Picture: Daybreak in France 5TC 125.1
After the Protest of Spires and the Confession at Augsburg came years of conflict and darkness. Weakened by divisions, Protestantism seemed headed for destruction. 5TC 125.2
But in the moment when the emperor apparently triumphed, he was struck with defeat. He was forced at last to grant toleration to the doctrines that he had wanted most in life to destroy. He saw his armies wasted by battle, his treasuries drained, his many kingdoms threatened by revolt, while the faith he had tried to suppress was growing everywhere. Charles V had been battling against omnipotent power. God had said, “Let there be light,” but the emperor had tried to keep the darkness unbroken. Worn out with the long struggle, he gave up the throne and buried himself in a monastery. 5TC 125.3
Many of Switzerland's regions, or cantons, accepted the reformed faith, but others clung to the teachings of Rome. Persecution resulted in civil war. Zwingli and many who had joined in the reform fell on the bloody field of Cappel. Rome was triumphant and in many places seemed about to recover all that she had lost. But God had not forsaken His cause or His people. In other lands He raised up workers to carry on the reform. 5TC 126.1
In France, one of the first to catch the light was Lefevre, a professor in the University of Paris. In his research into ancient literature, his attention was directed to the Bible, and he introduced some of his students to its study. He had begun to prepare a history of the saints and martyrs as given in the legends of the church, and had already made considerable progress in it, when, thinking that the Bible might help him in the project, he began to study it. Here indeed he found saints, but not the kind featured in the Roman church's calendar. In disgust he turned away from his self-appointed work and devoted himself to the Word of God. 5TC 126.2
In 1512, before either Luther or Zwingli had begun the work of reform, Lefevre wrote, “It is God who gives us, by faith, that righteousness which by grace alone justifies us to eternal life.”1James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 1. And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs only to God, he also declared that the duty of obedience belongs to man. 5TC 126.3
Some of Lefevre's students listened eagerly to his words and continued to declare the truth long after the teacher's voice was silenced. One of these was William Farel. The son of religious parents and himself a devoted follower of Rome, he was zealous to destroy all who dared to oppose the church. “I would gnash my teeth like a furious wolf,” he said later, “when I heard anyone speaking against the pope.” But adoration of the saints, worshiping at the altars, and adorning the holy shrines with gifts could not bring peace to his heart. Conviction of sin came over him, and no act of penance could banish it. He listened to Lefevre's words, “Salvation is of grace.” “It is the cross of Christ alone that opens the gates of heaven and shuts the gates of hell.”2James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 2. 5TC 126.4
By a conversion like Paul's, Farel turned from the slavery of tradition to the liberty of the sons of God. “Instead of having the murderous heart of a prowling wolf,” he came back, he says, “quietly like a meek and harmless lamb, with his heart entirely withdrawn from the pope and given to Jesus Christ.”3J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, book 12, chapter 3. 5TC 126.5
While Lefevre spread the light among students, Farel went out to preach the truth in public. A dignitary of the church, the bishop of Meaux, soon united with them. Other teachers joined in proclaiming the gospel, and it won followers from the homes of craftsmen and peasants to the palace of the king. The sister of Francis I accepted the reformed faith. With high hopes the Reformers looked forward to the time when France would be won to the gospel. 5TC 127.1
But their hopes would not be fulfilled. Trial and persecution lay ahead for the disciples of Christ. However, a time of peace interrupted the flow of events, allowing them to gain strength to meet the coming storm, and the Reformation made rapid progress. Lefevre began to translate the New Testament, and at the very time when Luther's German Bible came from the press in Wittenberg, the French New Testament was published at Meaux. Soon the peasants of Meaux had the Holy Scriptures. The workers in the field, the craftsmen in the workshop, cheered their daily labors by talking about the precious truths of the Bible. Though they belonged to the humblest class—the unschooled and hardworking peasantry—the reforming, uplifting power of divine grace was visible in their lives. 5TC 127.2
The light ignited at Meaux sent its beams to distant places. Every day the number of converts was increasing. For a time the king held back the rage of the church's hierarchy, but the papal leaders finally prevailed. The stake was set up, and many witnessed for the truth in the flames. 5TC 127.3
