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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film' 4 partir de Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. by 6rrata led to ant jne pelure, agon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 DR. MARTIN LUTHER. *' Here I take my stand ; I can do no other ; God lielp me. Amen.' (Figure and motto on Luther Monument at Wornm.) bp:acon lk^hts of the REFORMATION. I!V W. IL WITH ROW TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS, Wesley liuii.niNGs. Montreal : C. VV. COAXES. Halifa.x : S. F. HUESTIS. 1899 Ujfrg ? ! 1 1 Entered aocordinp to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, hy William Briogh, at the Department of Ajjriculture. 11 CONTENTS. iNTnoiUTTION . 9 II. John Wycliffe jy III. John IIus.s and Jerome of Prague - - - 35 IV. GiRoLAMo Savonarola - 7I V. Martin Luther - - . » . . . -in VI. UlRICH ZwingLE ir.,-; VII. John Calvin ^^^ VIII. Gasi'ari) de Colignv - - - - . . 197 TX. William Tvndale - - 217 X. John Knox - ogr XI. Thomas Cranmer 274 XII. Hu(jH Latimer and Nichola.s Ridley - - . - 289 LOOKOUT TOWKR IN " LUTMKU's COUNTRY." ILLUSTRATIONS. I»K. MAUTIN LITIIKR FrOHtitjueri LOOKOfT TONVKR IN '•M'THKR's COI'NTHY" KARLY KN«;MSH IN ST. JOIIN'S «!<>MI*KL - STATl E OK WVri.IKKK ON M'THKR MOMMKNT AT WORMS JOHN NVY'lilKKK statik of john iii'ss on m'thkr monl'ment at worms (•onstan(;k, skkn from thk lakk .... city of i'uaorr, from thk old stone briuok TOWN HALL, l'KA(jrE, lUtHKMIA THK CHANCKLLKRY, CONSTANCE THE CHAN(;ELLKttY, CONSTANCE, FROM THE REAR - THE RHINE (iATE TOWER, CONSTANCE .... THE SCHNETZ-THOR, CONSTANCE THE III<;H HOrSE, CONSTANCE BUST OF SAVONAROLA FLORENCE, SHOWING THE ARNO AND URIIMiES I'ONTE VECCHIO — THE OLD ItRIIKiE, FLORENCE THE DUOMO, OR <'ATHEDRAI<, FLORENCE, OloTTo's TOWER ANl MRrNELLESCII'S DOME ... I'A .A/./O VKCCHIO, FLORENCE .... LOCOIA OKI LANZI, FLORENCE - . - - MODERN MONKS IN ANCIENT CLOISTERS • ERFURT, (iKRMANY CATIILDRAL AND CHURCH OF ST. SEVERUS, ERFURT HAUNTS OF LUTHER, AUOUSTINE MONASTERY, ERFURT HEIDELBERU CASTLE AND THE RIVER NECKAR THE LIBRARY TOWER, HEIDELBER(J UNIVERSITY, ERFURT ERFURT — DISTANT VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL - SIXTEENTH CENTURY HOUSES, ERFURT CATHEDRAL OF WORMS THL LUTHER HOUSE, EISENACH THE CASTLE OF THE WARTBURO THE GREAT COURTYARD OF THE WARTBURO FIRST COURT OF THE WAHTBURtf PAUK vi in ij) 37 42 45 53 57 62 U3 67 70 73 79 S7 100 net 107 110 113 115 117 117 121 121 126 130 133 136 139 141 vm. ILMJSTUATION'S. INNKK rolTHT OK TIIK WAIITIUK<; liUTIIKIt's STl'DY IS TIIK WAKTlU'lUf .... I.UTIIKK HorSK, KRANKFORT MTTIIKR'm AHSTKArTIOM TliK HOUHK IN WHICH LUTIIKR UIKI) .... ZWINOI.k's MONrMKNT AT /IHU'H— ALSO HIH S\VORI>, HATTLK AXK, ANh liKLMKT THE WAHMIiRKIKCHK, /ITRiril CLOISTERS, lATIlKDRAL CHURCH, ZURICH CLOISTERS OK CATHEDRAL CHURCH, ZURICH - ANCIENT KOUNTAINH, ZURICH ANCIENT (SATEWAY AND CHDRCII OK OITR LADV, ZURICH OLD (JUILD HOUSES, ZURICH OLD STREET, ZURICH COLLEOE AND MINSTER, ZURICH IN THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM, ZURICH INTERIOR OK THE \VASSERKIR(mK MUSEUM, ZURICH JOHN CALVIN (JENKVA GENEVA KROM ROUSSEADS ISLAND - STATUE OK I'ETER WALDO ON LUTIIKR MONUMENT AT WORMS KARKL8 MONUMENT CHARLES IX. AND CATHARINE DK MEDICI ON THE NKJHT OK ST. IJARTHOLOMEW ASSASSINATION OK COLICNY WILLIAM TYNDALK ANTWERI' AND ITS CATHEDRAL TYNDALE's statue ON TIIK THAMES EMBANKMENT - "HE WHO NEVER FEARED THE KACE OK MAN " HOUSE OF CARDINAL BEATON AND THE ("OWOATE, EDINBUROII ST. OILK.s' CHURCH, KDINBUHCH HOLYROOD PALACE, RDIN BURGH CORNER OK WEST BOW, EDINBURCSH .... JOHN KNOX PREACHING IN EDINBUR(;H .... JOHN KNOX'S HOUSE, KDINBDROH THE martyrs' MONUMENT, GRKYFRIAR's CHURCHYARD, EDIN BURGH EDINBURGH CASTLE, FROM THE GRASS MARKET, WHI).RE THE MARTYRS WERE EXECUTED OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES HA«»r, I4.'{ 145 US 150 152 154 154 157 159 1G2 165 167 16S 170 173 176 178 182 190 196 199 209 212 216 227 231 234 237 246 251 254 259 263 265 271 291 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE REFORMATION. I. INTRODUCTION. By the Reformation is often understood the great religious movement of the sixteenth century — the trreatest since the dawn of Christianity. But there were " reformers before the Reformation," and in this book we shall give the word a wider meaning. We shall use it to include the revival of primitive Christ- ianity in a corrupt church, in many lands and ex- tending through long centuries. The light of the Go.spel had become dim and had well-nigh flickered to extinction. But he that walketh among the golden candlesticks was to rekindle their dying fires, and to send forth his light and his truth into all lands and to the end of time. " The Reformation,' says Dr. Schaft', " was neither a political, nor a philosophical, nor a liteiary, but a religious and moral movement ; although it exerted a powerful influence in all these directions. It started with the practical (juestion, How can the troubled conscience find pardon and peace and become sure of personal salvation ? It brought the believer into 9 10 IlKAfON IJfSMTS OK Tlir UKKOUMATloX. (lii<'ct relation Jiiul union with Christ an thi; one and all-HuHiciy immense toil he promulgated in the vulgar tongue — these were his own, to bo learned in no school, to be attained by none of the ordinary courses of study. As with his contemporary and most congenial spirit, Chaucer, rose English poetry, in its strong homely breadth and humor, in ,the wonderful delineation of character with its finest hades, in its plain, manly good sense and kindly eeling ; so was Wyclifle the father of English prose, ude but idiomatic, biblical in much of its picturesque Inaseology, at once highly colored by and coloring he translation of the Scriptures."* One of the most dreadful plagues which ever evastated Europe was the pestilence knowm as the lack Death, which, in the early part of the four- teenth century, swept away, it is estimated, more than half the inhabitants. This scourge of God made a profound impression on the devout mind of WyclifFe. In his first treatise, " The Last Age of the Church," he describes these evils as a divine judg- ment for the corruptions of the times. " Both venge- ance of swerde," he wrote " and myschiefe unknown before, by which men thes dais should be punished, shall fall for synne of prestis." * Milman's "Latin Christianity." Vol. viii., p. 158. 