354 FRANCIS I. AND HIS CHILDREN, exclaimed: "Oh singular and most worthy innovation, and yet to my fellow-men most unacceptable !" It is in this way that evangelical opinions made their way into the midst of the frivolous, dissolute, and literary court of Francis I. Many of the men who composed it, and who enjoyed the entire confidence of the king, as John du Bellay, Budæus, Cop the court physician, and even Petit the king's confessor, appeared favourably disposed towards the sentiments of Briçonnet and Lefevre. Francis, who loved learning, who invited into his states learned men inclined to Lutheranism, and who thought (as Erasmus says) “in this manner to adorn and illustrate his age in a more magnificent manner than he could have done by trophies, pyramids, or by the most pompous structures," was himself carried away by his sister, by Briçonnet, and by the literary men of his court and universities. He would often be present at the discussions of the learned, listening with delight to their conversation at table, and calling them "his children." He prepared the way for the Word of God by founding Hebrew and Greek professorships. And hence Theodore Beza, when placing his portrait at the head of the reformers, says: "Pious spectator! do not shudder at the sight of this adversary! Ought he not to have a part in this honour, who expelled barbarism from the world, and with firm hand substituted in its stead three languages and sound learning, to be as it were the portals to the new building that was shortly to be erected ?”* But there was at the court of Francis I. one soul in particular, which seemed prepared to receive the evangelical influence of the doctor of Etaples and the bishop of Meaux. Margaret, yet hesitating and wavering, in the midst of the depraved society that surrounded her, looked for support, and found it in the Gospel. She turned towards this fresh breath that was reanimating the world, and inhaled it with delight as an emanation from heaven. From some of the ladies of her court she learnt what the new doctors were * Neque rex potentissime pudeat......quasi atrienses hujus ædis futuras. Beza Icones.-Disputationibus eorum ipse interfuit. Flor. Ræmundi Hist. de ortu hæresum, vii. 2. MARGARET RECEIVES THE GOSPEL. 355 teaching; they lent her their writings, their little books, called in the language of the time, "tracts ;" and spoke to her of the "primitive Church, of the pure Word of God, of worshipping in spirit and in truth, of christian liberty which shakes off the yoke of superstition and traditions of men to bind them closer to God alone." Erelong this princess conversed with Lefevre, Farel, and Roussel; their zeal, their piety, their purity of morals,-all in them struck her imagination; but it was the Bishop of Meaux in particular, who had long enjoyed her friendship, that became her guide in the path of faith. Thus, in the midst of the brilliant court of Francis I. and of the profligate household of Louisa of Savoy, was accomplished one of those conversions of the heart which, although not thoroughly evangelical, are not the fruit of a mere æsthetical religion. Margaret subsequently recorded in her poems the different movements of her soul at this important period of her life; and in them we may trace the path she then trod. We find that the sense of sin had taken strong hold of her, and that she wept over the levity with which she had treated the scandals of the world. She exclaimed: Is there a gulf of ill, so deep and wide This corruption, of which she had so long been ignorant, she discovered everywhere, now that her eyes were opened. Well do I feel within me is the root, Without are branch and foliage, flower and fruit. † Yet amidst the alarm caused by the state of her soul, she felt that a God of peace had appeared to her: My God, thou hast come down on earth to me,— To me, although a naked worm I be. ‡ * Maimbourg, Hist. du Calvinisme, p. 17. + Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses. Lyon. 1547, tome i. Miroir de l'âme pécheresse, p. 15. The copy I have used appears to bave belonged to the Queen of Navarre herself, and some notes that it contains are said to be in her own handwriting. It is now in the possession of a friend of the author's. Ibid. pp. 18, 19. And erelong a sense of the love of God in Christ was shed abroad in her heart. Margaret had found faith, and her enraptured soul indulged in holy transports.* Word Divine, Jesus the Salvator, Only Son of the eternal Pater, The first, the last; of all things renovator, By faith we're made the sons of the Creator. From this time a great change took place in the Duchess of Alençon : Though poor, and weak, and ignorant I be, How rich, how strong, how wise I am in Thee !