Chapter XXXVI

FRANCIS PROPOSES A REFORMATION TO THE SORBONNE. (AUTUMN 1534.)

[Sidenote: FRANCIS CONFESSES HIS ERRORS.]

The disgust inspired by the imposture of the cordeliers of Orleans, and the jests lavished upon the monks in the Louvre and throughout Paris, were further encouragements to the king to prosecute his alliances with protestantism. He had, however, little need of a fresh incentive; the reform proposed by Melanchthon was in his view acceptable and advantageous, because it diminished the power of the pope, and corrected abuses incompatible with the new light, at the same time that it left untouched that catholicism from which the king had no desire to secede. In his private conversations with Du Bellay, Francis, laying aside all reserve, acknowledged frankly that the Romish Church was upon the wrong track, and said in a confidential tone, that 'Luther was not so far wrong as people said.' He did not fear to add that it was himself rather who had been mistaken. The King of France, and the country along with him, thus appeared to be in a good way for reform.

Francis determined to acquaint the protestant princes with his sentiments on Melanchthon's memoir. 'My envoy, on his return to Paris,' he wrote, 'having laid before me the opinions of your doctors on the course to be pursued, I entertain a hope of seeing the affairs of religion enter upon a fair way at last.'[655] Du Bellay, well satisfied on his part with the impression made on his master by the opinions of the evangelical divines, informed the magistrates of Augsburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, Meiningen, and other imperial cities, that the King of France approved of the Lutheran doctrines, and would protect the protestants. The Melanchthonian reformation was therefore in progress, and already men were preparing the stones for the edifice of the reformed Catholic Church. The French government did not confine itself to writing letters; but, strange to say! the sovereign, the absolute monarch, did not fear to make an acknowledgment of his errors, and to express his regret: he sent a thorough palinode into Germany. He who was putting the Lutherans to death was not far from declaring himself a Lutheran. In October and November 1534, an agent from Francis I. visited the cities of the Germanic empire, announcing everywhere that 'the king now saw his mistake in religious matters,'[656] and that the Germans who followed Luther _thought correctly as regards the faith that is in Christ_.[657] The worthy burgomasters and councillors of Germany were amazed at such language, and looked at one another with an incredulous air; but the French envoy assured them repeatedly that the King of France desired a reform even in his own country.... 'The emperor,' he added, 'wishes to constrain the protestants by force of arms to keep to the old doctrine; but the King of France will not permit it. He has sent me into Germany to form an alliance with you to that intent.' Such was the strange news circulated beyond the Rhine. It reached the ears of the Archbishop of Lunden, who immediately forwarded it to Charles V.

When Francis I. annulled the pragmatic sanction at the beginning of his reign, he had reserved the right of appointing bishops, and had thus made the Church subordinate to the State. The time seemed to have arrived for taking a second step. It was necessary to put an end to the popish superstitions and abuses, condemned by the friends of letters, whose patron he claimed to be, and thus satisfy the protestants; and, by a wise reform, maintain in Europe the catholicity of the Church, which the popes were about to destroy by their incredible obstinacy. The king would thus appear to be a better guardian of European catholicism than even the pope, and secure for himself that European preponderance which Charles V. had hitherto possessed.

[Sidenote: FRENCH VERSION OF THE ARTICLES.]

He must set his hand to the work and begin with the clergy. The king, seeing that it would be unwise to communicate to them unreservedly the opinions of the reformers, as they had been read at the Louvre, resolved to have a new edition of them prepared, which should contain the essential ideas. It would appear that he confided this task to a numerous commission.[658] William du Bellay and his brother the Bishop of Paris were doubtless the two chief members. The commissioners set to work, correcting, suppressing, adding, hitting certain popular superstitions a little harder even than the reformers, and at length they prepared a memoir which may be considered as a statement of what the French government meant by the proposed reformation.[659] The changes made by the French excited much discontent among the German protestants, and Melanchthon himself complained of them bitterly.[660]

