Certain preachers, however, who had taught the new doctrine, backslided deplorably at this time, and checked the progress of the Word in the south; among them were the prothonotary of Armagnac, the cordelier Des Noces, as well as his companion the youthful Melchior Flavin, 'a furious hypocrite,' as Beza calls him. One of those who had received in their hearts the fire that warmed the energetic Caturce, held firm to the truth, even in the presence of the stake: he was a grey friar named Marcii. Having performed 'wonders' by his preaching in Rouergue, he was taken to Toulouse, and there sealed with his blood the doctrines he had so faithfully proclaimed.[214]
=TWO MODES OF REFORMATION.=
We must soon turn to that external reformation imagined by some of the king's advisers, under the inspiration of the Queen of Navarre, and by certain German protestants who, under the influence of motives partly religious, partly political, proposed to reform Christendom by means of a council, without doing away with the Romish episcopate. But we must first return to that humble and powerful teacher, the noble representative of a scriptural and living reformation, who, while urging the necessity of a spiritual unity, set in the foremost rank the imprescriptible rights of truth.
[189] Seckendorf, pp. 1170, 1171.
[190] 'Fratris iras pro viribus moderavit.'—Bezæ Icones.
[191] 'Propter quæstum, cum contumelia Christi et cum periculo animarum.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 472.
[192] Sleidan, ch. viii.
[193] 'Ihm eine gnädige Mine gemacht.'—Seckendorf, p. 118.
[194] Sleidan, ch. viii. p. 232.
[195] 'Gallus rescripsit humanissime.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 503.