[177] "Ita invigilent Verbo ecclesiarum ministri, ut, nulla pene hora diei, suum desit pabulum et quidem syncerum, ut nulla subsit palea aut fermenti pharisaici commissura."
[178] Roussel to Briçonnet, Strasbourg, Dec, 1525, Herminjard, i. 406, 407.
[179] Roussel to Farel, Meaux, Aug. 24, 1524, Herminjard, i. 271—a document that throws a flood of light upon the motives of the conduct of both Roussel and Lefèvre. A letter of the same date to Œcolampadius is, in some respects, even more instructive. Notice the pitiful weakness revealed in these sentences: "Reclamabunt episcopi, reclamabunt doctores, reclamabunt scholæ, assentiente populo, occurret Senatus (parliament). Quid faciet homuncio adversus tot leones?" Herminjard, i. 278. A reference to the book of Daniel might have enabled the Canon of Meaux to answer his own question.
[180] Pierre Toussain to Œcolampadius, Malesherbes, July 26, 1526, Herminjard, i. 447.
[181] Mandement de Guillaume Briçonnet an clergé de son diocèse, le 21 janvier, 1525, Herminjard, i. 320, etc.
[182] It may seem surprising that Jean Leclerc escaped the stake in punishment of his temerity. But the reason is found in the circumstance that he was tried, not for heresy, but for irreverence. This appears from the Registres du parlement for March 20, 1524/5. The interesting discussions of that session, printed in the Bulletin de la Soc. de l'hist. du prot. français, iii. (1854) 23, etc., establish the fact that the reformed doctrines were already making formidable headway in Paris and the adjoining towns. A brother of Bishop Briçonnet took a prominent part in the debate, and gave a deplorable view of the prevalence of impiety and heresy in the higher circles of society.
[183] For a description of the punishment, see Bastard d'Estang, Les parlements de France.
[184] "Vive Jésus Christ et ses enseignes!"
[185] Histoire ecclésiastique des églises réformées, attributed to Theodore Beza (Ed. of Lille, 1841), i. 4; Crespin, Actiones et Monimenta Martyrum (Geneva, 1560), fol. 46; Haag, La France protestante, art. Leclerc; Daniel, x. 23, who finds no more suitable epithet for Leclerc than "ce scélérat."
[186] At this time a city of the Empire, and not conquered by France until the reign of Henry II. (1552).