The king, who carried into every pursuit the courage and fire of which he had given so many proofs on the field of battle, appeared at first to attack the papacy with the same resolution that he would have employed in attacking one of Charles's armies. It must be clearly remembered that, in his idea, the reform which he was preparing carried with it the cessation of schism, and that his plan would restore the catholicity torn to pieces by Roman insolence and imprudence. This remark, if duly weighed, justifies the king's boldness. He sent the project to Rome, we are assured, asking the pope to support or to amend it.[661] We may imagine the alarm of the Vatican on reading this heretical memoir. Then Du Bellay, taking the Sorbonne in hand, had a conference with the deputies of that illustrious body, whose whole influence was ever employed in maintaining the factitious unity that characterises the papacy. 'Gentlemen,' he said to them, 'by the king's commands I have endeavoured to prevail upon the German churches to moderate the doctrines on which they separated from the Roman Church, wishing thus to lead them back to union. By order, therefore, of my master, I hand you the present articles, to receive instruction from you as to what I shall have to say to the German doctors.'[662] The deputies having received the paper from Du Bellay, forwarded it to the sacred faculty. The latter delegated to examine it 'eminent men, doctors of experience in such matters,'[663] who immediately set to work.

[Sidenote: TERROR OF THE SORBONNE.]

The secretary of the Sorbonne began to read the articles: the doctors listened and soon began to look at each other and ask if they had heard correctly. The venerable committee was agitated like the surface of the sea by a sudden squall. They knew Francis; they knew he did not think there existed in his kingdom any society daring enough to set limits to his power. He expected that a word from his mouth would be considered as a decree from God. The doctors came to the conclusion, therefore, that if the king desired such a reform, nothing in the world could prevent him from establishing it. They saw the Church laid waste, and Rome in ruins.... It was the beginning of the end. Their terror and alarm increased every minute. All the sacred faculty, all the Church must rise and exclaim: 'Stop, Sire, or we perish!'

The French autocrat, however, took his precautions, and even while meditating how he could strip the pope of his power, he put on a pleasant face, and ascribed to others the blows aimed by his orders against Rome. 'They are _Melanchthonian_ articles,' said his ministers.[664] True, but behind Melanchthon was Du Bellay, and behind him was the king. The tactics employed at this moment by Francis I. are of all times; and if the multitude is sometimes deceived, intelligent minds have always recognised the thoughts of the supreme mover under the pen of the humble secretary. The movement of Francis towards independence is in no respect surprising: the outburst is quite French if it is not christian. There has always existed in France a spirit of liberty so far as concerns the Church; and the most pious kings, even St. Louis, have defended the rights of their people against the holy see. The Gallican liberties, although they are nothing more than a dilapidated machine, are still a memorial of something; and what is dilapidated to-day may be restored to-morrow. It was therefore a truly French feeling,—it was that hidden chord which vibrates at the bottom of every generous heart, from the Channel to the Mediterranean Sea, whose harmonious sound was heard at this important period of the reign of Francis I.

The venerable company had some difficulty to recover from their alarm. What! really, not in a dream, not figuratively, heresy is at the gates of the Church of France, introduced by the king ... who courteously offers her his hand!... The terrified Sorbonne raised a cry of horror, and mustered all their forces to prevent the _heretic_ from entering. They turned over the volumes of the doctors; they opposed the _Summa_ of St. Thomas to the Epistles of St. Paul; they sought by every means in their power to defend stoutly the scholastic doctrine in the presence of Francis. A fireship had been launched by the guilty hand of the king: did that prince imagine he would see the glorious vessel, which had so long been mistress of the seas, in a hurry to lower her flag? The crew were valiant, determined upon a deadly resistance, and ready to blow themselves into the air with the ship, rather than capitulate. The struggle between the king and the corporation was about to begin. Alas! Beda was no longer there to support them, and recourse must be had to others. 'Master Balue was elected to go to court, carrying the registers, and Master Jacques Petit was given him as his associate.'[665] The Sorbonne was poor in resources: the strong men were in the camp of Luther, Calvin, and Melanchthon.

[Sidenote: THE MINISTERS AND THE SORBONNE.]

What was said at court between Master Balue, Master Petit, and the King of France, has not been recorded; but we have the memoir sent by the king to the Sorbonne, and the answer returned by that body to the king. These documents may enlighten us as to what passed at the conference, and we shall allow them to speak for themselves, arranging the former under the name of the king's ministers. William du Bellay, his brother the Bishop of Paris, and others probably were the persons empowered by the king to confer with Master Balue and Master Jacques Petit. They were champions of very different causes—the men who then met, probably at the Louvre, in the presence of Francis I., and whom we are about to hear.

THE KING'S MINISTERS.

'To establish a real concord in the Church of God, we must all of us first look at Christ; we must subject ourselves to him, and seek his glory, not our own.'[666]

SORBONNE.

