J. H. Merle d'Aubigné

“ The pious soldiers of the Church would fall upon the Lutherans and put them to death. The city would be purged of all those seeds of the gospel and liberty which were choking, within its walls, the ancient and glorious plants of feudalism and popery. Finally to complete their work, the conquerors would share the property of the vanquished, which the bishop had in anticipation confiscated for their benefit, and Geneva, forever bound to Rome, would thus become its slave and never its rival. ”

“ Religion was at that time like those winter trees whose frost-covered branches glitter with a certain brightness under the rays of the sun, but are all frozen. A new season was beginning, which, by bringing back the sap into their sterile branches, would cover them with rich foliage and make them produce savory fruit. We do not say, as an eminent Christian has said, that the reaction of morality against formalism is the great fact of the Reformation, its glory and its appropriate title. ”

“ By degrees Paleario grew warm; his eyes fell again upon his insolent enemy whom he apostrophized as Cicero did Catiline: ‘Cotta, you wicked, arrogant, and factious man,’ he said, ‘who practise not that religion in which God is worshipped in spirit and in truth, but that which plunges into every superstition, because it is the best adapted to impose upon mankind: Cotta, you imagine you are a Christian, because you bear the image of Christ upon your purple robe; while by your calumnies you are crushing an innocent man, who is also an image, a living image, of Jesus Christ. ”

“ Are all the Germans bad? Do you not know that the august emperor is a German? Will you say that you mean only the theologians? What noble theologians there are in Germany! But though your accusations are unmeaning in appearance, there is a sting lying under them. I know the venom they contain.... The Germans that you mean are Œcolampadius, Erasmus, Melancthon, Luther, Pomeranus, Bucer, and their friends. But is there a single theologian in Italy so stupid as not to know that there are many things worthy of praise in the works of those doctors?... ”

“ All doctrine that casteth a mist on these two to shadow and hide them, resist with all your power.... Beloved in my heart, there liveth not one in whom I have so great hope and trust, and in whom my heart rejoiceth, not so much for your learning and what other gifts else you may have, as because you walk in those things that the conscience may feel, and not in the imagination of the brain. ”

“ Was not the function ascribed to him contrary to the Gospel? Would not this act impress upon the Anglican Reformation a territorial and aristocratic character, which would introduce into the Reformed Church the world with all its splendor and wealth? If the royal preëminence endows the Anglican Church with the pomps of worship, of classical studies, of high dignities, will it not also carry along with it luxury, sinecures, and worldliness among the prelates? Shall we not see the royal authority pronounce on questions of dogma, and declare the most sacred doctrines indifferent? ”

“ We shall see hereafter what became of it.
At the dawn of the Reformation, when the first gleams heralding the rising of the sun began to appear, they were probably nowhere more brilliant than in Italy, and nowhere foretokened a brighter day. Men’s souls were moved by a spirit from on high, and a new life sanctified their hearts: the primitive relation of man to God, and his personal relation to Him, which sin had destroyed, were restored. It was in the very stronghold of formalism that the adoration of God was manifested with most liberty and grace. ”

“ Geneva was abandoned by all, even by Berne. The news filled the citizens with the liveliest emotion. There was nothing left them but God, and God is mighty. ‘Yes,’ said they, ‘be it so, let God decide.’ Men worked at the walls and prepared their arms, the women prayed, and the children in their games defied Savoy and the bishop. The bells of the demolished churches were melted down to make cannon. Every night, men on guard stretched the chains across the streets, and the watchword was to make ‘good ward and sure ward.’ Everything was carried out with order, calmness, and courage. ”

“ Possessing a manly eloquence and sonorous voice, his clear, energetic, and at times ironical language, did prompt justice upon the sophisms of his adversaries [450] .
The reformer rose first and said: ‘This is a serious business; let us therefore speak with all mildness. Let not one strive to get the better of the other. We can have no nobler triumph than to see the truth prevail. So that it be acknowledged by all, I willingly consent to forfeit my life.’ Touched by his words, the assembly exclaimed: ‘Yes, yes! that is what we desire.’
Furbity began by asserting the authority of the pope. ”

“ Melancthon withdrew in sorrow. What a position was his! His conscience bade him go to Paris, and his prince forbade him. Do what he would, he must fail in one of his most important duties. If he departs in defiance of the elector’s prohibition, he will not only offend his prince, but set Germany against himself, and sacrifice the circle of activity which God has given him. If he remains, all hope is lost of bringing France to the light of the Gospel. ”

“ There was a minister of the Word in London who exasperated the friends of Rome more than all the rest; this man was Latimer. The court of Henry VIII., which was worldly, magnificent, fond of pleasures, intrigue, the elegances of dress, furniture, banquets, and refinement of language and manners, was not a favorable field for the Gospel. ‘It is very difficult,’ said a reformer, ‘that costly trappings, solemn banquets, the excesses of pride, a flood of pleasure and debauchery should not bring many evils in their train.’ Thus the priests and courtiers could not endure Latimer’s sermons. ”

“ The exasperated Pierre de la Baume chafed in Geneva, and beat the earth as if to crush reform and liberty beneath his feet; but by so doing he opened a gulf, in which were swallowed up his rights as a prince, his privileges as a bishop, taxes, revenue, priests, monks, mitres, images, altars, and all the religion of the Roman pontiffs.
If the bishop was uneasy, the people were uneasy likewise. It was not only strong men who spoke against the abuses of the papacy, but even women extolled the prerogatives of the evangelical faith. ”

“ But wiser men were not ignorant that in the world faith often prevails over superstition, wisdom over strength, piety over anger, and that the great mission falls ultimately to the just and the calm. Charles V., who aspired to place his sword in the balance, and other great and ambitious men, have had something gigantic in them; extraordinary ideas have flashed across their minds like lightning, and they have often cast a wide and sombre light over history; but they have founded nothing lasting. All great and solid creations belong to justice, perseverance, and faith. ”

