At the very moment when a pious reformer was descending near to the gates of death, the head of the Franciscans in Geneva was taking the new road 'that leadeth unto life.' The three brothers Bernard—Claude, the elder, in whose house the reformers received a Christian hospitality; Louis, priest of St. Pierre; and Jacques, guardian or superior of the Franciscan convent—were among the most notable citizens of Geneva. The two elder had for some time embraced the Reform; but the third, a monk, had remained a zealot for popery. Ere long he himself was shaken. Seeing the three ministers closely at his brother Claude's, he learnt by their life to esteem their doctrine, and their virtues struck him so much the more, as he had lived in popery a life by no means regular himself. He examined himself seriously whether he would not do well to renounce monasticism.[504] The light of the Gospel began to shine into his heart. Nothing struck him so much as the thought that Christ, in his great love, had procured for his followers by his death a perfect reconciliation with God. The character which popery ascribed to the mass appeared to him to do injury to the infinite price of the Saviour's passion. 'I am convinced,' said he to Farel, at the end of one of their conversations. 'I am one of you!'—'Good!' answered the reformer, 'but if faith is kindled in your heart, it is necessary that the light should be shown abroad. Confess your faith publicly before men.' Jacques was determined not to spare himself, and not only to declare for the Gospel, but, further, to endeavor to make it known to his fellow-citizens. He posted up bills on February 19th, that during Lent he would preach every afternoon in the convent church.
This was something new: a numerous crowd filled the place. 'Men and women, catholics and Lutherans, crowded in,' says the nun of Ste. Claire, 'and that during all the first week.' Some fancied that the guardian was going to thunder against the Reform; but all doubts were soon dispersed. He spoke, and the astonishment was universal. The reformed were surprised at seeing one who formerly had rejected so rudely the grace of Christ, now rushing like a common soldier into the midst of the battle and defending it. The catholics were still more amazed. 'This scandalized them so much,' adds the sister, 'that they never went afterwards.'[505] It seemed impossible to come to an understanding, and the confusion continued increasing.
How could they get out of a struggle which looked as if it would never end? There appeared one very natural means which does honor to the epoch in which men had recourse to it. The magistrates of the sixteenth century, whether in Switzerland or elsewhere, studied their charters when there was a question of establishing what was right, and assimilated the principles which had dictated them. But their love of the right was not a platonic love, as among enervated jurists. These notable men wished to realize in the government of the people what was in its constitution. Now if the book of the Liberties, Franchises, Immunities, Uses, and Customs of Geneva was the charter of the state, the Holy Scriptures were the charter of the Church: the Bible was the grand muniment of their spiritual franchises. Nothing must be decided, therefore, except by this sovereign rule.[506] While such thoughts occupied the syndics, the same desire animated the Reformers. 'We will forfeit our lives,' they said, 'if we do not prove by Holy Scripture that what we preach is true.' A conference, at which, with the divine charter before them, the faith, duties, and rights of Christians should be established, seemed the wisest way of getting out of the difficulty.
=A PUBLIC DISCUSSION DEMANDED.=
One thing stopped the members of the council: they were reluctant that foreigners—two Frenchmen and a Vaudois—should be at the head of the disputation. Farel respected such a feeling, and desired that the name of an old Genevan should be inscribed first in Geneva on the list of the Reformation. He went to Jacques Bernard: 'Brother,' said he, 'it is necessary that your change of life should turn to the edification of the people.[507] Write down some propositions; announce that you are ready to answer all men in a public disputation, and defend your theses by clear and manifest reasons. They would refuse us this favor, for we are foreigners; but you are a citizen of Geneva,[508] and superior of an important order. They will grant your request.' The recent epoch of Bernard's conversion, his want of Christian experience, the annoyances, the dangers to which he would be exposed, might have induced him to refuse this demand. But he knew that in the new life on which he had entered, the rule was, that every one, forgetful of himself, should work for the good of others; and that with regard to his insufficiency, God would provide. The head of the Cordeliers asked the council's permission to maintain publicly the evangelical doctrine in a conference to which all the learned in the city and abroad should be invited. The syndics, who desired that the Reformation should be accomplished by reason and not by force, granted his prayer, and everything was got ready for this important action. For a long time Geneva had seen the parties armed from head to foot, crossing their swords and halberds: now minds were to be ranged in battle-array, and the spiritual combat would, to all appearance, decide the future of the Reformation.
[494] Froment, Gestes de Genève, p. 94.
[495] Froment, Gestes de Genève, p. 95.—Le Curé Besson, Mémoires du Diocèse de Genève et de Maurienne, p. 303.—Sommaire des aveux d'Antoina (Archives de Berne). Gaberel, i., Pièces, p. 80.
[496] Sommaire de ce que la poisonnière a confessé entre les mains de la justice. (Archives de Berne.)—Gaberel, Pièces, p. 80.
[497] Sommaire de ce que la poisonnière a confessé entre les mains de la justice. (Archives de Berne.)—Gaberel, Pièces, p. 80.
[498] Froment, Gestes de Genève, pp. 104, 105.—Chron. MSC. de Roset, liv. iii. ch. 21.