The evangelical doctors did not confine themselves to holding their regular meetings; but everywhere they preached the Gospel to great multitudes.[[603]]
Szegedin At Temeswar.
About this time Szegedin was called from Czegled to Temeswar, an important town situated a little farther south than Szegedin, his native place, the name of which he bore. This call was sent to him by Count Peter Petrovich, one of the guardians of the young son of Zapolya, but a very different man from his colleague, the bishop. Petrovich was the avowed friend and the powerful protector of evangelical reform. Szegedin, in his new position, immediately put forth all his energies. He not only expounded and defended sound doctrine as a theologian, but he scattered abroad in men’s hearts the seeds of truth and of life. The count loved and admired him, and countenanced his labors. He protected him against his enemies, and took an interest in the smallest affairs of his life. For example, he gave him for winter wear a coat lined with fox-fur.[[604]] The glad tidings of the love of God, which save him who believes, were spreading farther and wider in these lands, when after three years Szegedin had the pain of seeing the place of his protector, Count Petrovich, taken by a superior officer of the army, Stephen Losonczy. If the former concerned himself lovingly about the Gospel of peace, the latter made no account of any thing but war, cared for nothing but the soldiery, and was devoted to the Romish party. Losonczy troubled himself very little about the army of Jesus Christ. He wanted to hear only of that army which he trained, and which at his command executed skilful manœuvres; and he was annoyed with those evangelists who troubled conscience and urged men to think of things above. In this he could see nothing but a dangerous enthusiasm. He thought it was far more useful to mind things below. In his view the military art was not only the most beautiful and the most ingenious, but also the most essential. Men of truly Christian character have been sometimes found serving in armies, and even in the higher ranks. But those who, like Losonczy, look upon religion as a troublesome superstition which must be suppressed have never been rare, even in religious epochs. The successor of Count Petrovich, therefore, did not hesitate to expel from the country those whom his predecessor had called thither; not Szegedin alone, but also the other ministers, his colleagues. No sooner had he done this than the Turks appeared, seized the fortress, and massacred all the Christians they met with, including the unhappy Losonczy himself. None escaped but the pastors whom the terrible general had placed in safety by banishing them, with the intent to ruin them. The merciless Losonczy had imagined that he should defend Temeswar all the more effectually by getting rid of these tiresome ministers, whom he looked upon as mere impedimenta, quite useless, and, moreover, very embarrassing. Yet these faithful heralds of the Gospel, by interceding with God and by strengthening the hearts of men, might perhaps have saved the town and its inhabitants. They would at least have consoled them in their affliction.[[605]]
The Gospel At Tolna.
If the Turks were making their conquests, the Christians likewise were making theirs, even in the districts of Hungary, then subject to Mussulman authority. Emeric Eszeky (Czigerius), a disciple of Luther and Melanchthon, having at this period returned to Hungary—Wittenberg was a fountain from which living water did not cease to flow—made a stay at Tolna on the Danube, south of Buda. His heart was grieved to see the population of the town wholly given up to superstition and impiety. Nevertheless, he was not disheartened; and he began to make known the Gospel in private houses and everywhere. After fifteen days, three or four persons had received the knowledge of the Gospel. This was little, and yet it was a great deal. But desirous of a more abundant harvest, he left the town and travelled about the surrounding country. Finding the common people absorbed in the concerns of mere material existence, he resolved to address chiefly the school-masters and the priests, expecting to find in them a good soil for the sowing of the word. He was not altogether mistaken; for if many bigoted priests dismissed him, some of the ecclesiastics and masters of schools nevertheless gave him welcome. Arriving one day at the parish of Cascov, comitat of Baranya, he knocked at the door of the parson, Michael Szataray. He was kindly received, and they had a long conversation. The priest, a serious and sincere man, relished the good words of Eszeky, and with all his heart believed the good news of the Gospel, which hitherto he had but vaguely understood. He felt immediately impelled to communicate it to others, and courageously joined Eszeky. The two travelling ministers, filled with earnestness, succeeded in spreading abroad evangelical light in the whole of Lower Hungary. They led a life of hardship, and had frequently to meet with hatred and persecution. But their patience was perfect, and God kept them safe from all danger.[[606]]
