Alasco now applied himself to the work which was allotted to him in Friesland. The Reformation, it was said, was in need of the file.[[689]] Exorcism and other superstitious rites were not yet abrogated. Various questions about the sacraments were disturbing men’s minds. A great number of sectaries had taken refuge in the country; and many of the courtiers led a dissolute life, caring least of all about religion. Alasco displayed admirable prudence, zeal, moderation, and steadfastness, and thereby excited the more violent discontent. Those whom he aimed at putting right began to calumniate him. Some said—‘He is an anabaptist;’ others—‘he is a sacramentarian.’ The countess herself having vindicated him, they adopted another course for ruining him. They stirred up the monks against him, which was not a difficult matter. These men appealed to higher powers than Countess Anna. They carried their accusations against the new superintendent to the court of the Netherlands, and this was in fact denouncing him to the emperor. ‘He is a perjurer and a disturber,’ they said. Ere long the countess received an order from Brussels to take severe measures against the firebrand. The order fell upon Friesland like a hurricane. ‘Dost thou hear the growl of the thunder?’ said Alasco.[[690]] His friends were alarmed. The scenes which he had witnessed at Louvain, the burning of men, the burying alive of women, by order of the same government, were, perhaps, now going to be repeated. Alasco, however, remained calm, and the Divine goodness protected him.[[691]] He appeared before the princes and the higher orders of the state, and, having asserted his innocence, was informed that there was no intention of depriving him of his ministry.
He was nevertheless still threatened with great dangers. The government of the Netherlands was not inclined to relinquish its proceedings. It was incensed against a man who had rejected the flattering offers made to him at Brussels, to undertake in Friesland a work so offensive to the fanaticism of that court. If Protestantism were to be established in this country, the Protestants of the Netherlands might find there support and a place of refuge. This was not all. John of Falkenberg, brother of the late Count Enno, at first thoroughly devoted to the Reformation, married, at Brussels, Dorothea of Austria, a natural daughter of Maximilian and aunt of Charles the Fifth. Thenceforth, this Frisian prince became an ardent adherent of Rome, and labored with all his might to exclude Alasco and the Gospel from Friesland.[[692]] Alasco saw the clouds getting heavy and the waves swelling, but he remained calm. ‘I know not yet to what conflicts I shall be called,’ he wrote to Bullinger, ‘but I am sure they will not stop till they have driven me away. This is not all. The sectaries on one side, and false brethren on the other, are causing trouble everywhere; but I look upon all these tribulations as convincing evidence that I am a minister of Christ—of Christ, against whom the world and the devil point all their warlike engines. I thank God, our Father, through Jesus Christ, my deliverer, that my faith is exercised by these trials; and I beseech Him to give me with the trials the courage I have need of, that I may show forth his glory whether by my life or by my death. I may expect fresh thunders from the court of Brabant, but God is mightier than they. It is in Him that I have believed, and it is also to Him that I entirely commit myself at this time.’[[693]]
Hatred Of The Monks.
Without delay he put his hand boldly to the work, and endeavored to clear the country of the last vestiges of the domination of the Pope. The tide as it ebbed had left there images and monks. Some minds placed between old things and new wavered between Rome and the Gospel. Others, more attached to the traditions, said, ‘Do what you will, so long as we have the monks and the images, the Roman Church subsists among us.’ The Franciscans of Embden, it is true, no longer said mass; but they displayed great activity in the endeavor to regain the ground which they had lost. They preached, baptized, administered extreme unction, paid visits, and drew up wills by the bedside of sick persons. A decree of the government, which groped along the border-line of freedom and intolerance, enjoined them to appear before the superintendent who would examine into their knowledge and their faith, and would give or refuse them authority to preach and to administer the sacraments. The monks were indignant. ‘We have nothing to do,’ they said, ‘with any superintendent, and least of all with this foreigner and his long beard.’ Alasco offered them a conference for the discussion of the principal points in controversy between them. ‘Any thing but that,’ they answered. And they bestirred themselves to raise up discontent and murmurings against the reformer. ‘If we keep him in this country,’ they said, ‘great dangers impend over us. The wrath of Count John and of the emperor will burst forth against us. Who can withstand them?’