'We have heard his Majesty's good and holy words, for which we all thank God, praying him to give the king grace to persevere.'[667]

This was doubtless a mere compliment.

[Sidenote: QUESTIONS DISCUSSED.]

MINISTERS.

'Above all things, let us remember that the doctors of the Word of God ought not to fight like gladiators, and defend all their opinions _mordicus_ (tooth and nail);[668] but rather, imitating St. Augustin in his _Retractations_, they should be willing to give way a little to one another ... without prejudice to truth.'

SORBONNE.

'Open your eyes, Sire; the Germans desire, in opposition to your catholic intention, that we should give way to them by retrenching certain ceremonies and ordinances which the Church has hitherto observed. They wish to draw us to them, rather than be converted to us.'[669]

MINISTERS.

'You are mistaken: important concessions have been obtained. The Germans are of opinion that bishops must hold the chief place among the ministers of the Churches, and that a pontiff at Rome should hold the first place among the bishops. But, on the other hand, the pontifical power must have respect for consciences, consult their wants, and be ready to concede to them some relaxation.'[670]

SORBONNE.

'It must not be forgotten that the ecclesiastical hierarchy is of divine institution, and will last until the end of time; that man can neither establish nor destroy it, and that every christian must submit to it.'[671]

MINISTERS.

'Having established the catholicity of the Church, let us consider what reforms must be effected in order to preserve it. First, there are indifferent matters, such as food, festivals, ecclesiastical vestments, and other ceremonials, on which we shall easily come to an understanding. Let us beware of constraining men to fast by commandments which nobody observes ... and _least of all those who make them_.'[672]

SORBONNE.

'None resist them but men corrupted by depraved passions.'[673]

[Sidenote: SAINTS AND MASS-MONGERS.]

MINISTERS.

'Certain doctors of the Church, making use of a holy prosopopœia, have introduced into their discourses the saints whom they were eulogising, and have prayed for their intercession as if they were present before them;[674] but they only desired by this means to excite admiration for these godly persons, rather than to obtain anything by their intercession.... Let the people, then, be exhorted not to transfer to the saints the confidence which is due to Jesus Christ alone. It is Christ's will to be invoked and to answer prayer.'[675]

Here the French mind indulged in a sly hit which would not have occurred to the German mind; and the king's councillors, determining to strike hard, continued:

'What abuses and disorders have sprung out of this worship of man! Observe the words, the songs, the actions of the people on the saints' days, near their graves or near their images! Mark the eagerness with which the idle crowd hurries off to banquets, games, dances, and quarrels. Watch the practices of all those paltry, ignorant, greedy priests, who think of nothing but putting money in their purses; and then ... tell us whether we do not in all these things resemble pagans, and revive their shameful superstitions?'[676]

Not a word of this popular description of saints' days will be found in Melanchthon's memoir: it is entirely the work of Francis and his councillors.

SORBONNE.

'Let us beware how we forsake ancient customs. Let us address our prayers directly to the saints who are our patrons and intercessors under Jesus Christ. To assert that they have not the prerogative of healing diseases, is in opposition to your Majesty's personal experience and the gift you have received from God of curing the king's evil.... Let us also pay our devotions to statues and images, since the seventh general council commands them to be adored.'[677]

When the Sorbonne, in order to defend the prerogatives of the saints, cited the miraculous powers of the king, they employed an argument to which it was dangerous to reply; and, accordingly, we find nothing on this point in the answers of the opponents of the faculty. The discussion, getting off this shoal, turned to the act which is the essence of the Romish doctrine, and priests were once more lashed by the royal hand, which was even more skilful at this work than in curing the evil.

MINISTERS.

'There ought to be in the Church a living communion of the members of Christ.[678] But, alas! what do we find there? A crowd of ignorant and filthy priests, the plague of society, a burden to the earth, a slothful race who can do nothing but say mass, and who, while saying it, do not even utter those five intelligible words, preferable, as St. Paul thinks, to ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.... We must get rid of these mercenaries, these mass-mongers, who have brought that holy ceremony into contempt, and we must supply their place with holy, learned, and experienced men.[679] Then perhaps the Lord's Supper will recover the esteem it has lost. Then, instead of an unmeaning babble, we shall have psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Then we shall sing to the Saviour, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.... What false confidence, what wretched delusion is that which leads so many souls to believe that by attending mass every day, even when piety is neglected, they are performing an act useful to themselves and their friends, both for this life and for that which is to come!'[680]

[Sidenote: THE LORD'S SUPPER.]