+ But the power of sin was not yet subdued in her. She found a struggle, a discord in her soul that alarmed her :‡— In spirit noble,-but in nature slave; Essence of heaven,-and yet of earthly birth; God's dwelling place,-and yet how little worth. Margaret, seeking in nature the symbols that might express the wants and affections of her soul, chose for her. emblem (says Brantôme) the marigold, "which by its rays and leaves, has more affinity with the sun, and turns wherever he goes." §-She added this device: Non inferiora secutus, : "as a sign," adds the courtly writer, "that she directed all her actions, thoughts, desires, and affections, to that great sun which is God; and hence she was suspected of being attached to the Lutheran religion." || In fact, the princess experienced, not long after, the truth of the saying, that all who will live godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution. At the court, they talked of Margaret's new opinions, and the surprise was great. * Marguerites, &c. Discord de l'esprit et de la chair, p. 73. (The translator has endeavoured to preserve the quaintness of the original, both in rhyme and rhythm). +Ibid. Miroir de l'ame, p. 22. Ibid. Discord de l'esprit, p. 71. MARGARET'S CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. 357 What! even the sister of the king takes part with these people! For a moment it might have been thought that Margaret's ruin was certain. She was denounced to Francis I. But the king, who was tenderly attached to his sister, pretended to think that it was untrue. Margaret's character gradually lessened the opposition. Every one loved her, says Brantôme: "she was very kind, mild, gracious, charitable, affable, a great alms-giver, despising nobody, and winning all hearts by her excellent qualities." In the midst of the corruption and frivolity of that age, the mind reposes with delight on this chosen soul, which the grace of God had seized beneath such a load of vanities and grandeur. But her feminine character held her back. If Francis I. had felt his sister's convictions, he would no doubt have followed them out. The timid heart of the princess trembled before the anger of the king. She was constantly wavering between her brother and her Saviour, and could not resolve to sacrifice either. We cannot recognise her as a Christian who has reached the perfect liberty of the children of God: she is a correct type of those elevated souls, so numerous in every age, particularly among women, who, powerfully attracted towards heaven, have not sufficient strength to detach themselves entirely from the earth. However, such as she is, she is a pleasing character on the stage of history. Neither Germany nor England present her parallel. She is a star, slightly clouded no doubt, but shedding an indescribable and gentle radiance, and at the time of which I am treating her rays shone out still more brightly. It is not until later years, when the angry looks of Francis I. denounce a mortal hatred against the Reformation, that his frightened sister will screen her holy faith from the light of day. But now she raises her head in the midst of this corrupted court, and appears a bride of Christ. The respect paid to her, the high opinion entertained of her understanding and of her heart, plead the cause of the Gospel at the court of France much better than any preacher could have done. The gentle influence of woman * Vie des Femmes illustres, p. 341. 358 ENEMIES OF THE REFORMATION. gained admission for the new doctrine. It is perhaps to this period we should trace the inclination of the French nobility to embrace Protestantism. If Francis had followed his sister, if all the nation had opened its gates to Christianity, Margaret's conversion might have been the saving of France.. But while the nobles welcomed the Gospel, the king and the people remained faithful to Rome; and there came a time when it was a cause of serious misfortune to the Reformation to count a Navarre and a Condé among its ranks. CHAPTER V. Enemies of the Reformation-Louisa-Duprat-Concordat of BolognaOpposition of the Parliament and the University-The SorbonneBeda-His Character-His Tyranny-Berquin, the most learned of the Nobility--The Intriguers of the Sorbonne-Heresy of the three Magdalens-Luther condemned at Paris-Address of the Sorbonne to the King-Lefevre quits Paris for Meaux. THUS already had the Gospel made illustrious conquests in France. Lefevre, Briçonnet, Farel, and Margaret joyfully yielded in Paris to the movement that was already beginning to shake the world. Francis I. himself seemed at that time more attracted by the splendour of literature, than repelled by the severity of the Gospel. The friends of the Word of God were entertaining the most pleasing expectations; they thought that the heavenly doctrine would be disseminated without obstacle over their country, at the very moment when a formidable opposition was organizing at court and in the Sorbonne. France, which was to signalize itself among Roman-catholic states for nearly three centuries by its persecutions, rose with pitiless severity against the Reformation. If the seventeenth century was the age of a bloody victory, the sixteenth was that of a cruel struggle. Probably in no place did the reformed Christians meet with more merciless adversaries on the very spot where they raised the standard |