The Bernese, indeed, were anxious that the Vaudois, whose country they had recently conquered, should attach themselves to the Reformation. It was no doubt partly from a regard to political interests that they wished this, but they did not overlook the interest of religion. Be that as it may, the reformation of religion in that country was a source of great prosperity both temporal and spiritual. The Pays de Vaud was to offer the stranger, at a later time, not only those beauties of nature which excite our admiration, but still more, numerous examples of sincere and vital piety, which is far sweeter and pleasanter than its lakes, and more sublime than its peaks and glaciers. The seed which was scattered at the epoch of the Reformation, in its valleys and on its mountains, was truly the Word of God; and one cannot but see there the fulfilment of that ancient oracle, He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
The conversion of Yverdon had been somewhat checked by the siege which the town had sustained. The lords of Berne wished in general to employ, like Viret, evangelical means; to reveal to their new subjects the grosser superstitions under whose yoke they had been held, and to give them the knowledge of the truth. For that end they resolved to appoint first a public disputation such as had been held at Zurich, Berne, and Geneva. As soon as the report was circulated in the country that a great assembly for discussion on matters of faith was to be held at Lausanne, the priests and their friends were alarmed. The excitement extended to all the villages. The friends of the papacy expected to see black clouds gathering on the horizon, and a violent storm presently burst on the old ship which had carried their fathers, and make it founder, thus engulfing in the depths of the sea all the traditions of their doctrine and all the pomps of their worship. They determined to do everything in their power to oppose such an assembly, and they wrote to the bishop and to the council at Friburg, to the pope and to the emperor.
A DISPUTATION APPOINTED.
The cry of distress which they uttered was heard. The council of Friburg sent a deputation to Berne to oppose the projected meeting. Charles V., who was then in Italy, addressed a letter to the council of his imperial city, requiring it ‘to prevent that disputation as well as any change in matters of faith, to restore everything to its former state, to allow nothing contrary to the tenor of his edicts, and to await quietly the council.’ This missive was dated from Savigliano, July 3, 1536.[389]
It was evident that the country had arrived at a critical pass, and that it was necessary to find some way of escape. The remedy proposed by the priests and the monks was,—to draw back. They assailed the Reformation from the pulpit, and they hurried from house to house and circulated in the streets the most outrageous reports against the reformed and the Reformation. Some of them opposed the disputation by asserting that ‘the ministers are magicians who have in their service a multitude of demons by means of which they bewitch their hearers.’ Other priests made up their mind to put a good face on the matter. They blustered a good deal; they bragged of having already won many a victory over their adversaries. ‘Let them only give us permission to contend with them in a regular discussion,’ they said, ‘and we are strong enough to beat them.’[390]
The council of Berne no longer hesitated. Without awaiting the possible decision of the emperor, they issued, July 16, an edict in opposition to the orders of Charles. ‘We desire,’ the edict ran, ‘that the people of our territories, (which by the grace of God we have justly acquired by conquest,) should walk with all their hearts in the way which our Lord has commanded. Nevertheless that has not been done, and even gross insults have been offered to the preachers and to those who wished to follow the Gospel. Desirous of putting in order all these confused affairs, we enjoin all priests and monks, as well as the preachers, to present themselves at Lausanne, on October 1 next, for the purpose of proving what they believe, freely and frankly, by argument on the grounds of Holy Scripture. We address this appeal not only to those of our own territories, but to all comers and goers, of whatsoever nation they be, and we promise them safe-keeping. We further order that our priests and preachers attend the assembly from its opening to its close, without default, and under pain of our indignation.’[391]
A few days after the edict of Berne, some Savoyard ambassadors, on their way to the diet of Berne, delivered the emperor’s letter to the council of Lausanne. That body having laid on the table side by side the epistle of his Catholic majesty and the edict of the lords of Berne, found themselves, to their great dismay, placed between the anvil and the hammer. Pressed thus by the two conflicting parties, they foresaw nothing but calamity whether they resisted the one or the other. The imperial document was read to the general council July 23. Its members, the majority of whom were attached to the Romish Church, thought that the wisest plan was to obey the most powerful, and therefore, sheltering themselves under the order of the great potentate, they enacted that the parties should live peaceably together, but that no innovation should be made until after the decision of the council. At the same time a deputation set out for Berne in order to prevent the disputation. But all was useless. Berne was stronger than the Emperor Charles V. That prince was in Italy, and the absent are in the wrong.