The Sorbonne contended for the external mechanism of the sacramental act, to which their opponents desired to impart a spiritual and living character, and defended without shame or scruple the material advantages the clergy derived from it.

SORBONNE.

'The mass is a real sacrifice, of great benefit to the living and the dead, and its excellence is founded on the passion of Jesus Christ. It is right, therefore, to bestow temporal gifts on those who celebrate it, be they good or bad; and the priests who receive them ought not to be called mass-mongers, even though they are paid.'[681]

The king's ministers now came to the much disputed doctrine of the presence of Christ in the communion.

MINISTERS.

'Let us put aside the disputes that have divided us so long.[682] Let us all confess that in the eucharist the Lord truly gives believers his body to eat and his blood to drink to feed our souls in life everlasting; and that in this manner Christ remains in us and we in Christ. Whether this sacrament be called the Lord's Supper, the Lord's bread and wine, mass, eucharist, love-feast, or sacrifice, is of little moment. Christians ought not to dispute about names, if they possess the things; and, as the proverb says, "When we have the bear before us, let us not look after his track."[683] Communion with Christ is obtained by faith, and cannot be demonstrated by human arguments. When we treat of theology, let us not fall into matæology.'[684]

The Sorbonne could not overlook this side-blow aimed at the scholastic style.

SORBONNE.

'It is very useful, and often very necessary for the extirpation of heresy, to employ words not to be found in Scripture, such as _transubstantiation_, &c.[685] Yes, the bread and the wine are truly changed in substance, preserving only the accidents, and becoming the body and blood of Christ. It is not true that the _panitas_ or _corporitas_ of the bread combines with the _corporitas_ of Christ. The transubstantiation is effected _in instanti_ and not _successivè_; and it is certain that neither laymen nor women can accomplish this miraculous act, but priests only.'

The controversy next turned on confession, justification, faith, works, and free-will; after which they came to practical questions.

MINISTERS.

'Good men do not ask that the monasteries should be destroyed, but be turned into schools;[686] so that thus the liberality of our brethren may serve to maintain, not idle people, but men who will instruct youth in sound learning and morality.'

SORBONNE.

'What! the pope should permit the friars to leave their monasteries whenever they wish! This clearly shows us that the Germans are aiming at the overthrow, the ruin of all religion.'[687]

MINISTERS.

'And what prevents our restoring liberty of marriage to the ministers of the Church? Did not Bishop Paphnucius acknowledge at the Nicene council that those who forbid it encourage licentiousness? In that great crowd of priests and monks it is impossible for purity of life to be restored otherwise than by the divine institution which dates from Eden.'[688]

SORBONNE.

'An article quite as dangerous as the secularisation of monks.'

[Sidenote: AN ASSEMBLY OF LAITY AND CLERGY.]

MINISTERS.

'In this age, when everything is in a ferment,[689] and when so many sects are raising their heads in various places, the interest of the christian Church requires that there should be an assembly composed not only of priests and theologians, but also of laymen and upright, sensible, courageous magistrates, who have at heart the glory of the Lord, public morality, and general usefulness.... Ah! it would be easy to agree if we thought of Christ's glory rather than of our own!'[690]

The doctors of the Sorbonne had no great liking for deliberative assemblies where they would sit with laymen and even with heretics.

SORBONNE.

'Beware! ... it is to be feared that, under the pretext of uniting with us, the heretics are conspiring to lead the people astray.... Have we not seen such assemblies in Germany, called together on a pretence of concord, produce nothing but divisions, discord, and infinite ruin of souls?'[691]

