still in the pulpit, and kill
him. From every side they fell upon the poor evangelicals, calling them
'Rascally dogs!' Even the _sautier_ of Boudry, whose duty it was to
preserve order, joined in the riot, threw off his official robe, and
loudly hooting, struck harder than the rest. The parish priest, who
loved the law so much, had suddenly lost his balance. Incensed, and
beside himself, stripped to his doublet, and 'bareheaded like a
brigand,'[558] he directed the battle. His friends, well provided with
arquebuses, bludgeons, knives, and other weapons, seeing that the
evangelists had rallied round their pastor, rushed upon them, intending
to kill many of them; 'but it was God's will that this wolf should be
stopped on the way,' says the official document, 'and be driven back
into his den.' The reformed, who parried the blows as well as they could
with their hands only, at last succeeded in reaching their houses. They
told their relations and friends what had happened, and gave God thanks.
'It is indeed a great miracle,' they said with emotion, 'that there was
nobody killed. But the Lord Jesus Christ is a Good Shepherd; he keeps
his sheep so well in the midst of the sword, the fire, the lions, and
even death itself, that the wolves cannot snatch them out of his hand.'
[Sidenote: A PRIEST HEADS THE RIOT.]
While these songs of thanksgiving were being sung in the houses of the
evangelists, the curé was triumphing in the church. The battle was
scarcely terminated by the retreat of the reformed, when, proud of the
victory he had won by stones and clubs, he laid down the stake with
which he had armed himself, covered his head, arranged his disordered
doublet, put on his sacerdotal robes, and entered the church of Boudry
with a grave and composed air. Seeing it full, and wishing to profit by
the advantage he had gained, he went into the pulpit and exclaimed in
his burlesque manner: 'Some strangers have come of their own accord into
this country. One comes from Paris, another from Lyons, and a third from
I do not know where. This one is called Master Anthony, that one Master
Berthoud, another Master William, a fourth Master Froment (_i.e._
_wheat_) with _barley_ or _oats_.... They carry a book in their hands
and boast of having the Holy Ghost. But if they had the Holy Ghost,
would they want a book? The apostles who were filled with the Holy Ghost
understood without book all languages and all mysteries. My brethren,
will you believe a stranger before a man of the country whom you know?
Do not associate with those devils; they will lead you into hell; but
come to confession as all your forefathers have done; open yourselves to
me upon the seven deadly sins, the five natural senses, and the ten
commandments. Do not be afraid; your consciences will be cleansed of all
evil. Put me to death in case I do not prove all I have told you.'[559]
The catholics left the church very proud of such a fine discourse.
[Sidenote: REFORM ADVANCES AT NEUCHATEL.]
Some of the friends of the reformed hurried off to Fabri, and reported
to him that the priest offered to prove all he had said, particularly
that he could absolve from the seven deadly sins and those of the five
senses. Without loss of time Fabri appeared before the castellan and
councillors of Boudry, and asked for a public disputation, offering to
die in case he could not show that all he had preached was true, and
that what the priest had said was false. The latter bluntly refused all
public discussion; he did not like combats of that kind, and compensated
himself in another fashion.
One day, as he sat half undressed at his window watching the birds as
they darted through the air, and the people who were walking in the
street, he saw Fabri passing in front of his house. In great excitement
he called to him and began abusing him: 'Gaol-bird! forger!' he said,
stretching his head out of window; 'tell me why you corrupt Holy
Scripture?' Fabri, hoping the curé would grant him the discussion he had
so much desired, made answer: 'Come down and bring out your Bible; we
will take a clerk who can read it to the people, and I will show you
that I am no forger.' At these words the alarmed priest exclaimed: 'I
have something else to do besides disputing with a gaol-bird like you;'
and he retired hastily from the window. Such were the struggles the
reformers had to go through in order to transform the church. This
transformation was going on, and ere long the whole principality of
Neuchatel was won to the Reformation.
In 1532 it penetrated into the mountain regions among the shepherds and
hunters of Locle and Chaux de Fonds. Claude d'Arberg, who had so often
followed the chase in these mountains, had built an oratory there to St.
