‘As for the marriage of priests, the French theologians do not approve of it; but here the king holds a certain medium. He desires the toleration of those of your ecclesiastics who have wives; as for the others, he wishes they should remain in celibacy. If, however, there are any priests who desire to be married, let them marry; only they must at the same time quit holy orders.
‘As for the communion, the king hopes to obtain from the pope permission for every man to take the sacrament under one or both kinds, as his conscience may dictate. He declares that he has heard old men say that both kinds used to be given to the laity in France a hundred and twenty years ago; not indeed in the churches but in private chapels. And even to this day, the kings of France communicate under both kinds.’
This explanation of the reform projected for France, and the exchange of ideas which it had occasioned, occupied some time. The day was already advanced, and the protestant delegates were making ready to depart.[[784]] The ambassador hastened to add a few words to prove the sincerity of his proposals. ‘Cardinal Santa Croce,’ he said, ‘has already substituted psalms for the silly and ungodly hymns in the liturgy. True, the theologians of Paris have condemned the change. You see the Sorbonne claims such authority that it not only calls you heretics, but does not fear to condemn the cardinals and the pope himself.’[[785]] Thus, according to Du Bellay, protestants, king, cardinals, and pope were on one side, and the Sorbonne on the other. The Lutherans, being in such good company, had nothing to fear. To encourage them still more, he informed them that Francis I. admitted the point which they put forward as the very life-spring of their doctrine. ‘The king,’ he continued, ‘thinks highly of the doctrine of justification, as you explain it. It would please him much, if two or three of your learned men were sent to France to discuss these several points in his presence. We must take precautions that the best and soundest part of the Church be not conquered and crushed by numbers.[[786]] Lastly, it would be very beneficial,’ Du Bellay adroitly added, as he finished his speech, ‘if the princes and deputies of the cities here assembled were to intercede in behalf of those who are exiled on account of religion, and to ask that no one should hereafter suffer any injury for what he thinks, says, or does with respect to his faith.’[[787]] How could the protestants, after such a compassionate solicitation, speak any more of the scaffolds of the 21st of January?
Reformation Of Francis I.
Such was the Reformation which Francis I. declared him-self willing to give France. As concerns doctrine, it was much more complete than the hybrid system which Henry VIII. was at that time endeavoring to set up in England. The protestants found these propositions acceptable enough in general, with some modifications, doubtless, which could not fail to be introduced: the imperfect reform of the French king would be completed by degrees. Had not his ambassador just said that it was dangerous to pull out a horse’s tail at once, giving them to understand that it would be pulled out hair by hair? The Reformation proclaimed, the evangelical doctrine professed, the frivolities of public worship put away, the Sorbonne placed under ban, the sounder part of Christendom preponderating over the more numerous part,—the cardinals and the pope himself (as Du Bellay hinted) aiding in this transformation,—what important advantages! One thing, however, was still wanting: many asked not only whether the catholics would carry out the Reformation to an end, as they hinted, but even whether they would maintain the concessions they had made.
This thought engrossed the attention of the protestant delegates. They made their report, however, to their principals, and amid the doubts by which they were agitated one thing only appeared urgent to the men of the Augsburg Confession—the duty of interceding in favor of their brethren in France. They commissioned Melancthon to draw up the answer to Du Bellay, and on the 22d of December, the French envoy having been once more admitted into the assembly of the princes and deputies, the vice-chancellor said to him: ‘That the most puissant king of France by sending them an ambassador as illustrious by his virtues as eminent by his rank, and the duty imposed on him to treat concerning matters of faith, the importance of which was paramount in their eyes, manifestly showed them the Christian zeal with which the king was animated—a zeal most worthy of so good a prince: that the reports circulated with respect to certain punishments that had taken place in France could not in truth authorize the States of Germany to form a judgment on the puissant monarch of that kingdom; however, they besought him not to allow himself to be carried away by the cruelty of men who, ignorant of the truth, desire to act severely against good and bad without distinction; that idle opinions having crept into the Church, it was necessary to apply a remedy, but those who endeavored to do so became objects of the bitterest hatred—the papists, who clung to their abuses, striving by a thousand artifices to inflame the hearts of kings and to arm them against the innocent.[[788]] For this reason the States assembled at Smalcalde conjured his Majesty to prohibit such iniquitous cruelty, and to advance the good of the Church and the glory of God.’
The evangelicals having discharged this duty passed rapidly over the rest. They represented to the ambassador that the proposal to send learned men into France was of such importance, that it was impossible to give him an immediate answer, but that the deputies would report thereon to the chiefs as soon as they returned home. ‘We assure you, however,’ they said in conclusion, ‘that nothing would please us more than to see the doctrine of piety and the concord of nations propagated more and more by means in conformity with the Word of God.’[[789]]
After a postponement, which seemed almost a refusal, Du Bellay felt embarrassed, for he had still to discharge the principal mission that his master had entrusted to him. He could not, however, leave Smalcalde without fulfilling it. He did not make it known distinctly in his public speeches, but solicited the protestants in private conversations to make an alliance with the king his master. The latter answered that the first condition of such a union would be that the allies should undertake nothing against the emperor, the head of the Germanic Confederation. Now it was precisely for the purpose of acting against Charles V. that Francis I. sought the friendship of evangelical Germany. Du Bellay left Smalcalde dissatisfied.
Francis Plays Two Parts.
The distrust of the Lutheran princes was not unreasonable. While the king was acting the protestant beyond the Rhine, he was acting the papist beyond the Alps; if the emperor would consent to yield Milan to him, Francis I. would bind himself to reduce Germany under the yoke of the house of Austria. ‘I will spare nothing,’ he said, ‘for the greatness of the said emperor and his brother the king of the Romans.’[[790]] He went further than this: ‘Let the pope say the word, and I will constrain England by force of arms to submit to the Church.’ The cruel paw peeped out from beneath the skin of the lamb, and the lion suddenly appeared, ready to attack, seize, and devour, as a delicate morsel, those whom he treated as friends and companions.