But the Sorbonne warned the king in vain. Francis at this time, through policy no doubt, was opposed to the doctrines maintained by the priests. He desired to be freed at home from that papal supremacy which presumed to direct the policy and religion of his kingdom; and abroad he knew that a league with England and Germany could alone destroy the overwhelming preponderance of Charles V. And hence the meetings of the Sorbonne grew more and more agitated; the doctors repeated to one another all the alarming reports they had heard; there was sorrow and anger; never, they thought, had Roman-catholicism in France been threatened with such terrible danger. It was no longer a few obscure sects; no longer a Brueys, a Henry of Lausanne, a Valdo, Albigenses, or Waldenses, who attacked the Church: no! powerful states, Germany and England, were separating from the papacy, and the absolute monarch of France was endeavouring to introduce revolutionary principles into his kingdom. The Church, as its Head had once been, was deserted by its friends. The grandees who were subsequently to form a league around the Guises, were silent now; the rough and powerful Montmorency himself seemed dumb; and, accordingly, agitation and alarm prevailed in the corporation. Certain ultramontane fanatics proposed petitioning the king to put down heresy by force, and to uphold the Roman dogmas by fire and sword. More moderate catholics, observing with sorrow the catholicity so dear to them rent by schism, sought for more rational means of restoring the unity destroyed by the Reformation. Everybody saw clearly that the enemy was at the gate, and that no time must be lost in closing it.

[Sidenote: DANGER OF CATHOLICISM.]

Alas! they had to deal with others besides heretics. All reflecting minds in Europe, and especially in France, were struck with the example set by the King of England, and the members of the Roman party thought that Francis was about to adopt the same course in his kingdom. There was indeed a difference between the systems of these two princes. Henry desired the doctrine of Rome, but not its bishop; Francis accepted the bishop, but rejected the doctrine. Nevertheless, as each of these reforms was a heavy blow aimed at the system of the middle ages, they were looked upon as identical. The success which Henry's plan had met with in England was an indication of what Francis's plan would meet with in France. The two monarchs who reigned on each side of the Channel were equally absolute.

The Roman doctors, finding that their controversy had not succeeded, resolved to go to work in a more cunning way, and, without seeming to reject a union with Germany, to oppose the heretics by putting them out of court. 'Sire,' they said to Francis, 'your very humble servants and most obedient subjects of the Faculty of Theology pray you to ask the Germans whether they confess that the Church militant, whose head (under Jesus) is Peter and his successors, is infallible in faith and morals? whether they agree to obey him as his subjects, and are willing to admit all the books contained in the Bible,[692] as well as the decisions of the councils, popes, and doctors?'[693] Obedience to the pope and to tradition, without discussing doctrines, was their summary of the controversy. It did not succeed.

[Sidenote: SHOULD KINGS FEAR PROTESTANTISM?]

The doctors of the faculty, finding that the king would not aid them, applied to the papal nuncio. They found him also a prey to fear. They began to consult together on the best means of keeping France in communion with the holy see. As Francis was deaf to theological arguments, the Sorbonne and the nuncio agreed that some other means must be used. The prelate went to the Louvre, carrying with him a suggestion which the Sorbonne had prompted. 'Sire,' he said, 'be not deceived. The protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order.... The throne is in as much danger as the altar.... The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government.'[694]

That was indeed the best way of treating the affair; the nuncio had found the joint in the armour, and the king was for a moment staggered; but the pope's conduct restored his confidence. Rome began to proceed against Henry VIII. as she had formerly done against kings in the middle ages. This proceeding, so offensive to the royal dignity, drew Francis towards the Reformation. If there is danger towards royal power, it exists on both sides, he thought. He believed even that the danger was greater on the side of Rome than of Germany, since the protestants of that country showed their princes the most loyal submission, and the most religious and profound respect. He had observed, that while the pope desired to deprive the King of England of his states and release his subjects from their obedience, the reformation which that prince had carried out had not prejudiced one of his rights; that there was a talk, indeed, of insurrections against Henry VIII., but they were got up by Rome and her agents. Enlightened men suggested to Francis, that while popery kept the people in slavery, and caused insurrection and rebellion against the throne, the Reformation would secure order and obedience to kings, and liberty to the people. He seems to have been convinced ... for the moment at least. 'England and I,' he said, 'are accustomed to keep together and to manage our affairs in harmony with each other, and we shall continue to do so.'[695]

This new movement on the part of Francis emboldened the evangelicals. They hoped that he would go on to the end, and would not leave the pope even the little place which he intended to reserve for him. If a prince like Louis IX. maintained the rights of the Gallican Church in the thirteenth century; if a king like Charles VII. restored ecclesiastical liberty in the fifteenth; shall we not see in this universal revival of the sixteenth century a monarch like Francis I. emancipating France from the Roman yoke? At a great sacrifice he has just done much for Wurtemberg, and will he do nothing for his own kingdom? The friends of the Reformation encouraged one another to entertain the brightest hopes. 'What a noble position!' they said.[696] Whenever they met, whether in the university, in the country, or in the town, they exchanged congratulations.[697] In their opinion, old things had passed away.