In the lordly halls of the castle and the palace there were kingly souls who valued truth above wealth or position or even life. Louis de Berquin was of noble birth, devoted to study, polished in manners, and blameless in morals. “He crowned all his other virtues by viewing Lutheranism with a special hatred.” But God guided him to the Bible, and he was amazed to find there “not the doctrines of Rome, but the doctrines of Luther.” He gave himself to the cause of the gospel. 5TC 127.4
Rome's supporters in France put him in prison as a heretic, but the king freed him. For years, King Francis wavered between Rome and the Reformation. Three times the papal authorities imprisoned Berquin, only to have the king release him, refusing to sacrifice him to the hatred of the church leaders. Berquin was warned repeatedly about the danger that threatened him in France, and he was urged to follow the steps of those who had found safety in voluntary exile. 5TC 128.1
But Berquin's zeal only grew stronger. He decided to take bolder measures. He would not only stand in defense of the truth, he would attack error. The most active of his opponents were the educated monks in the theological department of the University of Paris, one of the highest church authorities in the nation. From the writings of these doctors, Berquin drew twelve propositions that he publicly declared to be “opposed to the Bible,” and he appealed to the king to act as judge in the controversy. 5TC 128.2
The king was glad for an opportunity to humble the pride of these haughty monks, so he ordered the Romanists defend their cause by the Bible. They would find little help from this weapon; torture and the stake were arms that they better understood how to use. Now they saw themselves about to fall into the pit into which they had hoped to push Berquin. They looked around them for some way to escape. 5TC 128.3
“Just at that time an image of the virgin at the corner of one of the streets was mutilated.” Crowds flocked to the place, grieving and angry. The king was deeply moved. “These are the fruits of Berquin's doctrines,” the monks proclaimed. “Everything is about to be overthrown—religion, the laws, the throne itself—by this Lutheran conspiracy.”4J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, book 13, chapter 9. 5TC 128.4
The king withdrew from Paris, leaving the monks free to do as they wished. Berquin was tried and condemned to die. To keep Francis from intervening to save him, they carried out the sentence on the very day it was pronounced. At noon a huge crowd gathered to witness the event, and many were astonished to see that the victim had been chosen from the best and bravest of the noble families of France. Amazement, indignation, scorn, and bitter hatred darkened the faces of that surging crowd, but on one face no shadow rested. The martyr was conscious only of the presence of his Lord. 5TC 128.5
Berquin's face radiated with the light of heaven. He wore “a cloak of velvet, a jacket of satin and damask, and golden pants.”5 J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, book 2, chapter 16. He was about to testify to his faith in the presence of the King of kings, and no sign of mourning should contradict his joy. 5TC 129.1
As the procession moved slowly through the crowded streets, the people noticed with amazement his look of joyous triumph. They said, “He is like someone sitting in a temple, meditating on holy things.” 5TC 129.2
At the stake, Berquin tried to say a few words to the people, but the monks began to shout and the soldiers to strike their weapons, and their noise drowned the martyr's voice. So in 1529 the highest church authority of cultured Paris “gave the populace of revolutionary France in 1793 the detestable example of suppressing on the scaffold the sacred words of the dying.”6James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 9. Berquin was strangled, and his body was consumed in the flames. 5TC 129.3
Teachers of the reformed faith left for other fields. Lefevre made his way to Germany. Farel returned to his native town in eastern France, to spread the light in his childhood home. The truth that he taught found listeners. Soon he was banished from the city. He traveled from village to village, teaching in private homes and hidden meadows, finding shelter in the forests and among rocky caverns that he had known in boyhood. 5TC 129.4
As in the apostles’ days, persecution had “actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). Driven from Paris and Meaux, “those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). And so the light found its way into many remote provinces of France. 5TC 129.5
In one of the schools of Paris was a thoughtful, quiet young man known for his blameless life, for intellectual vigor, and for religious devotion. His genius and diligence made him the pride of the college, and people confidently expected that John Calvin would become one of the most effective defenders of the church. 5TC 130.1
