He went to the king, stated to him his convictions, and told him that they prevented his accepting the episcopal charge of Cujavia and that he was going to leave Poland. Sigismund, although regretting his loss, does not appear to have disapproved his plan. The king saw clearly what kind of doctrine it was for which the young man wished to live, and he would rather that he should not profess it within his dominions. He even gave him letters of introduction which were probably never delivered. It was not Alasco’s intention to renounce Poland forever. He hoped that a time would come when he might return and freely proclaim the Gospel there. He tenderly loved his native land, and never settled in any place without imposing the condition that he should be at liberty to return to his own country if he might preach Christ there. As he could not labor for the reformation of Poland by preaching in Poland itself, he labored for it in foreign lands by prayer.

Having returned from the palace, Alasco made preparation for his departure. His heart was stirred by the deepest emotion. He saw what he was going to lose; but he saw also what he had gained in finding Jesus Christ. A country in which he was about to serve him appeared more to be desired than all the grandeur and the attractions of his beloved Poland. The splendor of the Gospel had shone in his soul, and the worldly splendors which had formerly dazzled him had now vanished. He felt that even the reputation for nobleness and virtue which Erasmus and others had given him, hindered him from coming to Christ. He acknowledged that there were on earth things of great value; but the knowledge of Christ surpassed in his eyes all that was fairest and greatest in the world. He therefore did as those do who, sailing over the great waters and seeing that their vessel is in danger, cast their goods into the sea, in order that they may come happily into the haven.[[678]]

Riches, palaces, honors, ancient and illustrious family, a great future—all these he cast away. He had gained Christ. He wished to be rich only with his grace, and great only with his greatness.

Alasco left Poland in 1537, and undertook a long pilgrimage in foreign lands, consoling himself with the thought that the servants of God have no country on earth, but are seeking a heavenly one. He went first to Mentz, at this time the home of his friend Hardenberg, who took there the degree of doctor in theology. From Mentz he went to Louvain in the Netherlands.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE POLISH REFORMER IN THE NETHERLANDS AND IN FRIESLAND.
(1537-1546).

The Reformation had many friends in the Netherlands, and we shall have an opportunity afterwards of seeing this; but they were found, especially at the beginning, among the lowly. The Lollards, the Vaudois, and the Brethren of the Common Life had circulated the Bible and its doctrines there. They gained adherents principally among the weavers and clothiers. True, they had also won over, in the great commercial towns, some very influential merchants; but at Louvain, where Alasco settled for some time, it was chiefly among the little ones that the worshippers of Christ were to be found.

Alasco At Louvain.

The sojourn of Alasco in this town, in the midst of these Christian people, clearly shows the humility of the Polish noble. He might have received in the Netherlands the honors which he had renounced in Poland. His brother, Ladislaus, ambassador in Austria, his brother Yaroslav, then in high favor with King Ferdinand, could have procured for him a favorable reception at the court of Brussels. He was indeed sought after by eminent men. The chancellor of Ferdinand and the Margrave of Brandenburg made him brilliant offers, if he would enter the service either of the emperor or of the king his brother. But the more the world seemed desirous of seizing upon Alasco, the more he withdrew into a life modest, obscure, and consecrated to God. He now definitively separated from Rome, by placing between them an insurmountable barrier. Determined upon entering the married state, which God established from the beginning of the world, and which the Roman Church itself makes a sacrament, he married, at Louvain, a simple young woman, pious and full of sociable qualities.

Ere long Alasco resolved to leave this Ultramontane town. A wish to remove from the court of Brussels, the need of a life humble and hidden with God, which since his fall he deeply felt, was doubtless the principal motive which induced him to leave Louvain. Perhaps he was also desirous of strengthening himself further in the faith before facing persecution. In search of a peaceful retreat, he went into a secluded district on the shores of the North Sea, in East Friesland, and took up his abode in the dull little town of Embden, as if he were determined to bury himself in this gloomy and lonely place. The first stay he made there, of about two years, was a rough time for him. The life he led offered a strange contrast to the luxury of the court of Sigismund. His life was not only outwardly wretched, without any of the comforts and conveniences in the midst of which he had been brought up, but it was drooping and mournful. In those regions bordering on the North Sea, intermittent fevers prevailed, and these reduced him to a state of great weakness. If he read a little it brought on giddiness, if he attempted to write his sight became confused. In the middle of 1540 he said to Hardenberg—‘I am fatigued with writing to you. I have had much difficulty in tracing these few words, although I have devoted myself to it at intervals through the whole day.’[[679]] His resources were at this time at a very low ebb, for he was deprived of every thing. He had to avoid even trifling expenses, and offered to sell his library. But these adverse circumstances, far from casting him down, produced in him the excellent fruit of patience. He acknowledged that God transformed for him calamities into ‘aids to salvation,’ and gave him the courage indispensable for enduring the trial with constancy. ‘Glory be to God!’ he said to Hardenberg. ‘By these vicissitudes of good and bad health, of life and death, He puts me in mind that He is the master of our whole life, and at the same time a most merciful Father, who does not permit any thing to befall us which is not good.’[[680]]

Alasco At Embden.