434 FEARS AND DIVISIONS. These encouragements were of great value to the French refugees; but a blow inflicted by these very Christians of Switzerland and Germany, who sought to cheer them, cruelly wrung their hearts. Recently escaped from the scaffold or the burning pile, they saw with dismay the evangelical Christians on the other side of the Rhine disturbing the repose they enjoyed by their lamentable differences. The discussions on the Lord's Supper had begun. Deeply moved and agitated, feeling strongly the necessity of brotherly unity, the French would have made every sacrifice to conciliate these divided sentiments. This became their leading idea. At the epoch of the Reformation, none had greater need than they of christian unity; of this Calvin was afterwards a proof. "Would to God that I might purchase peace, concord, and union in Jesus Christ at the cost of my life, which in truth is of little worth," said Peter Toussaint.* The French, whose discernment was correct and prompt, saw immediately that these rising dissensions would check the work of the Reformation. "All things would go on more prosperously than many persons imagine, if we were but agreed among ourselves. Numbers would gladly come to the light; but when they see these divisions among the learned, they stand hesitating and confused."+ The French were the first to suggest conciliatory advances. "Why," wrote they from Strasburg, "is not Bucer or some other learned man sent to 'Luther? The longer we wait the greater will these dissensions become." Their fears grew stronger every day. At length, finding all their exertions of no avail, these Christians mournfully turned their eyes away from Germany, and fixed them solely upon France. France the conversion of France, thenceforth exclusively occupied the hearts of these generous men whom history, that has inscribed on her pages the names of so many individuals vainly puffed up with their own glory, has for three centuries passed over in silence. Thrown on a foreign + Ibid. Neufchatel MS. 21st Dec. 1525. Multis jam christianis Gallis dolet, quod a Zwinglii aliorumque de Eucharistia sententia dissentiat Lutherus. Toussaint to Farel, 14th July TRANSLATION AND PRINTING AT BASLE. 435 A land, they fell on their knees, and daily, in silence and obscurity, invoked God in behalf of the country of their forefathers.* Prayer was the power by which the Gospel spread through the kingdom, and the great instrument by which the conquests of the Reformation were gained. But these Frenchmen were not merely men of prayer: never has the evangelical army contained combatants more ready to sacrifice their lives in the day of battle. They felt the importance of scattering the Holy Scriptures and pious books in their country, still overshadowed with the gloom of superstition. A spirit of inquiry was breathing over the whole kingdom: it seemed necessary on all sides to spread the sails to the wind. Anemond, ever prompt in action, and Michael Bentin, a refugee like himself, resolved to unite their zeal, their talents, their resources, and their labours. Bentin wished to establish a printing press at Basle, and the chevalier, to profit by the little German he knew, to translate the best works of the Reformers into French. “Oh," said they, rejoicing in their plans, "would to God that France were filled with evangelical volumes, so that everywhere, in the cottages of the poor, in the palaces of the nobles, in cloisters and presbyteries, nay, in the inmost sanctuary of the heart, a powerful testimony might be borne to the grace of Jesus Christ!" + Funds were necessary for such an undertaking, and the refugees had nothing. Vaugris was then at Basle; on his departure Anemond gave him a letter for the brethren of Lyons, many of whom abounded in the riches of this world, and who, although oppressed, were faithful to the Gospel; he requested them to send him some assistance; but that did not suffice; the French wished to establish several presses at Basle, that should be worked night and day, so as to inundate France with the Word of God.§ At Meaux, at Metz, and in other places, were men rich and powerful * Quam sollicite quotidianis precibus commendem. Toussaint to Farel, 2d Sept. 1524, Neufchatel MS. + Opto enim Galliam Evangelicis voluminibus abundare. Farel, Neufchatel MS. Ut pecuniæ aliquid ad me mittant. Ibid. § Ut præla multa erigere possimus. Ibid. Coct to 436 TRACTS DISTRIBUTED IN FRANCE. enough to support this enterprise. No one could address Frenchmen with so much authority as Farel himself, and it was to him that Anemond applied.* It does not appear that the chevalier's project was realized, but the work was done by others. The presses of Basle were constantly occupied in printing French works; they were forwarded to Farel, and by him introduced into France with unceasing activity. One of the first writings sent by this Religious Tract Society was Luther's Explanation of the Lord's Prayer. "We are retailing the Pater at four deniers of Basle each," wrote Vaugris to Farel, "but we sell them wholesale at the rate of two florins the two hundred, which comes to something less."