But a ray of divine light penetrated the walls of scholasticism and superstition that enclosed Calvin. Olivetan, a cousin of Calvin, had joined the Reformers. The two cousins discussed together the matters disturbing Christendom. “There are only two religions in the world,” said Olivetan, the Protestant. “The one ... which humans have invented, in ... which we save ourselves by ceremonies and good works; the other is that one religion revealed in the Bible, which teaches us to look for salvation only from the free grace of God.” 5TC 130.2
“I will have none of your new doctrines,” exclaimed Calvin. “Do you think that I have lived in error all my life?”7James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 7. But when he was alone in his room he thought about his cousin's words. He saw himself without an intercessor in the presence of a holy and just Judge. Prayers to saints, good works, the ceremonies of the church—all were powerless to atone for sin. Confession and penance could not reconcile the sinner to God. 5TC 130.3
One day when he happened to visit one of the public squares, Calvin witnessed the burning of a heretic. In the tortures of that dreadful death and under the terrible condemnation of the church, the martyr displayed a faith and courage that the young student painfully contrasted with his own despair and darkness. He knew that the “heretics” rested their faith on the Bible. He determined to study it and discover the secret of their joy. 5TC 130.4
In the Bible he found Christ. “O Father,” he cried, “His sacrifice has appeased Your anger, His blood has washed away my impurities, His cross has taken my curse, His death has atoned for me.... You have touched my heart, so that I may turn away in disgust from all other merits except those of Jesus.”8W. Carlos Martyn, The Life and Times of Martin Luther, volume 3, chapter 13. 5TC 130.5
Now he determined to devote his life to the gospel. But he was naturally timid and wanted to devote himself to study. The earnest appeals of his friends, however, finally led him to agree to become a public teacher. His words were like dew falling to refresh the earth. He was now in a provincial town under the protection of the princess Margaret, who loved the gospel and extended her protection to its disciples. Calvin's work began with the people in their homes. Those who heard the message carried the good news to others. Calvin went forward, laying the foundation of churches that would produce fearless witnesses for the truth. 5TC 131.1
Paris would receive another invitation to accept the gospel. It had rejected the call of Lefevre and Farel, but again all classes in that great capital were to hear the message. The king had not yet fully sided with Rome against the Reformation. Margaret resolved to have the reformed faith preached in Paris. She ordered a Protestant minister to preach in the churches. When the papal dignitaries prohibited this, the princess opened up the palace. It was announced that every day a sermon would be preached, and the people were invited to attend. Thousands gathered every day. 5TC 131.2
The king then ordered that two of the churches of Paris should be opened. Never had the city been so moved by the Word of God. Temperance, purity, order, and industry were taking the place of drunkenness, immorality, strife, and idleness. While many accepted the gospel, most of the people rejected it. Leaders who favored the papacy succeeded in regaining their influence. Again the churches were closed, and the stake was set up. 5TC 131.3
Calvin was still in Paris. Finally the authorities determined to bring him to the flames. He had no idea he was in danger when friends came hurrying to his room with the news that officers were on their way to arrest him. At that instant they heard a loud knocking at the outer entrance. There was not a moment to lose. Friends delayed the officers at the door, while others helped the Reformer let himself down from a window, and he hurried to the cottage of a laborer who was a friend of the reform. He disguised himself in his host's clothes and, with a hoe over his shoulder, started on his journey. Traveling southward, he again found refuge in Princess Margaret's territory. 5TC 131.4
Calvin could not remain inactive for long. As soon as the storm had quieted a little, he set out for a new field of work in Poitiers, where some people already favored the new views. Persons from all classes gladly listened to the gospel. As the number of hearers grew, the Reformers thought it was safer to gather outside the city. For a meeting place they chose a cave where trees and overhanging rocks kept them completely hidden. In this secluded spot they read and explained the Bible. Here French Protestants celebrated the Lord's Supper for the first time. This little church sent out several faithful evangelists. 5TC 132.1