22 HKAC(^N LIGHTS OK TIIK UEFOItMATION. A characteristic feature of the times was the multi- plication of religious orders. The White, Black, Grey and Austin friars swarmed throughout the kingdom. " They invaded," says Mil man, "every stronghold of the clergy — the university, the city, the village parish. They withdrew the flock from the discipline of the Church, intercepted tlieir offerings, estranged their affections, heard confessions with more indul- gent ears, granted absolution on easier terms." These sturdy beggars who argued that Christ and his dis- ciples, like themselves, were medicants,* Wycliffe un- sparingly denounced. He branded the higher orders as hypocrites, " who, professing mendicancy, had stately houses, rode on noble horses, had all the pride and luxury of wealth with the ostentation of poverty." The humbler he described as "able-bodied beggars, who ought not to be permitted to infest the land." The eloquence and learning of Wycliffe won him fame and honors. He was made warden of Balliol College, lecturer in divinity, and rector of Fylingham. He was soon chosen, too, as the champion of the realm against the encroachments of the Pope of Rome. Urban V. demanded the arrears of 1,000 marksf of Peter's pence alleged to be due the pontiff This Edward III. refused to pay. The sturdy English Barons answered on this wise : " Our ancestors wor this realm and held it against all foes by the sword * With similar perverted ingenuity the Communists of the first French revohition claimed Jesus Christ as '* le bon sansculotte." t A mark was 13s. 4d. sterling ; but the purchasing power o money was much greater then than now. •OUMATION. les was the multi- /hite, Black, Grey lOut the kingdom, cry stronghold of city, the village rom the discipline ttcringa, estranged with more indul- iier terms." Thest :;hrist and his dis- ants,* Wycliffe un- 1 the higher orders mendicancy, had is, had all the pride ntation of poverty." ble-bodied beggars, infest the land." Wycliffe won him warden of Balliol ector of Fylingham. ampion of the realm he Pope of Rome, of 1,000 marks t of the pontiff This he sturdy English Our ancestors wor foes by the sword Communists of the first ' ' le bon sansculotte. " the purchasing power o JOHN WVCMIFK. 23 et the Pope come and take it l)y force ; we are Ibady to stand up and resist liim." " Christ alone is die Suzerain. It is better, as of old, to hohl the realm piiiK'diately of him." Wycliffe, with much boldness Hid IcMiniing, vindicated the indrpencK'nce of the lting«lom of the temporal authority of the Pope. . Another grievance was, that foreign prelates and Ifiests, wlio never saw the country and could not ak its language, were presented to English dioceses d livings: and the country was drained of tithes, be s<|uandered in ecclesiastical profligacy at Rome ipd Avignon. A parliamentary remonstrance states that " The taxes paid to the Pope yearly out of Eng- llind were four times the amount paid to the King." Wycliffe was sent as a delegate '> Bruges to protest against this wrong. Justice he /ailed to obtain ; but e learned the true character of the Papacy. On his turn he did not scruple to denounce the Pope as Antichrist, the proud worldly prie.st of Rome — the ost accursed of clippers and purse-kervers." Another evil of the times was the enirrossinir of all vil offices by ecclesiastics, from the Lord Chan- llor's down to fhat of clerks of the kitchen and eeper of the king's wardrobe. To this Piers Plough- ,an refers in the lines : Some serven the kinge and his silver tellen, In the Checkkere (Exchecjuer) and the Chauncelrie, chalengynge his dettes. ,One of these worldly prelates was able to equip [ree ships of war and a hundred men-at-arms for the 24 nEAcox Liaurs of the hefoumation. kinpf. At^jiiiiHt this .seculnrizin^j of the clor<^y Wy- cliiro Htroiij^ly iiivciirlis, Jind .sets forth as an antidote his "Christian Kuh; of Life." "If thou art a i)riest," lie says, " live thou a holy life. Pass other men in holy prayer, holy desire and holy speaking ; in counselling and teaching the truth. Ever keep the conunandments of God, and let his Gospel and his praises ever be in thy mouth. Ever despise sin, that man may be withdrawn therefrom, and that thy deeds n»ay be so far rightfvd that no man shall blame them with reason. Let thy open life be thus a true book, in which the soldier and the layman may learn how to serve God and keep his commandments. For the example of a good life, if it be open and continued, striketh rude men much more than open preaching with the Word alone. And waste not thy goods in great feasts for rich men, but live a frugal life on poor men's alms and goods. Have both meat and drink and clothing, but the remnant give truly to the poor ; to those who have freely wrought, but who now may not labour from feebleness and sickness, and thus sbalt thou be a true priest, both to God and to man." Wycliffe's antagonism to the Papal party in the realm soon brought upon him their persecution. He was cited to appear before the Bishop of London on the charge of " holding and publishing erroneous and heretical doctrines." Appear he did, but not alone. His powerful friends, " Old John of Gaunt, time-honor- ed Lancaster," and Lord Henry Percy, Lord Marshal of England, stood by him in the Lady Chapel of old St. Paul's. The Lord Marshal demanded a seat for •h-Mi )|{MATI()\. .FOIIX WYCI.IKFE. 25 tlie cler«ify Wy- \\ iiH ail untidoto loii jirt a priest," •thor men in holy 2;; in counsollin^- i coninmndinents praises e\'er be lat man may be deeds may be so liem witli reason. )k, in which the w to serve God he example of a id, striketh rude witli the Word great feasts for r men's alms and id clothing, but those who have ot labour from thou be a true 1 party in the 3rseeution. He 3 of London on C erroneous