[115] 'Non ipse solum explicabat, sed aliorum sententias requirebat.—Ibid.
CHAPTER VI.
CALVIN AND HIS DISCIPLES BEGIN THE EVANGELISATION OF FRANCE.
(Spring 1534.)
IT was necessary to begin the conversion of France on a larger scale. Might not that country, whose agitations have often disturbed Europe, and which never trembles but all around it is shaken—become, if it received the Gospel, a centre of light and a powerful means of strengthening the nations in justice and peace? That would no doubt have happened, had it become protestant. Calvin, by labouring thirty years for Geneva and France, laboured for the whole Christian world. He made the first experiment at Poitiers, and (if we may use the word) began that glorious evangelising campaign, which he was to direct until the close of his life.
=CALVIN AND THE ST. GEORGES.=
Not content with evangelising the city, the young and zealous doctor visited the castles, abbeys, and villages of the neighbourhood. In the castle of Couhé, a few leagues south of Poitiers, there lived a patriarchal family of great influence in Upper Poitou: it was that of Guichard de St. George, baron of Couhé, and Anne de Mortemer his wife. At their death they left four sons, who had early learned to keep God's commandments. Ponthus, abbot of a Benedictine convent, was the best known of the four brothers: 'He is a liberal and munificent man,' people said, 'a patron of learning and learned men, whom he welcomes heartily.'[116]
=EVANGELICAL ABBOTS.=
A rumour of the meetings held at Poitiers reached Ponthus; being intimate with some of Calvin's disciples and occasionally receiving them at his table, he begged them to bring the young doctor, and from that day Calvin became one of his guests, according to a tradition preserved in the province.[117] Although the conversations he had with the abbot did not convert him, they made him take pleasure in the Gospel, and he soon asked himself why this astonishing young man should not preach in the Benedictine church? To address a learned and religious community pleased the young doctor's mind. The abbot announced to his monks that a Picard, brought up in the university of Paris and the holder of a benefice at Noyon, would preach in the abbey-church. Accordingly Calvin went into the pulpit and declared that whosoever had a firm and lively faith in the grace of Christ was saved. Some of his hearers were startled at a doctrine which made the Romish priesthood of no use. 'What a perverse doctrine!' they said; 'why does the abbot allow this Picard to preach it in his church?'[118]
On the other hand the Abbot St. George was delighted with the young man's sermons, but hesitated to take the decisive step. The Benedictine abbeys were independent, powerful, and rich; the monks generally belonged to noble families, and surpassed the other religious orders in intelligence, morality, and extensive familiarity with classical and christian learning. Ponthus felt a difficulty in leaving the quiet life he led in his abbey, or in sacrificing his rich benefice, and exposing himself to the vengeance of the laws.... He entertained the idea of reconciling the Church with the world, according to the system patronised by Margaret of Navarre. He would remain an abbot, but he would be a christian abbot like Roussel, and although wearing his friar's dress in the pulpit, he would preach the Gospel from it. Ponthus made the experiment, and his sermons caused a great deal of talk. The astonished hearers exclaimed: 'Why the abbot of Valence (it was the name of his monastery) is preaching the rudiments of heresy.'[119] Guichard, St. George's third brother, abbot in commendam of Bonneveau, erelong shared the convictions of Ponthus, and professed them like him, but without giving up his benefice. The murmuring grew louder throughout the district. 'Look,' said the catholics, 'the men who are caught in Calvin's web still cling to their cloisters and do not forsake the altars. The abbots stick to their flesh-pot (marmite), and dress themselves in catholic robes although they are secret Lutherans. They discharge their functions without showing what they are.'[120]
Ponthus felt ill at ease, his honest soul did not long permit him to halt on both sides. He sacrificed a brilliant position, dismissed his monks, set some to study and others to learn trades; and then, feeling convinced as Luther did, that a forced celibacy is a disorder invented by men, and that marriage is the order of God, he took a wife. The abbot of Valence (says an historian) was the first abbot in France who lifted the mask and showed himself an open Lutheran. His brothers followed the example he had set them. The Sieur de l'Orillonière, son of the eldest (the baron of Couhé) was the first of the family to give his blood for the protestant cause. Thus did the four brothers, full of zeal for the Reformation, prepare for themselves and for their children a life of suffering, combat, and exile, but also of faith, hope, and peace.[121]