Once more Calvin returned to Paris, but he found almost every door closed to his work. He finally decided to go to Germany. He had scarcely left France when trouble burst on the Protestants. The French Reformers decided to rally the whole nation by striking a bold blow against the superstitions of Rome. Signs attacking the mass were posted all over France in one night. This zealous but unwise movement gave the Romanists a pretext for demanding the destruction of the “heretics” as agitators who were dangerous to the throne and to the peace of the nation. 5TC 132.2
One of the signs was attached to the door of the king's private chamber. The unprecedented boldness of thrusting these startling messages into the royal presence made the king angry. He expressed his rage in the terrible words: “Arrest everyone, without distinction, who is suspected of Lutheresy. I will exterminate them all.”9J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, book 2, chapter 30. The king had determined to put his influence fully on the side of Rome. 5TC 132.3
One of those arrested was a poor man who had often called the believers to their secret gatherings. Under the threat of immediate death at the stake, he was commanded to take the papal emissary to the home of every Protestant in the city. Fear of the flames overcame him, and he agreed to betray his brethren. Morin, the royal detective, along with the traitor, slowly and silently passed through the streets of the city. When they arrived at the house of a Lutheran, the betrayer made a sign but spoke no word. The procession stopped, soldiers entered the house, dragged the family out and chained them, and the terrible company went forward in search of fresh victims. “Morin made the whole city tremble.... It was a reign of terror.”10J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, book 4, chapter 10. 5TC 132.4
The victims were put to death with cruel torture, on orders that the fire be lowered in order to prolong their agony. But they died as conquerors, their commitment unshaken, their peace unclouded. Their persecutors felt themselves defeated. “All Paris was able to see what kind of people the new opinions could produce. There was no pulpit like the martyr's pile. The serene joy that lighted up the faces of these Christians as they went along ... to the place of execution ... pleaded with irresistible eloquence on behalf of the gospel.”11James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 20. 5TC 133.1
Protestants were charged with plotting to massacre the Catholics, to overthrow the government, and to murder the king. The accusers could produce not a hint of evidence to support their allegations. Yet the cruelties done to the innocent Protestants accumulated like a huge weight of punishment that was due, and in later centuries brought about the very doom the accusers had predicted for the king, his government, and his subjects. But the ones doing it were infidels and the pope's advocates themselves. The suppression of Protestantism was to bring these terrible disasters on France. 5TC 133.2
Suspicion, distrust, and terror now extended to all classes of society. Hundreds fled from Paris, exiling themselves from their native land. In many cases their departure was the first indication that they favored the reformed faith. The officials who supported the pope looked around them in amazement at the thought of the unsuspected “heretics” that had been tolerated among them. 5TC 133.3
King Francis I had delighted to gather scholars from every country to his court. But in his fresh zeal to stamp out heresy, this patron of learning issued an edict abolishing printing all over France! Francis I is one among the many examples on record showing that intellectual culture does not prevent religious intolerance and persecution. 5TC 133.4
The priests demanded blood to atone for the insult offered to High Heaven in the condemnation of the mass. January 21, 1535, was chosen for the awful ceremony. In front of every door was a lighted torch in honor of the “holy sacrament.” Before daybreak the procession formed at the king's palace. 5TC 134.1
“The bishop of Paris carried the host under a magnificent canopy, ... supported by four royal princes.... After the host walked the king.... Francis I on that day wore no crown nor robe of state.”12James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 21. At every altar he bowed in humiliation, not for the vices that defiled his soul nor the innocent blood that stained his hands, but for the “deadly sin” of his subjects who had dared to condemn the mass. 5TC 134.2
In the great hall of the bishop's palace the king appeared. In words of moving eloquence he lamented “the crime, the blasphemy, the day of sorrow and disgrace,” that had come upon the nation. And he called upon every loyal subject to aid in stamping out the deadly “heresy” that threatened France with ruin. Tears choked his voice, and the whole assembly wept, all exclaiming together, “We will live and die for the Catholic religion!”13J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, book 4, chapter 12. 5TC 134.3