and but not alone, nt, time-honor- Lord Marshal Chapel of old ded a seat for ycliffe: " He iiath many things to answer, he needs soft Heat." " IJut," writes Foxo, "the Bishop of London cast cft- )oiis into a fumisli chafr with those words, .said ' He iliould not sit there. NI) or mitred r^HH broken by iiouncing the r duke, or the laravan. Tlie a tors, eager to iSHador, some scliool, ill the or even some iir. * ected without amped in thi' is were repre- Hungary, the ant, Flanders, nd, and even .s threefold : diich for six- C)hristendoiii. -at one time athemas and 'O the great ition of the pp. 228, 229. lMHnl.w)f discipline, and indeed of all ecclesiastical authority, and to the eonseijuent corruption of morals. Second, to reform the stat(^ of religion, which ha TOWN HALL, PRAGUE, UOHEMIA. u\ 46 TiEACON' T.IOIITS OF THE HEFORMATIOK. i1 :| glory, pray that it imiy come quickly, and that lie may enable me to support all my calamities with constancy. Probably, thereiui'e, you will never more behold my face at Prague." Before setting out on his journey, he asked and received from Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, a safe-conduct, commanding all ecclesiastical and secular princes to allow him "to pass, sojourn, stop, and return freely aiid surely." He travelled unattended, on horseback, and took lodgings in the house of a poor widow, whom he compares to her of Sarepta, at Constance. Pope John XXIII., who was trembling for fear of his own safety, received him graciously. He solemnly declared : " Though John Huss had killed my own brother I would not permit any harm to be done to liim in Constance." Yet he eagerly sacrificed him in the hope of averting his own fate. John had two rival Popes to contend with — Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. (They were all three subsequently deposed by the council, and Martin V. elected in their place). To prevent or postpone his own deposition. Pope John entered upon the persecution and suppres- sion of heresy, an object wliich he felt would unite, for the time at least, all the rival factions of the council. Tw^o bitter enemies of Huss, whom he had worsted in controversy — an offence not to be forgiven — had preceded him to Constance, and now preferred charges of heresy. He was summoned to the presence of the Pope and cardinals. He demanded to be arraigned l)Cl thi jted lad rges Ithe led JOHN HUSS AND JEROME OF PRAniJE. 47 before the wliole council, but yielded to the summons, saying, " I shall put my trust in our Saviour, Jesus GJirist, and shall be more hai)py to die for his glory than to live denying the truth." Notwithstanding his appeal to the safe-conduct of the Emperor, he was separated from his Bohemian friend and protector, the noble John de Chlum, and confined in prison, first in the bishop's palace, and then in a dungeon of the Dominican convent, on an island near the city. In tliis loathsome vault — its walls reeking with damp, and so dark that only for a short time each day was he able to read by the feeble light struggling through an aperture in the roof — for well nigh eight weary months, with irons on his legs, and fastened by a chain to the wall,* the valiant con- fessor languished, and only escaped from its durance vile through the door of martyrdom. The old monas- tery is now — such changes brings the whirligig of time — a hotel, and modern tourists loiter in the quaint Romanesque cloisters, and dine in the vaulted refectory of the monks, above the dungeon of John Huss. The Emperor Sigismund broke into a rage at the violation of his safe-conduct, and gave orders " imme- diately to set John Huss at liberty, and, if necessar}^ to break open the doors of the prison." But the persistence of the Pope prevented his release. On * Years after his death, it was said that this indignity was in- flicted because Huss attempted to escape. But all the evidence available is against that accusation, which, even if true, would have been no justification of his treatment. 11 V :'■ H !; I ;. I < ii I I « 1 ' rj9 !li; -f-fp 56 P.EACON LIGHTS OF THE REFORMATION. de Chlum, " I am an unlettered man, unfit to counsel one so learned. But if in your conscience you feel yourself to be innocent, do not commit perjury in the sight of God, nor leave the path of truth for fear of death." " O noble and most faithful friend," exclaimed Huss, with an unwonted gush of tears, " I conjure thee depart not till ^hou hast seen the end of all. Would to God I were now lead to the stake rather than to be worn away in prison." After all, JIass was but human. In his lonely cell he had his hours of depression, and, like his blessed Master, his soul was at times exceeding sorrowful. '* It is hard," he wrote, " to rejoice in tribulation. The flesh, O Lord ! is weak. Let thy Spirit assist and accompany me ; for without thee I cannot brave this cruel death. . . . Written in chains," is the pathetic superscription of the letter, " on the eve of the day of St. John the Baptist, who died in prison for having condemned the iniquity of the wicked." But for the most part his courage was strong, and, like Paul and Silas, he sang his " Sursum Corda " in the prison : " The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? " " Shall I," he wrote, " who for so many years have preached patience and constancy under trials — shall I fall into perjury, and so shamefully scandalize the people of God ? Far f)"om me be the thought ! The Lord Jesus will be my succor and my recompense." He freely forgave all his enemies — even his chief ac| cv th brj cei tlu Si! JOHN HT\SS AND JEROME OF PRAOT^E. 57 he lied do of )rd lief accuser, who came to *^loat upon liis sufferings in liis cell, and wlioni he heard say to the gaoler, " By the ijfrace of God we will soon burn this heretic." After thirty days longer of weary confinement, he was ])rought forth to receive his sentence. The august ceremony took place in the venerable cathedral. Sigismund and the princes of the empii-e sat on thrones of state. The cardinals in scarlet robes, the bishops in golden mitres, filled the chancel. High mass was sung ; the solemn