The countess and her advisers took alarm at this argument. What were they in comparison with the formidable Charles the Fifth? Their zeal was cooled. They began to wish that some event might rid them of a man who compromised them in such high quarters. Alasco perceived that the countess after having set her hand to the plough was looking back. He saw that the moment was critical, and that if the Reformation was not to be suppressed in Friesland, he must be quick to ward off the stroke of the enemy. It is not to be expected that a man of the sixteenth century would act on the principles of the nineteenth. Alasco, a man of resolute spirit, appealed to the princess herself, and wrote to her the following beautiful letter—‘I know, Madam, that you are desirous of promoting among your subjects the glory of Jesus Christ. But you err in two respects. You too readily comply with either party in matters of religion. This is one fault. You act in conformity with the wishes of those about you rather than with the will of God. This is the second. It is not your own salvation alone which is at stake, but that of many churches confided to the care of you and me, of which you will have to give account to the eternal Judge. It is a magnificent destiny to be a prince; but on this condition, that you seek the glory of God.... The monks are guilty of idolatry, and they are its ministers. They lead astray many of your subjects who offer to idols a forbidden worship. We cannot endure this. It is commanded us to flee from idolatry. Put away therefore the idols, and remove their ministers from the midst of us. How long shall we go on trying to please at once both God and the world? If God is our master, why not follow Him resolutely? If He is not, what need have you of me as his minister? I am ready not only to spend my property in the service of the Church, but to give my life for the glory of Christ, if only you will consent to be governed by the Word. If you will not do this, I cannot promise you my services as a minister. Be sure, I understand how useful the esteem of men is, and especially of those whose favor is of so much importance. I am only a foreigner, burdened with a family and having no home. I wish therefore to be friends with all, but ... as far as to the altar. This barrier I cannot pass, even if I had to reduce my family to beggary.[[694]] He who sustains all flesh will also sustain my dear ones, even though I should leave them no resources. Never, Madam, would I have said these things to you, did I not know your piety and your goodness. But I should betray the cause of truth, if I did not say them to you. It is better to be unpolite than unfaithful. May God give his Holy Spirit to guide your counsels.
‘(August 8, 1543.)’
Such was the noble letter written by Alasco to the Princess Anna of Friesland. She appreciated the piety and the freedom of his words, and replied to him with much kindliness. She told him that she would give orders for the removal of the images, but that it must be done gradually, without noise, and by persons duly authorized, keeping the ignorant populace from interfering in the proceeding. The work was begun, but went on very slowly, so that the measure adopted in August had made little progress in November.
Progress Of The Reformation.
At this crisis, arrived Count John, the husband of Dorothea of Austria. This noble man, earnestly devoted to the Romish system, was immediately beset by the monks. Greatly provoked by the reforms which he saw in process of accomplishment in Friesland, he laid before the countess all the grievances of the monks and said to her, ‘It is absolutely essential that you should banish this man.’ But the reformer vindicated himself with so much force and truth that the count was shaken; and when the countess said positively, ‘I can not do without Alasco,’ John gave way. This victory hastened on the Reformation. All public worship was forbidden to the monks; nor were they allowed to maintain any intercourse with members of the Church calculated to turn them aside from the obedience due to the Word of God. They were allowed to live at peace in their convent; but public services of the Roman Church were even there forbidden. Gradually they took their departure. In the same way images disappeared. Alasco, a moderate man, did not think it his duty to precipitate reform. He labored for it persistently and prudently; and notwithstanding this slowness it made progress. He believed—and this feature distinguished him from some reformers—that a Christian is likely to succeed as well, and even better, by gentleness than by rashness.
Patience et longueur de temps