While Eszeky, accompanied by his fellow-laborer, was thus visiting the towns and country districts, the seed which he had scattered at Tolna, and which at first seemed to have sprung up only in two or three places, had germinated a little everywhere. The field which had seemed barren, had at length given proof of fertility. Those of the inhabitants who had embraced the Reformation had built a church at the extremity of the town; and, two years and nine months after the departure of the reformer, he received a call to preach the Gospel there again. He returned to Tolna, proclaimed Christ, and the church was filled with hearers. But great dangers awaited him there. There were two distinct parties in the place; and while some of the people attached themselves to the Saviour, others continued to be thoroughly devoted to the pope. At the head of the latter party was the burgomaster, who, in the frequent interviews which he held with the priests, was pressed to rid the town of the heretics. Unfortunately for the clergy, the magistrate could do nothing of the sort without the consent of the Turks who occupied the country. The Ultramontanes thought that they could smooth away the difficulty by untying their purse-strings. They therefore collected a considerable sum of money, and handed it to the burgomaster, who then set out for Buda, the place of residence of the pasha. Having obtained an audience of the Mussulman, he stated to him the occasion of his coming, the disturbance which was created in the town by Protestantism, and presented his rich offering. Confident that this officer was what is called a true Turk, inexorable and pitiless, and knowing how offenders, even viziers themselves, are despatched at Constantinople, he in plain terms requested the pasha to have Eszeky put to death, or at the least to banish him. The Mohammedan governor did not think it his duty to proceed without observing judicial forms. He consulted his Cadis, who informed their chief that the man against whom the complaint was laid was an opponent of images and other Romish superstitions. The pasha consequently gave orders that ‘the preacher of the doctrine discovered by Luther (this was how they described the Gospel) should freely proclaim it to all who were willing to hear it.’
Eszeky and his companions were delighted to hear that the Turks gave them the liberty of which the Romanists wished to deprive them. The evangelical Christians could now without hinderance diffuse the knowledge of Christ either in the church or elsewhere. A school was established; and on August 3, 1549, Eszeky applied to his friend Matthias Flacius Illyricus for books and assistants.[[607]]
Progress Of The Gospel.
The provinces which submitted to Ferdinand were no more forgotten than those which were under the rule of the Turks. The Reformation was now making great progress there. The priest Michael Szataray, who was converted by the ministry of Eszeky, went to Komorn. Anthony Plattner joined him; and both of them laboring zealously in this island formed by the confluence of the Danube and the Waag, they laid the foundation of a great community of the Helvetic confession. At Tyrnau also, to the north of Presburg, the former teaching of Grynaeus and Devay, and the evangelical writings which were eagerly read there, led the greater part of the population to embrace the evangelical doctrines. The five towns of the mountain region, which were held as allodial estates by Queen Mary, peacefully enjoyed under her government the blessings of the Gospel. But the princess having made a lease of them to her brother Ferdinand, the priests wanted immediately to take advantage of this for the oppression of these pious people. These attempts rekindled their zeal; and the churches forwarded to the king’s delegates, at Eperies, an evangelical confession full of faithfulness and of charity (Pentapolitana Confessio). Ferdinand commanded that they should be let alone.[[608]]
The characteristic feature of this epoch, however, was—we say once more—the progress which the Gospel was making under the rule of the Turks. Fresh instances of this were constantly appearing. Faithful ministers proclaimed the consolation and the peace of Jesus Christ to the distressed and impoverished Hungarians who had remained in Buda under the Mussulman yoke. The servants of Rome endeavored to gainsay them. ‘A coarse, papistical Satan,’ wrote some one from Hungary to a Breslau pastor, ‘opposed with all his might this Christian ministry,’[[609]] He brought the subject before the pasha. The latter, after hearing both sides, decided in favor of evangelical preaching, ‘Because,’ he said, ‘it teaches that one God alone is to be worshipped, and because it condemns the abuse of images which we abominate.’[[610]] The pasha, addressing the accuser, added—‘I am not placed here by my emperor to busy myself about these controversies, but in order to keep his empire as much at peace as possible.’ At Szegedin also he protected the Gospel and its ministers against the violence of the papists. ‘See,’ said the friends of the Gospel, ‘how wonderful and how consoling is the counsel of God! We thought that the Turks would be cruel oppressors of the faith and of those who profess it; but God would have it otherwise. Is it not astonishing to see how the good news of the glory of God is spreading in the midst of all these wars and disturbances?[[611]] The whole of Transylvania has received the evangelical faith, in spite of the prohibition of the monk and bishop George (Martinuzzi). Wallachia, which is also subject to the Turks, professes the faith. The Gospel is spreading from place to place throughout Hungary. Assuredly, if these agitations of war had not broken out, the false bishops would have stirred up against us far graver ones.’