music pealing through the vaulted aisles, and the frao-rant incense risinij like a cloud. But Huss stood guarded by sol- diers in the porch^ " lest the holy mysteries should be defiled by the presence of so great a heretic." He then advanced, and after long and silent prayer, stood at the tribunal. The Bishop of Lodi preached from the text, " That the body of sin might be destroyed." It was a violent outburst of denunciation. Turning to the Emperor at its close he said, " It is a holy work, glorious prince, which is reserved for you to accomplish. Destroy TlIK CI1AN('KL[J;RV, (ONSTANCK, I'HU.M THE RKAK. ' P^ i li :i 58 BEACON LIGHTS OF tHE REFORMATION. heresies, errors and, above all, this obstinate heretic," pointing to Huss, who knelt in fervent prayer. " Smito, then, such great enemies of the faith, that your praises may proceed from the mou'^hs of chUdren and that your glory may be eternal. May Jesus Christ, forever blessed, deign to accord you this favor!" After this unapostolic benediction, the council, w^hich claimed to be under the especial inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, proceeded to its work of cursing and bitterness and death. The writings of Huss were first condemned to be de- stroyed, then himself to be degraded from his office of priest, and his body to be burned. " Freely came I hither," said Huss in that supreme hou'r, " under the safe-conduct of the Emperor," and he looked stead- fastly at Sigismund, over whose face there spread a deep blush.* "Oh! blessed Jesus," he went on, " this thy council condemns me because in my afflic- tions I sought refuge with thee, the one just Judge." Yet with a sublime magnanimity he fervently prayed for his persecutors : " Lord Jesus, pardon my enemies ; pardon them for thine infinite mercy." To this day men point to a stone slab in the pave- ment of the church — a white spot on which always remains dry, when the rest is damp — as the place where Huss stood when sentenced to be burned at the stake. * At the Diet of Worms, a hundred years later, when Charles V. was urged to violate the safe conduct which he had given Luther, he replied, remembering this scene, "No; I should not like to blush like Sigismund." VK Af JOHN HUSS AND JEROME OF 1»RAGUE. 59 >> to The last indignities were now to be inflicted. Priestly vestments were first put upon the destined victim, and then, in formal degradation, removed. As they took the chalice of the sacrament from his hands, the apparitor said, " Accursed Judas, we take away from thee this cup filled with the blood of Jesus Christ." " Nay," he replied, " I trust that this very a«,y I shall drink of his cup in the Kingdom of Heaven." They placed on his head a paper mitre daubed over with devils, with the words of cursing : " We devote thy soul to tne devils in hell." " And I commend my soul," he meekly replied, " to the most merciful Lord Christ Jesus. I wear with joy this crown of shame, for the love of him who wore for me a crown of thorns." Then the Church — too holy, too tender to imbrue her hands in the blood of her victim — having declared him no longer a priest but a layman, delivered him to the secular power to be destroyed. He was conducted between four town sergeants and followed by a guard of eight hundred horsemen and a great multitude of people, from the grey old minster to the place of exe- cution, in a green meadow without the walls. Before the bishop's palace the guard halted, that Huss might see the fire on which his books were burning. Know- ing that truth is mighty — next to God himself — he only smiled at the ineffective act of malice. So great was the crowd of people that, in crossing the moat, it almost broke down the bridge. Arrived at his funeral pyre, Huss knelt dow^n and 1 \] fil'T' CO BEACON LIGHTS OF THE UEPOllMATlON. recited several of the penitential pHahns, and prayed, " Lord Jesus, have mercy upon nie. Into thy hands I conunit my spirit. I beseech thee to pardon all my enemies." "We know not what this man's crime may be," said the people ; " we only know that his prayers to God are excellent." As he prayed his paper mitre fell from his head. A soldier rudely thrust it on, with the jeer, " He shall be burned with all his devils." " Friend," said the patient martyr, " I trust that I shall reign with Christ since I die for his cause." He was then bound to the stake with a rusty chain, and wood and straw were heaped about him. As the fire was applied and the smoke wreaths rose, the voice of the dyintr martyr was heard sinewing the Christe Eleison ; " Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy upon me." Then his head fell upon his breast, and the awful silence was broken only by the crack- ling of faggots and the roar of the flames. In impo- tent rage his executioners gathered his ashes and cast them into the swift-flowing Rhine. But the zeal of his followers scraped up the very earth of the spot, and bore it as a precious relic to Bohemia. But one victim could not appease the wrath of this zealous council. Another still languished in prison for whose blood it thirsted. Every vestige of heresy must be destroyed. For six long months Jerome had lain in his noisome dunoeon. He was commanded to abjure his faith or to perish in the flames. He was a man of less heroic mould than Huss. He was now deprived of the support of that strong spirit on which h b JOHN HUSS AND JEROME OF PRAGUE. 