Hubert, the hunters' patron saint. The saint (says the legend) was once
met by a bear, which killed his horse, but Hubert got on the bear's
back, and rode him home to the great astonishment of everybody. A more
formidable hunter was now about to tame the bears of these parts. Jean
de Bély, the evangelist of Fontaine, having gone to Locle at the time of
the fair of St. Magdalen, Madame Guillemette de Vergy had him seized
instantly and forced him to dispute for two hours in her presence with
the curé, Messire Besancenet. 'Put him in prison,' said the countess,
who was offended at his doctrines; but whilst the high-born dame was so
irritated at what she had heard, the priest, a good-natured man,
interceded in the kindest manner in favour of the heretic. The lady
released him, and the worthy vicar, taking Bély by the arm, led him
graciously to the parsonage, and drank wine with him. Already people
said that the mountain bears were beginning to be tamed.
From Locle the Gospel made its way to Chaux de Fonds, and thence to
Brenets (1534). The earnest mountaineers had taken the images out of the
church, desiring to _worship God in spirit and in truth_, and were
preparing to break them in pieces and throw them into the Doubs, when
they saw two fine oxen approaching, driven by some devout inhabitants
from a neighbouring village of Franche Comté. 'We offer you these
beasts,' said they, 'in exchange for your pictures and statues.'—'Pray
take them,' said the people of Brenets. The Franche-Comtois gathered up
the idols, the Neuchatelans drove away the oxen, and 'each thought they
had made a fine exchange,' says a chronicler.
With the exception of one village, the evangelical faith was established
throughout the whole principality of Neuchatel, without the aid of the
prince and the lords, and indeed in spite of them. A hand mightier than
theirs was breaking the bonds, removing the obstacles, and emancipating
souls. The Reformation triumphed: and after God, it was Farel's
work.[560]
[534] Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 10.
[535] Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 10, 11. The Choupard MS. (p.
490) mentions Anthony Boive, also from Dauphiny, as Farel's companion.
Did both Anthonys accompany the reformer? It is very probable. (See the
_Hist. of the Reformation_, vol. iv. book xv. ch. 11.)
[536] Olivetan's Bible: _Apologie du translateur_.
[537] Ibid.
[538] Ibid.
[539] Olivetan's Bible: _Apologie du translateur_.
[540] 'Ab Yvoniaco a cœna solvimus, et Viviacum venimus pransum, ubi de
Christo locuti sumus.'—Adam to Farel from the Valleys, 5 Nov. 1532,
Choupard MS. The letter from which we take these particulars has escaped
notice until now.
[541] 'Ut si monerent invicem quemadmodum fratres et verbi veritatis
ministros.'—Ibid.
[542] 'Nullum erat cubiculum.'—Ibid.
[543] 'Verum uxor garrula et duræ cervicis, pietate vacans, cœpit minari
marito de discessu.'—Adam to Farel, Choupard MS.
[544] 'Furibunda abivit.'—Ibid.
[545] 'Ne divortii causa essemus.'—Choupard MS.
[546] 'Properamus ad Alpes.'—Ibid.
[547] 'Quo mærore in pede Alpium me colera tam crudeliter
invasit.'—Ibid.
[548] 'Gratia illius, qui quum videtur nos ducit ad inferos et
reducit.'—Choupard MS.
[549] 'At crumenæ nostræ linteria cœperunt laborare tam aspere, ut nihil
prorsus in illorum corpore remanserit.'—Ibid.
[550] 'Veniunt a locis distantibus a nobis itinere duorum
dierum.'—Choupard MS.
[551] 'Ad typographum dati sunt quingenti aurei.'—Ibid.
[552] 'Gladiis omnes ejusdem factionis præter consuetudinem
cincti.'—Fabri to Farel, Choupard MS. The particulars, which we extract
from this letter, were unknown until now.
[553] 'Illi plusquam insani recta irruerunt in nos gladiis
evaginatis.'—Ibid.
[554] 'Lupina rabie oviculos aggrediuntur mortem minantes.'—Fabri to
Farel, Choupard MS.
[555] 'Optimus pater qui pro nobis potenter adeo pugnavit.'—Ibid.
[556] 'Accincti ad arma toto spectarunt die si Neocomenses
proficiscerentur.'—Ibid.
[557] Requête de MM. les gouverneurs de Bâle à MM. les maîtres bourgeois
de Neuchatel.—Choupard MS.
[558] "Tête nue comme un brigand."—Requête de MM. les gouverneurs de
Bâle, &c.—Choupard MS.
[559] Choupard MS.
[560] Chambrier, _Hist. de Neuchatel_, p. 229.