[269] Hammer, iii. p. 118. Schoertlin, Lebens Beschreibung. Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, iii. p. 425.

[270] 'Entschlossen seine Gerechtigkeiten in Deutschland nicht zu verlassen.'—Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, iii. pp. 448-451. This narrative is based upon Gabelkofer, extracted by Sattler and Pfister.

[271] This document will be found in Sattler, ii. p. 229. See also Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, iii. p. 450.

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE GOSPEL PREACHED AT THE LOUVRE AND IN THE METROPOLITAN CHURCHES.
(Lent 1533.)

THE alliance with England, and the hope of being able, sooner or later, to triumph over Charles V., filled the King of France with joy; and accordingly the carnival of the year 1533 was kept magnificently at Paris. The court was absorbed in entertainments, balls, and banquets. The young lords and ladies thought of nothing but dancing and intriguing, at which soberer minds were scandalised. 'It is quite a Bacchanalia,' said the evangelicals.[272] As soon as the carnival was ended, Francis started for Picardy; leaving the King and Queen of Navarre at Paris. Margaret now breathed more freely. She had been compelled, willingly or unwillingly, to take part in all the court fêtes; and she now determined to make up for it by organising a great evangelical preaching instead of the 'bacchanalia' at which she had sometimes been present. Was not Francis holding out his hand to the King of England and to the protestants of Germany? The opportunity should be seized of preaching the new doctrine boldly. The Queen of Navarre sent for Roussel and communicated her intention to him. She will open the great churches of the capital, and from their pulpits the inhabitants of Paris shall hear the mighty summons. The poor almoner, in whom courage was not the most prominent virtue, was alarmed at first. In the handsome saloons of Margaret he might indulge in his pious and rather mystical aspirations; but to enter the pulpits of Paris ... the very thought dismayed him, and he begged the queen to find some other person. Roussel did not deny that it was right to preach the Gospel publicly, but declared himself to be incompetent for the work. 'The minister of the Gospel,' he said, 'ought to possess an invincible faith.[273] The enemy against which he fights is the kingdom of hell with all its powers.[274] ... He must defend himself on the right hand and on the left.... What do you require of me? To preach peace, but under the cross! To bring in the kingdom of God, but among the strongholds of the devil.... To speak of repose in the midst of the most furious tempests, of life in the midst of death, of blessedness in the midst of hell! Who is fitted for such things?... Doubtless it is a noble task, but no one ought to undertake it unless he is called to it. Now I feel nothing in me which a minister of the Gospel of Christ ought to possess at this moment.'[275]

=ROUSSEL'S HESITATION.=

Such a man as Calvin would certainly have been preferable, but Margaret would neither have dared nor wished to put him in the front. These sermons undoubtedly formed part of the chaplain's duty; and hence the Queen, an energetic and impulsive woman, being determined to profit by the opportunity of giving the Gospel free entrance into Paris, persisted with Roussel, promised him the help of her prayers and of her favour, and at last prevailed on him to preach. In truth, his modesty is an honour to him: no doubt there was boldness wanted; but many humble and candid souls would have hesitated like him. He was fitter than he imagined for the work which the Queen of Navarre had taken in hand.

This obstacle having been surmounted, Margaret met with another. It was the custom for the Sorbonne to appoint the preachers, and it was impossible to get them to accept Roussel. 'They will nominate some furious and insolent monks,' says Calvin, 'who will make the churches ring with their insults against truth.'[276] The struggle began, and despite the absence of Francis, despite the influence of the Queen of Navarre, the Sorbonne gained the day, and the pulpits of the capital were closed against the almoner. Margaret was very indignant at these doctors, who looked upon themselves as the doorkeepers of the kingdom of heaven, and by their tyranny prevented the door from being opened; but Roussel was by no means sorry to be prohibited from a work beyond his strength.

=PREACHINGS AT THE LOUVRE.=