“The grace that brings salvation” had appeared, but France, illuminated by its radiance, had turned away, choosing darkness rather than light. They had called evil good and good evil, till they had fallen victims to their own chosen self-deception. The light that would have saved them from deception, from staining their hearts with the guilt of innocent blood, they had deliberately rejected. 5TC 134.4
Again the procession formed. “At short distances scaffolds had been erected on which certain Protestant Christians were to be burned alive, and it was arranged that the wood should be lighted at the moment the king approached, and that the procession should stop to witness the execution.”14James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 21. There was no wavering by the victims. When he was urged to recant, one answered: “I only believe in what the prophets and the apostles preached long ago, and what all the company of saints believed. My faith has a confidence in God which will resist all the powers of hell.”15J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, book 4, chapter 12. 5TC 134.5
When they reached the palace, the crowd dispersed and the king and the church officials withdrew, congratulating themselves that the work would continue until the “heresy” had been completely destroyed. 5TC 135.1
The gospel of peace that France rejected was indeed to be rooted out, and terrible would be the results. On January 21, 1793, another procession passed through the streets of Paris. “Again the king was the chief figure, again there was uproar and shouting, again there was heard the cry for more victims, again there were black scaffolds, and again the scenes of the day closed with horrid executions. Louis XVI, struggling hand to hand with his jailers and executioners, was dragged forward to the block and held down by force till the axe had fallen and his severed head rolled on the scaffold.”16James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 13, chapter 21. Near the same spot twenty-eight hundred human beings died by the guillotine. 5TC 135.2
The Reformation had presented to the world an open Bible. Infinite Love had unfolded to humanity the principles of heaven. When France rejected the gift of heaven, she sowed seeds of ruin. The inevitable outworking of cause and effect resulted in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. 5TC 135.3
The bold and zealous Farel had been forced to flee from the land of his birth to Switzerland. Yet he continued to exert a strong influence on the reform in France. With the help of other exiles, he translated the writings of the German Reformers into French, and together with the French Bible these were printed in large quantities. Traveling book salesmen sold these works widely in France. 5TC 135.4
Farel began his work in Switzerland in the humble role of a schoolmaster, cautiously introducing the truths of the Bible. Some believed his teachings, but the priests came forward to stop the work, and they stirred up superstitious people to oppose it. “That cannot be the gospel of Christ,” urged the priests, “since the preaching of it does not bring peace, but war.”17James A. Wylie, History of Protestantism, book 14, chapter 3. 5TC 135.5
From village to village Farel went, enduring hunger, cold, and weariness, and everywhere risking his life. He preached in the marketplace, in the churches, and sometimes in the pulpits of the cathedrals. More than once he was beaten almost to death. Yet he kept on working. One after another he saw towns and cities that had been strongholds of Catholicism opening their gates to the gospel. 5TC 135.6
Farel had wanted to plant the Protestant banner in Geneva. If this city could be won, it would be a center for the Reformation in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Many of the surrounding towns and hamlets had already become Protestant. 5TC 136.1
With just one companion he entered Geneva. But he was permitted to preach only two sermons. The priests called him before a church council, and they came to it themselves with weapons hidden under their robes, determined to take his life. They gathered a furious mob to make sure of his death if he managed to escape the council. However, the presence of magistrates and an armed force saved him. Early the next morning he was taken across the lake to a safe place. This is how his first effort to evangelize Geneva ended. 5TC 136.2
The next attempt involved a lowlier instrument—a young man so humble in appearance that even the professed friends of reform treated him coldly. But what could someone like this do where Farel had been rejected? “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). 5TC 136.3
Froment began his work as a schoolteacher. The truths he taught the children at school they repeated at home. Soon the parents came to hear the Bible explained. New Testaments and tracts were given out freely. After a time Froment also had to flee, but the truths he taught had taken hold of the minds of the people. The Reformation had been planted. The preachers returned, and Protestant worship became finally established in Geneva. 5TC 136.4