01 nis }on ssy ad to a )W ch he had leaned. His body was enfeebled and his spirit broken by his long confinement in chains, in darkness, and on meagre fare. He was only forty years of age, and the love of life was strong within him. He shrank from torture, and in an hour of weakness he affixed his name to a sentence of retractation. The council, as if eager for his death, rejected the retractation as ambiguous and imperfect, and de- manded a fuller abjuration. But the hour of weak- ness was past. The love of truth prevailed over the love of life. With a moral heroism that almost atones for his single act of yielding, he withdrew his re- cantation. " I confess," he wrote, " that, moved by cowardly fear of the stake, against my conscience, I consented to the condemnation of the doctrines of Wycliffe and Huss. This sinful retractation I now fully retract ; and am resolved to maintain their tenets unto death, believing them to be the true and pure doctrine of the Gospel, even as their lives were blame- less and holy." By these words he signed his own death-warrant. He was speedily condemned as a relapsed heretic. He demanded an opportunity of making a defence. " What injustice! " he exclaimed. " You have held me shut up for three hundred and forty days in a fright- ful prison, in the midst of filth, noisomeness, stench, and the utmost want of everything. You then bring me out, and lending an ear to my mortal enemies, you refuse to hear me." He was at length granted an opportunity to reply to the hundred and seven charges preferred against him. He defended himself ii •! 1 (I ' I ih im ' ( I 62 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE REFORMATION. with extraoi'flinary eloquence and learning — " now deeply pathetic, now with playful wit or taunt- ing sarcasm, confounding, bewildering, overpowering his adversaries. He stood fearless, intrepid, like another Cato, not only despising, but courting death." Of all the sins of his life, he said, none weighed so heavy on his conscience as his unworthy denial of the doctrines of Wycliife and Huss. " From my heart I confess and de- clare with horror," he exclaimed, " that I dis- gracefully quailed when through fear of death I condemned their doc- trines. ... I de- clare anew, I lied like a wretch in adjuring their faith." "Do you suppose I fear to die ? " he demanded. " You have held me for a whole year in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself. You have treated me more cruelly than Turk, Jew or pagan, and my flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive, and I make no complaint." Yet he exhorted, for the truth's sake, that they would listen to that voice which was soon to be hushed forever. THE RHINE GATE TOWER, CONSTANCE. to an an hij of mm. ou [on, |me jsh ike |ke, )on JOHN HUSS AND JEROME OF PRAGUE. 63 He was again lialed from the prison to the church to receive his sentence. The troops again were under arms. The council sat in state. Again liigh mass and chanted hymns consecrated judicial murder. On his way to the place of burning Jerome repeated, with firm voice, the Apostle's creed and chanted the litanies of the Church. As they piled the fag- gots and straw about him, he sang the hymn, " Salve, festa dies"— "Hail, joyful day," as though it were his birthday — as it was — into immortal life. As the execu- tioner was lighting the fire behind his back, he said, " Light it before my face. Had I been afraid, I would not have been here." He then com- mitted his soul to God, and prayed in the Bohemian tongue as long as life lasted. On the occasion of the present writer's visit to Constance, I made a pilgrimage to the places made THE SCHNETZ-THOR, CONSTANCE. m 'Oh HH A\ li m \:\ ■H ^ k H H, t 1 1 H ,1 i; Hi ;4 CA TiEACOxV LIGHTS OF THE .lEFORMATION. I sacred by these imperiHliable memories. Early in the morning I went to the old cathedral, founded 1052, with its sixteen lofty monolithic columns. In the stone floor is shown a lar':^'v^l;i!'■•lri';1i!m;i;i^■'!■H■;'i^^^^^^ -1 ;-A|iii'l'i,i:ibi;'^i;ii;!.!':Ji' 111'; t'l':;!i:i! li! ,1 \; ;i I ;• II 111 U |l ' li -hi "«l:'::.- i'l'! rv i'l ,;ii.t;ii'||X;'|i;l ,,.i;!ii!i:|'iMV'!it;i' WMm i|iflj,;|*i-!f|i;i: -''I'Miili'i'Iiivl;;: 111.' i'll'i ''ill ill 1,1'"' lii'Hi '!'''^' iip'il-i illli'' Mii!i!:| iii : - 'I ; (I i:!l 0\ : 1 ■ i 1 '1 I < 74 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE REFORMATION. In Italy the Arethuaaii fount of long-buried art and science sprang to life, sparkling and flashing in the new-found light. From the rich soil of the Cam- pagna were daily rescued fresh relics C;f the past — lovely marble torsos, whose very fragments were at once the rapture and despair of the new-born instinct of art. Rome woke to the consciousness of the priceless wealth long buried in her bosom. The earth seemed to renew her youth. There were giants in those days. Michael Angelo, great as poet, painter, and sculptor ; Da Vinci, Ghiberti, Celini, Fra Lippi, Macchiavelli, Petrarch, Politian — a brotherhood of art and letters never equalled in the world.* But no good or evil is unmixed. This revived learning brought with it a revived paganism. This ([uickened art contained the seeds of its own moral taint. Social corruption and political tyranny and treachery flourished amid this too stimulating atmos- * Not among the " giants " of the time, but as one of its tend>3rest and most loving spirits, is to be mentioned Fra Angelico, whose lovely frescoes of saints and angels and Madonnas still adorn the cells of San Marco. He could not preach, but he could paint such beatific visions as fill our eyes with tears. He never touched liis brush till he had steeped his inmost soul in prayer. Overcome with emotion, the tears often streamed down his face as he painted the Seven Sorrows of Mary or the raptures of the saved. He would take no money for his woik, it was its own exceeding great reward. When offered the Archbishopric of Florence he humbly declined, and recommended for that dignity a brother monk. He died at Rome while sitting at his easel — caught away to behold with open face the beatific vision on which his inner sight so long had dwelt. The holy faces of his angels still haunt our memory with a spell of power. Well did the saintly painter wear the name of Fra Angelico — the Angelic Brother. t5lkOLAkO SAVOKAROLA. r.' pliere. The moral antiseptic of a vital Christianity was wantin^^. The salt had lost its savor, and moral corruption ensued. The state of the Church was at its very worst. The Papacy was never more Heaven- defying in its wickedness. A succession of human monsters occupied St. Peter's chair. Paul II., Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., and the infamous Borgia — Alex- ander VI. — had converted the Vatican into a theatre of the most odious vices. While wearing the title of Christ's Vicars