[Sidenote: UNEASINESS OF THE REFORMERS.]

But there were other evangelicals—men more decided and more scriptural—who looked with a distrustful eye upon these mysterious conferences between Francis and the protestants of Germany. Those fine speeches of Du Bellay, and that remarkable conference at Bar-le-Duc, were in their eyes policy and diplomacy, but not religion. They felt uneasy and alarmed; and when they met to pray in their obscure conventicles, these humble christians said to one another with terror: 'Satan is casting his net to catch those who are not on the watch. Let us examine the colours in which he is disguised.' Astonished and even distressed, they asked if it was not strange to assert, as Melanchthon had done, 'that no good man would protest against the monarchy of the Roman bishop,[698] and that, in consideration of certain reforms, we should hasten to recognise him!' No, the Roman episcopate will never be reformed, they said. Remodel it as you like, it will always betray its domineering spirit, revive its ancient tricks, and regain its ascendency, even by fire. We must be on our guard.... Between Rome and the Reformation it is a matter of mere yes or no: the pope or Jesus Christ! Unable to conquer the new Church in fair fight, they hope to strangle it in their embraces. Delilah will lull to sleep in her lap the prophet whom the strong men have been unable to bind with green withes and new ropes. Under the pretence of screening the Reform from evil influences, they desire to set it, like a flower of the field, in some place without light and air, where, fading and pining away ... it will perish. Thanks to the protection of the Queen of Navarre, the gallant and high-spirited charger that loved to sport in the meadows is about to be taken to the king's stable, where it will be adorned with a magnificent harness ... but its mouth will be deformed by the bit, its flanks torn by the spur, and even the plaits of its mane will bear witness to its degradation.

This future was not reserved for the Reform. While the mild and prudent voices of Melanchthon and Bucer were soothing it to sleep, innocently enough no doubt, bolder and freer voices, those of a Farel and a Calvin, were preparing to arouse it. While the papers of the conciliating theologians were lying on the velvet cover of the royal table, another paper, whose lines of fire seemed penned by the thunderbolt, was about to circulate through the kingdom, and be posted even at the door of the king's chamber by a too daring hand, which was to arouse in that prince one of the most terrible bursts of passion ever recorded in history. A loud peal of thunder would be heard, and the heavy atmosphere which stifled men's minds would be followed by a pure and reviving air. There would be furious tempests; but the christians of the scriptural, practical, and radical Reformation rejoiced at witnessing the failure of this specious but impossible project, which aimed at reforming the Church even while preserving Roman-catholicism. The system of the Queen of Navarre will have to be abandoned; that of Calvin will prevail. To uphold truth, the evangelicals were about to sacrifice unity. No doubt furious persecutions would be the consequence, but they said to each other that it was better to live in the midst of hurricanes that awaken, than in mephitic vapours which lull men into the sleep of death.

We shall describe hereafter the event which had so notable an influence on the destinies of the Reformation in France. They were Frenchmen who caused it; it was a Frenchman who was the principal author; but it was from Switzerland, as we shall see, that this formidable blow was to come, and to that country we must now return.

[Footnote 655: 'Dadurch Ich in gute Hoffnung kommen die Sachen sollten auf gute Wege gerichtet werden.' This German translation of the king's letter is given in the _Corp. Ref._ ii. pp. 828-835.]

[Footnote 656: 'Rex suus cognoscit nunc errorem suum in religione.'— Lanz, _Correspondance de l'Empereur Charles-Quint_, ii. p. 144.]

[Footnote 657: 'Quod isti Germani Lutherum sequentes de Christo et de fide illius recte sentiant.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 658: 'Fuerunt illi (Melanchthonis articuli) a _quamplurimis_ in Gallia excerpti, sed non integri verum mutilati.'—Gerdesius, _Hist. Evang. renov._ iv. p. 124.]

[Footnote 659: This memoir is printed in the _Corpus Reformatorum_, ii. pp. 765-775; and while Melanchthon's is entitled _Consilium Gallis Scriptum_, this is headed _Idem Scriptum a Gallis editum_.]

[Footnote 660: 'Qua de re Melanchthon ipse conqueritur.'—Gerdesius, iv. p. 124.]