The city had already declared itself for the Reformation when Calvin entered its gates. He was on his way to Basel when he was forced to take a detour through Geneva. 5TC 136.5
Farel recognized the hand of God in this visit. Although Geneva had accepted the reformed faith, yet the work of regeneration must be done in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by the decrees of councils. While the people of Geneva had thrown off the authority of Rome, they were not so ready to renounce the vices that had taken firm root during her rule. 5TC 136.6
In the name of God Farel solemnly appealed to the young evangelist to remain and work there. Calvin drew back in alarm. He did not want to meet the bold and even violent spirit of the people living in Geneva. He wanted to find a quiet place for study, where he could instruct and build up the churches through printed material. But he did not dare to refuse. It seemed to him “that the hand of God was stretched down from heaven, that it had taken hold of him, and fastened him forever to the place he was so impatient to leave.”18J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, book 9. chapter 17. 5TC 137.1
The pope's condemnations thundered against Geneva. How could this little city resist the powerful hierarchy that had forced kings and emperors to submit? 5TC 137.2
With the first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome called up new forces to destroy it. She created the order of the Jesuits, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of the papal system. Dead to the claims of natural affection, and with consciences completely silenced, its members acknowledged no rule, no tie, except that of their order. (See Appendix.) 5TC 137.3
The gospel of Christ had enabled its followers to endure suffering, cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold truth in face of torture, the dungeon, and the stake. Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure similar dangers and to bring all the weapons of deception against the power of truth. There was no crime too great to commit, no deception too evil to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. It was their calculated aim to overthrow Protestantism and reestablish the pope's supremacy. 5TC 137.4
They wore an appearance of holiness, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior, they often concealed criminal and deadly intentions. 5TC 137.5
A fundamental principle of the order was that the end justifies the means. Lying, theft, perjury, and assassination were commendable when they helped the aims of the church. Under disguise the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants in order to act as spies against their masters. They established colleges for princes and nobles, and schools for the common people. They drew the children of Protestant parents into observing Catholic rites. In this way the liberty for which the fathers had worked and bled was betrayed by the sons. Wherever the Jesuits went, a revival of Catholicism followed. 5TC 138.1
To give them greater power, the pope issued a decree reestablishing the Inquisition. Church rulers again set up this terrible tribunal, and atrocities too horrifying to bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons. In many countries thousands upon thousands of the nation's best, the most intellectual and highly educated, were killed or forced to escape to other lands. (See Appendix.) 5TC 138.2
Rome used methods such as these to quench the light of the Reformation and to restore the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages. But under God's blessings and the labors of noble men whom He raised up to follow Luther, Protestantism was not overthrown. It would not owe its strength to the military might of princes. The humblest and least powerful nations became its strongholds. It was little Geneva; it was Holland, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain; it was bleak, snowy Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation. 5TC 138.3
For nearly thirty years Calvin worked at Geneva to spread the Reformation throughout Europe. His behavior was not faultless, nor were his doctrines free from error. But he was instrumental in proclaiming especially important truths, in keeping Protestantism strong against the fast-returning tide of the papacy, and in promoting simplicity and purity of life in the reformed churches. 5TC 138.4
Publications and teachers went out from Geneva to spread the reformed doctrines. The persecuted of all lands looked to Geneva for instruction and encouragement. The city of Calvin became a refuge for the hunted Reformers of all Western Europe. Geneva welcomed and tenderly cared for them, and when they found a home here, they blessed their adopted city by their skill, their learning, and their deep faith. John Knox, the brave Scottish Reformer, many of the English Puritans, Protestants of Holland and of Spain, and the Huguenots of France all carried the torch of truth from Geneva to lighten the darkness of their native lands. 5TC 139.1