on earth, they were utterly pagan in ^^entiment and worse than pagan in life. " They regarded," says Macaulay, " the Christian mysteries of which they were the stewards, just as the Augur Cicero and the Pontifex Maximus Ca3sar regarded the Sibylline books and the pecking of the sacred chickens. Among themselves they spoke of the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the Trinity in the same tone in which Cotta and Velleius talked of the oracle of Delphi, or of the voice of Faunus in the mountains." Said Leo X. — himself a priest at eiglit and a car- dinal at fourteen years of age — to his secretary, Bembo, " All ages know well enough of what advan- tage this fable about Christ has been to us and ours." The same Bembo cautions a friend against reading the Epistles of St. Paul, " lest his taste should be cor- rupted." Of the works of Macchiavelli, the foremost writer of the times, sa3^s Macaulay, " Such a display of wickedness — naked yet not ashamed — such cool, judicious, scientific atrocity, seem rather to belong to a fiend than to the most depraved of men." Yet the till 1 if II i n. 1 ii I \H ; Hi t s ■ . ! I : <■, , mm liM 76 BKACON LKillTS OF THE REFORMATION. hij^liest honors of liis age were heaped upon liitu, and at the HfHt courts of Italy his atrocious sentiments evoked no condemnation, but rather the warmest approval. The city '^f Florence was, not even excepting Rome, the chief st > of lie Renaissance revival in Italy. It was the very locus . > * art, of literature, of commerce. Its revenue, says Macaulay, w^as greater than that which both England and Ireland yielded to Elizabeth. Its cloth manufactures employed thirty thousand workmen. Eighty banks transacted its business and that of Europe, on a scale that might surprise " even the contemporaries of the Barings and the Roths- childs." " Every place," continues the brilliant essayist, " to vvdiich the merchant princes of Florence extended their gigantic traliic, from the bazaars of the Tigris to the monasteries of the Cl^^de, was ransacked for medals and manuscripts. Architecture, painting and sculpture were munificently encouraged. We can hardly persuade ourselves that we are reading of times in which the annals of England and France present us only with a frightful spectacle of poverty, barbarity and ignorance. From the oppressions of illiterate masters and the sufferings of a brutalized peasantry, it is delightful to turn to the opulent and enlightened States of Italy — to the vast and magnifi- cent cities, the portd, the arsenals, the villas, the museums, the libraries, the marts filled wdth every article of comfort and luxury, the manufactories swarming with artisans, the Apennines covered with ri in Bi w GIKOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 77 rich cultivation to their very suniiiiits, the Po waft- ing the harvests of Lonibartly to tlie granaries of Venice, and carrying back the silks of Bengal and the furs af Siberia to the palaces of Milan. With peculiar pleasure every cultivated mind nuist repose on the fair, the happy, the glorious Florence. . . . But, alas ! for the beautiful city. At' le was at hand when all the seven vials of the Apocalyp ^ were to be poured forth and shaken out ovei those pleasant countries — a time for slaughter, fpinine, beggary, infamy, slavery, despair." A characteristic of Florence has ever been her pas- sionate love of liberty. On her arms for six hundred years has been inscribed the glorious word " Libertas." When other cities crouclied beneath the heel of tyrants she flourished as a free Republic. At length the princely house of the Medici obtained a sway which was really that of a monarch. The ostenta- tious prodigality of Lorenzo the Magnificent, at once beguiled Florence of her liberty, corrupted her virtue, and hastened the calamities by which she was over- whelmed. At this time, and on such a stage, God called Savonarola to play his brief but heroic part. The grandest soul of the fifteenth century animated his frail body. He beheld with dismay the corruptions of the times. He foretold the outpouring of the vials of wrath upon the land. He souui;ht to set up Christ's throne in the earth. Like John the Baptist, he was a voice crying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Like John the Baptist, he fell a martyr to the truth which he proclaimed. ^ if 1) r )< . . 1 I 78 JJEACOX MfJIITS OF TIIK IIKFOIIMATION. Savonarola was the scion of a noble family of Padua, but he was born at the ancient city of Ferrara, whose nioul(lei-inut the impaired fortunes of liis family caused the rejection of his suit — it is said with scorn — l)y the proud patrician. The zealous neophyte was (greatly <^rieved at the i^norancc^ and worldliness of the monks. Hut he found con<^^enial employment in teachin*^ them the principles of philosophy, and in expounding the Scriptures. His first attempt at public teaching, by which he was afterwards to sway so wonderfully the hearts of men, were very dislieartening. In his native town of Ferrara he could not get a hearing, and he somewhat bitterly remarked, " A prophet has no honor in his own country." Even in Florence his first audience never exceeded twent3''-five persons, col- lected in the corner of a vast church. " I could not," he said, " so much as move a chicken." But " tlie Worc^ of God was as a fire in his bones," and could not be restrained. On his removal to the convent of San Marco he l)esouglit the prayers of the brethren and essayed to preach. He began a course of sermons on the Book of Revelation "and applied," says his biographer, " with tremendous force the imagery of John's vision to the condition and pros- pects of Italy. With a voice that rolled like thunder or pierced with the wild and mournful anguish of the loosened winds, he denounced the inicjuities of the time, and foretold the tribulations that were at hand." Soon, so rapiuiHli, for you my nights are spent in watching, and my soul fCiS.,f?^j ■ «>.. 