[Footnote 661: 'Eosdem articulos Romam misisse dicitur, quo pontificis ipsius quoque impetraret vel emendationem vel consensum.'—Gerdesius, _Hist. Evang. renov._ iv. p. 124.]

[Footnote 662: D'Argentré, _De novis Erroribus_, i. p. 3553. Gerdesius, iv. App. xiii.]

[Footnote 663: Letter from the Faculty of Theology to Francis I. D'Argentré, i. p. 3953. Gerdesius, iv. App. xiii.]

[Footnote 664: D'Argentré, i. p. 3953. Gerdesius, iv. App. xiii.]

[Footnote 665: Gerdesius, i. App. xiii. p. 75.]

[Footnote 666: 'Necessarium ut in Christum omnes spectemus.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 765.]

[Footnote 667: _Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum ad Regem Franciscum_, D'Argentré, i. p. 3953.—Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 75.]

[Footnote 668: 'Nec geramus alterutri gladiatorios animos nostra mordicus defendendi.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 765.]

[Footnote 669: _Facultatis Theol. Paris. Resp. ad Regem._ Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 75.]

[Footnote 670: 'Ut consulat conscientiis, aliquando concedere relaxationem.'-Scriptum a Gallis editum, _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 766.]

[Footnote 671: 'Jure divino institutam, quæ usque ad consummationem sæculi perduratura est.'—Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 78.]

[Footnote 672: 'Quæ tamen nemo observat, atque hi minime omnium qui præcipiunt.'—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 767.]

[Footnote 673: D'Argentré, i. p. 397. Gerdesius, iv. App. p. 79.]

[Footnote 674: 'Pia mortuorum facta prosopopœia ... quasi præsentes a præsentibus orasse.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 768.]

[Footnote 675: 'Qui et velit invocari et velit exaudire.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 676: 'Videbimus nos minime abesse a superstitione Ethnicorum.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 768.]

[Footnote 677: 'Statuas et imagines sanctorum quas adorandas sept. œcum. synodus decernit.'—_Facultatis Theol. Paris. Resp._]

[Footnote 678: 'Viva membrorum Christi communione.'—Scriptum a Gallis ed. _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 769.]

[Footnote 679: 'Semotis his missarum conducticiis nundinatoribus.'— Ibid.]

[Footnote 680: 'Præpostera ejus operis fiducia quæ plerosque sic seduxit.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 681: 'Vocari non debent nundinatores.'—_Facult. Theol. Paris Resp._]

[Footnote 682: 'Sublatis quæ inter nos diu viguerunt altercationibus.'— Script. a Gallis ed., _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 770.]

[Footnote 683: 'Præsente urso, quod dicitur, vestigia non quæramus.'— Ibid.]

[Footnote 684: 'Theologiam sic tractemus ut non incidamus in matæologiam.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 685: 'Utile et necessarium certa verborum forma uti, in sacra scriptura non expressa.'—_Facult. Theol. Paris. Resp._ p. 82.]

[Footnote 686: 'Non petunt boni ut monasteria deleantur, sed ut sint scholæ.'—Script. a Gallis ed., _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 773.]

[Footnote 687: _Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum._ Gerdesius, _Hist. Evang. renov._ p. 76.]

[Footnote 688: 'In tanta sacerdotum et monachorum turba restitui aliter vitæ puritas non poterit.'—Scriptum a Gallis editum, _Corpus Reformatorum_, ii. p. 774.]

[Footnote 689: 'Hoc fermentato sæculo.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 690: 'Perfacile autem coalescere possumus.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 691: _Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum._ Gerdesius, _Hist. Evang. renov._ p. 77.]

[Footnote 692: Including the apocryphal books.]

[Footnote 693: _Facultatis Theologiæ Parisiensis Responsum._ Gerdesius, _Hist. Evang. renov._ iv. App. p. 77.]

[Footnote 694: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, ed. Petitot, Introd. p. 123. Schmidt, _Hist. Theol._ p. 36 (ed. 1850).]

[Footnote 695: 'England und Ich pflegen zusammen zu halten und sämmtlich unsere Sachen vornehmen.'—Rex Galliæ ad principes protest. _Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 830.]

[Footnote 696: 'Quam pulchre staremus.'—Sturm to Melanchthon, MS.]

[Footnote 697: Ibid.]

[Footnote 698: 'Neque bonus ullus erit, qui reclamet in pontificis monarchiam.—_Corp. Ref._ ii. p. 762.]