“ Those labored pictures, those sculptured angels, those dazzling decorations, that charm of ceremonies and edifices, those shafts and pediments, those unintelligible chants, those intoxicating perfumes, those mechanical performances of the priests, with their gold and lace—all these things disgusted them exceedingly. Since God is a spirit, they said, those who worship him must worship him in spirit, by the inward faith of the heart, by purity of conscience, and by offering themselves to God to do his will. ”

“ The idol to which this young woman had sacrificed everything—the splendor of a throne—did not satisfy her longings for happiness: she looked within herself, and found once more, as queen, that attraction towards the doctrine of the Gospel which she had felt in the society of Margaret of Valois, and which, amid her ambitious pursuits, had been almost extinguished in her heart. She discovered that for those who have everything, as well as for those who have nothing, there is only one single good—God himself. ”

“ When Fryth mounted the scaffold, Anne Boleyn had been seated a month on the throne of England. The salvoes of artillery which had saluted the new queen had re-echoed all over Europe. There could be no more doubt: the Earl of Wiltshire’s daughter, radiant with grace and beauty, wore the Tudor crown; every one, especially the imperial family, must bear the consequences of the act. One day Sir John Hacket, English envoy at Brussels, arrived at court just as Mary, regent of the Low Countries, was about to mount her horse. ”

“ The positive results of the Italian Reformation seem to escape us entirely; and yet it possesses quite as many of those characteristics which charm the mind, captivate the imagination, and touch the heart, as other Reformations do. The new and varied plants which that ancient land began to produce, the brilliant flames which for a moment shed such beautiful light, the men of God at that time scattered all over Italy, deserve to be known, and we must now turn to them. ”

“ If De la Maisonneuve acknowledged him for his friend, they might easily class them together. The judges therefore asked him insidiously, ‘whether Jacques de la Croix, alias Alexander, had not in former times eaten and drunk at his house?’—‘If he has eaten and drunk at my house,’ responded Baudichon, ‘I hope it did him good.’ And that was all. It was impossible to make the prisoner fall into the trap: his good sense foiled all the plots of his adversaries.
Thus did the judges hunt down an innocent man. At that time men set themselves up between God and the soul of man. ”

“ At the time when mankind were breaking the secular chains of popery and the fantastic institutions of feudalism, it was necessary they should cleave to the sovereign Master, who alone gives the breath of life to individuals and to nations. If England has so long enjoyed the precious fruits of liberty, and if France has not yet been able to secure them, it is because the former welcomed the Reformation and the latter rejected it. One of the great evils springing out of popery was the blunting of the moral sense; and the revival of the sixteenth century was a moral revival. ”

“ Luther was displeasing to Contarini, and the Reformation of Germany itself, stamped with the character of the nation, did not suit the Venetian’s taste. Noble impulses acted on the reformer, order prevailed with the diplomatist. Contarini devoted three hours every day to study, never more, never less, and each time began by repeating what he had done the day before. He never abandoned the study of a science until he had mastered it. ”

“ We know that they are but little troubled because the hateful name of heretics has been given them, and that, on the contrary, they rejoice because they are thought worthy of enduring shame, imprisonment, fire and sword for the cause of Christ. We know that if they demand a council, it is not in their own interest, but with a view to the salvation of other people. For this reason all the nations of Christendom owe a deep debt of gratitude both to them and to you, most honored lord; but there is no nation more indebted to you than our own. ”

“ Those men who would have been the regenerators of Italy, with minds of such activity, with such varied learning and exquisite cultivation, who held converse in the finest parts of the world with the best and most illustrious of their time,—those men, the flower of their nation, soon found themselves constrained to escape beyond the Alps, or saw themselves condemned by cruel pontiffs, insulted by ignorant priests, and conducted ignominiously to some public square in Rome, there to be beheaded and have their bodies cast into the fire.... ”

“ With their own hands the citizens were to destroy those peaceful homes in which their childhood had played, where they had been born, and where those whom they loved had died; and a great part of the population would have no other shelter left them than the vault of heaven. Yet the Two Hundred did not hesitate. The friends of the Reformation, in whose eyes the Gospel had shone with all its brightness, were prepared for the greatest sacrifices so that they might preserve it. Those who were not touched by religious motives were carried away by patriotic enthusiasm. ”

“ Wishing to prevent at least the revolts which the partisans of the papacy might excite among his subjects, he dictated a strange proclamation to his secretary: ‘Let no Englishman forget the most noble and loving prince of this realm,’ he said, ‘who is most wrongfully judged by the great idol, and most cruel enemy to Christ’s religion, which calleth himself Pope. Princes have two ways to attain right—the general council and the sword. ”

“ The more an individual is developed in a Christian sense, the more useful a member he becomes of the nation and of the human race. Individuality and community are the two poles of life; and it is necessary to maintain both, in order that humanity may fulfil its mission in revolving ages. The mischief lies in giving an unjust pre-eminence to either of the two elements. Romish unity, which encroaches upon individuality, is an obstacle to real Christian civilization; while an extreme individuality, which isolates man, is full of peril both to society and to the individual himself. ”

“ The Little and the Great Council having sent for the ambassadors of Berne, told them plainly and curtly: ‘You ask us to abandon our liberties and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We would sooner renounce father and mother, wife and children, we would sooner lose our goods and our life! Tell the duke we will set fire to the four corners of the city, before we dismiss the preachers who announce the Word of God.... Nevertheless, they offer to endure death, if it can be shown by Scripture that they are wrong.’ The men of Berne were greatly astonished at such a reply. ”