86 JiEACOX J.IGIIT.S OF THE IIEFOIIMATIOX. melteth away for very lieaviness. O Lord, thou knowcst I am williiio-, I ain ready, Take me, stretch me on thy cro.s.s : let tlie wicked who deHght u blood, and rob the poor, and defile the temple of their bodies, and hai'den themselves anrainst thy mercy — let them wa<^^ their heads and shoot out the lip at me ; let the thorns press upon my ])row, and let my sweat be anguish — I desire to be like thee in thy great love. But let me see the fruit of my travail : let this people be saved ! Let me see them clothed in purity : let me hear their voices rise in concord as the voices of angels : let them see no wisdom but thy eternal law, no beauty but in holiness. Then shall they lead the way before the nations, and tlie people from the four winds shall follow them, and be gathered into the fold of the saved. Come, blessed promise ! And behold I am willing — lay loe on the altar; let my blood How and the fire consume me; but let my witness be remembered among men, that iniquity may not prosper forever." Nor were the labors of Savonarola for the welfare of Florence confined to the pulpit of the Duomo. He went forth alone and on foot as embassy to the invader, Charles VIII. In the spirit of Elijah rebuk- ing Aliab, he boldly admonished him. " Most Christian Kinp^," he began, " thou art an instrument in the Lords hand, who sends thee to assuage the miseries of Italy (as I hav^^ foretold for many years past), and j.'t ys en thee the duty of I'eforming the Church which lies prostrate; in the dust. But if thou failest to be just and meiciful; if thou dost not show respect to I C:y^* •les ,11(1 icil be to I - /. %mw :i,.,::iii lll!:i|l,ililiill li!!l!!!i!!l!l|ih.;,:.,ii> in. „i. il'';:'" ill !!| ^;.jial:3ii« ill I 88 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE REFOllMATION. tlie city of Florence, to its women, its citizens, its liberty ; if thou forgettest the work for which tlie Lord sends thee ; he will then choose «inother to per- form it, and will in anger let liis liand fall heavily upon thee, and will punish thee with dreadful scourges. These things I say to thee in the name of the Lord." Once again " a poor w^ise man by his wisdom de- livered a city " besieged by its enenn'es. The humble monk was a stronger defence of Florence than its walls and moats and armaments. Its ruler, Pietro de Medici, fled in the hour of peril, and, in the disguise of a lackey, sought an asylum in Venice. His palace was sacked and his treasures of art scattered by the fickle mob, whom only the influence of Savonarola could call back to order. The French armies entered the city as allies instead of as eneuiies. Their long stay, however, wore out their Avelcome. Charles submitted an ultimatum which Capponi, the tribune of the people, refused to ac- cept. ' Then we will sound our trumpets," exclaimed thp jrritatd'l king, threatening force. " And we," cried the patriot tribune, rending the parchment in pieces, " we will ino our bells." And the old cow, as the Florentines called the great bell in the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, began to low,* its deep reverbera- tions sounciing like a tocsin over the city, where every house would become a fortress, and every citizen a soldier for the defence of its ancient rights. *" La vacca muglia" was the phrase for the ringing of this great bell, whose deep-toned notes still boom from its lofty tower. filHOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 89 its A_L,^iiii Savonarola became the champion of liberty. Attain he bearded the lion in his lair, and in the name of God commandiMl the invadcn* to depart. And ai;ain the kin<^ of France obeyed the words of the preachin<»' friar. Pii^tro had fled, Charles had retired, and Florence was free to adopt a new constitution. Af^ain all eyes were turned toward Savonarola, as the noblest mind and most potent will in Italy. And he shrank not from the task. He longed to see Christ's kingdom established in the earth — a kinmlom of truth and righteousness, with God as its su2)reme ruler and law-giver. "Your reform," he said, "must begin with things spiritual, which are superior to all that are material, which constitute the rule of life, and are life itself; and all that is temporal ouglit to be subservient to morals and to religion on which it depends. If you wish to have a good government it must be derived from God. I certainly would not concern myself with the art'airs of state were it not for that end." A Great Council — a council of eighty and a court of eight magistrates — was therefore appointed to ad- minister the aflf{iirs of the city, on the model of the ancient Republic of Venice. Taxation was equalized, and a right of appeal secured to the Great Council of the people. Yet tlie prior of San Marco sought no personal power. " He was never to be seen in the meetings in the Piazza," writes his contemporary, Vellari, *' nor at the sittings of the Signoria ; but he became tlie very soul of the whole people, and the m i i « i i i M ■'Mi ii* iiiif 90 HEACON M(;i[TS OF THE KEFOIIMATION. chief author of all the laws by which the new government was constituted." From his bare and solitary cell his spirit ruled the souls of men by the right divine of truth and righteousness. " The authority of Savonarola," writes an un- friendly critic,* " was now at its highest. Instead of a republic, Florence assumed the appearance of a theocracy, of which Savonarola was the prophet, the legislator and the judge." A coin of this period is still extant, bearing a cross and the legend, " Jesus Christum Eex Noster " — " Jesus Christ, our King ; " and over the portal of the civic palace was placed the inscription, "Jesus Christus Rex Florentini POPULI." The great object of Savonarola's life was the estab- lishment of Christ's kingdom in the earth, and the bringing into conformity thereto of all the institutions of this world. He began w^ith his own convent of San Marco, putting away all luxuries of food, cloth- ing, costly ecclesiastical furniture and vestments. He enforced secular diligence among the monks, and assigned to the more gifted regular preaching duties. Hebrew, Greek and the Oriental languages were sedu- lously taught, and San Marco became a famous