+ Anemond sent to Farel from Basle all the useful books that appeared or that arrived from Germany; at one time a work on the appointment of Gospel ministers, at another a treatise on the education of children. Farel examined these works; he composed, translated or got others to translate them into French, and seemed at one and the same time entirely devoted to active exertions and to the labours of the study. Anemond urged on and superintended the printing; and these epistles, prayers, books, and broadsheets, were the means of the regeneration of the age. While profligacy descended from the throne, and darkness from the steps of the altar, these unnoticed writings alone diffused throughout the nation beams of light and seeds of holiness. But it was especially God's Word that the evangelical merchant of Lyons was calling for in the name of his fellow-countrymen. These people of the sixteenth century, so hungering for intellectual food, were to receive in their own tongue those ancient monuments of the first ages of the world, in which the new breath of primitive humanity respires, and those holy oracles of the Gospel times in which shines forth the fulness of the revelation of Christ. Vaugris * An censes inveniri posse Lugdunæ, Meldæ, aut alibi in Galliis qui nos ad hæc juvare velint. Coct to Farel, Neufchatel MS. + Vaugris to Farel, Basle, 29th August 1524. value of the florin is about 1s. 9d. sterling. Neufchatel MS.-The Mitto tibi librum de instituendis ministris ecclesiæ cum libra de instituendis pueris. Coct to Farel, 2d September 1524. Ibid. THE NEW TESTAMENT-COLPORTAGE. 437 wrote to Farel: "I beseech you, if possible, to have the New Testament translated by some person who can do it efficiently it would be a great blessing for France, Burgundy, and Savoy. And if you want proper type, I will have some brought from Paris or Lyons; but if there be any good types at Basle, it will be all the better." Lefevre had already published at Meaux, but in detached portions, the books of the New Testament in French. Vaugris wished for some one to revise it thoroughly, and to superintend a complete edition. Lefevre undertook to do so, and he published it, as we have already seen, on the 12th of October 1524. An uncle of Vaugris, named Conrard, also a refugee at Basle, immediately procured a copy. The Chevalier Coct happening to be at a friend's house on the 18th of November, there saw the book, and was filled with joy. "Lose no time in reprinting it," said he, "for I doubt not a great number will be called for."* Thus was the Word of God offered to France in opposition to the traditions of the Church, which Rome still continues to present to her. "How can we distinguish what is of man in your traditions, and what is of God," said the reformers," except by the Scriptures of God? The maxims of the Fathers, the decretals of the pontiffs, cannot be the rule of our faith. They show us what was the opinion of these old doctors; but the Word alone teaches us what is the judgment of God. We must submit everything to the rule of Scripture." Such were the principal means by which these writings were circulated. Farel and his friends consigned the books to certain pedlars or colporteurs, simple and pious men, who, laden with their precious burden, passed from town to town, from village to village, and from house to house, in Franche Comté, Lorraine, Burgundy, and the adjoining provinces, knocking at every door. They procured the books at a low rate, "that they might be the more eager to sell them.”† Thus as early as 1524 there existed in Basle a Bible society, a tract society, and an association of colporteurs, for the benefit of France. It is a mistake to conceive that these + Vaugris to Farel, Neufchatel MS. * Neufchatel MS. 438 PROGRESS AT MONTBELIARD. efforts date only from our own age; they go back in essentials not only to the times of the Reformation, but still farther to the primitive ages of the Church. CHAPTER XIII. Progress at Montbeliard-Resistance and Commotion-Toussaint leaves Ecolampadius-The Image of Saint Anthony-Death of AnemondStrasburg-Lambert's Letter to Francis I.-Successive Defeats. THE attention which Farel bestowed on France did not divert his attention from the place where he was residing. Arriving at Montbeliard about the end of July 1524, he had hardly sown the seed, before the first fruits of the harvest (to use the words of Ecolampadius) began to appear. Farel wrote to his friend with great exultation. is an easy thing," replied the doctor of Basle, "to instil a few dogmas into the ears of our auditors; but to change their hearts is in the power of God alone." "It The Chevalier de Coct, delighted with this intelligence, ran with his usual vivacity to Peter Toussaint. "I shall set off to-morrow to visit Farel," said he hastily. Toussaint, more calm, was writing to the evangelist of Montbeliard : "Be careful," said he to Farel; "you are engaged in an important cause; it must not be polluted by the counsels of men. The mighty ones promise you their favour, their support, and heaps of gold......But to put your trust in these things, is deserting Christ and walking in darkness."+ Toussaint was finishing this letter when the chevalier entered; the latter took it, and departed for Montbeliard. He found the city in great commotion. Many of the nobles were alarmed, and said as they looked contemptuously at Farel : What does this sorry fellow want with Would to God he had never come! He cannot stay us? แ * Animum autem immutare, divinum opus est. Ecol. Epp. p. 200. + A quibus si pendemus, jam a Christo defecimus. Neufchatel MS. |