school of the prophets and propaganda of the Christian faith in foreign parts. Yet the prior s rule was not stern, but kindly and gentle. He carefully cultivated the hearts and intel- lect of the youthful novices, and sought the inspira- tion and refreshment of their company. With a true * Roscoe, " Life of Leo X.," p. 346. r;ill()LAM() SAVOXAItOI.A. 01 philosophy he used to say, " li* you wish me to preach well, allow me time to talk to my younf( people, for God often speaks by these innocent youths, as by pure vessels full of the Holy Ghost." Numbers of young enthusiasts sought to become the disciples of this ruler of men. l^)ut the wise ])rior strontrly discoura<^ed tae rash assumption of irre- vocable vows, A <^*il(led youth of the aristocracy of Florence was induced to hear the great preacher. At first he listened with scarce concealed contempt. But the spell of that mighty spirit seized his heart, and he was soon at the convent gate begging admission to its cloistered solitude. Savonarok bade him prove the strength of his convictions by a Christian life amid the temptations of the world. He endured the trial, and again sought the privilege of becoming a monk. The prior sent him back to nurse the sick and bury the dead. A month later he was permitted to assume the cowl and enter what was, in fact, the Christian ministry of the day. Fra Benedetto — such was his conventual name — in his memorials of his master, has recorded the loving care with which Savonarola, after sending him back to the conflicts of life, never lost sight of him ; but often invited him to his cell for solemn conversation on the duties and rewards of a religious life. The moral reformation of the people was the great object of Savonarola's preaching and prayer. And seldom, if ever, has such a general reformation ensued. His biographer thus I'ecords the result : " The whole city was stirred to its depths. What may be called a 92 UKACON LKJIITS OF TIIF': RKFOKM ATION. revival of rclij^ious interest swept tlirouf^h all classes, and an almost imiversal dc^sire was manifested for i reformation of life. The churclies were filled witl-. devout worshij)pers. The spirit of prayer entered families. Women exclian^(Ml a richly adorned and often meretricious mode of dress for one of modest sim- plicity. The young men, instead of Haunting their folly before the eyes of the citizens, now gave them- selves up to religious and benevolent works. Artisans and others of their rank, might be seen reading the l)ible or some religious work during the interval allowed for the midday meal. Men in business were found making restitution, even to large annjunts, for gains which they had unjustly gotten. Gaming houses and drinking saloons were deserted. Theatres and mas(|uerades were closed. Impure books and pictures in vast numbers were publicly burned. Evil practices and sports were discontinued. Crime was diminished. Luxury w^as at an end. Obscenity was banished. ' Wonderful thing ' exclaims an Italian writer, ' that in a moment such a change of customs should take place.' " A pernicious carnival custom of long standing was an obstacle to the completeness of this reform. The youths of the city had been wont, in masquerade cos. tumes, to levy contributions on the citizens to be spent in convival excesses around great bonfires in the public squares. Savonarola sought to turn this enthusiasm into a pious channel. He organized the youths into companies, and dressed in symbolic white and crowned with laurel, they sang soft Tuscan OIHOLAMO SAVONAHOF-A. 93 liyniiiH and lje<^j^tMl aliiiH, not lor tliuiiist'lveM Imt lor tliu poor. A new sort ot' bonHro, too, was .substituted tor those of previous carnivals — a " bonfire of vanities." In this theocratic conmmnity there was no lon<;er need for the masks and nias([uerades of folly, foi' the impleuKMits of ^aniint; and wickedness. Troops of white-robed and impulsive youn<^ incjuisitors, there- fore, went from liouse to liouse askin^^ for " vanities," whose proper place was the fire; and stopping tlie gaily bedizened holiday-makers in the street and exhorting them, for their soul's health, to make a burnt sacrifice of the " Anathema " — the unseemly fineries upon their persons. The annals of the time record many a serio-comic scenes as these mischief-loving young Florentines sought out the abode of some forlorn spinster or ancient dandy, and brought to light the dyes and perfumes and rouge pots, the wigs, and masks and frippery with which they in vain attempted to con- ceal the ravages of age. The artist's studio gave up every picture that could raise a blush upon the cheek of innocence, and tll^3 vice-suggesting writings of Ovid, Boccaccio and Pulci were heaped upon the growing pile. The heart of the city seemed moved by a common impulse to this moral purgation, as when at Ephesus, under the preaching of Paul four- teen centuries before, " many of them which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men. And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." ■Hi ii'l ^ A > ■> /A 'W '/ Photographic Sdences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4S03 m. ■^ \ iV N> LV o^ '%^ 94 IJEACON LKJHTS OF THK llEFORMATION. Ill tlic Pia/zji (K'lla Sionoria, a ])yrainid oi' " vani- ties " was ('()lk'ct('(l, sixty IVct lii<^li and <'i;;l»iy yar- year. Then followed a burning- of a different sort on the same spot, in which the person of Savonai'ola furnished food for the flame and "xcitement for the populace; which burning ended the grand Florentine drama of the fifteenth century." Already the clouds were gathering which were to shroud in an eclipse of woe the glories of that aus- picious da3\ There were many in the once gay and luxurious Florence who were not in harmony with the high moral tone to which society was keyed. Tliere were also secret agents and friends of the fugi- tive Medici. These combined against the Frateschi, or followers of Savonarola, and chief supporters of the republic. A conspiracy for the restoration of Pietro was detected. Five of its leaders were tried and found guilty, and suffered the inevitable penalty tugi-