Nevertheless, the civil liberty enjoyed in the Netherlands had for a long time been favorable to reforming tendencies. If there was not much religion within the Church, there was a good deal outside its pale. The Lollards and the Vaudois, who were numerous among the weavers and clothiers, had sown in these regions the good seed of the Word. In the Church likewise, the Brethren of the common life, founded by Gerard Groot in the fourteenth century, had diffused instruction, so that every one could read and write. In no quarter had forerunners of the Reformation been more numerous. Jan van Goch had called for a reform according to the Bible. Thomas à Kempis, sick of the devotional practices which then made up religion, had sought after an inward light which might bring with it life. Erasmus of Rotterdam, king of the schools, had diffused knowledge which was not in itself the Reformation, but was a preparation for it. Johan Wessel, born at Groningen in 1419, had preached Christ as alone the way, the truth, and the life. At length, among the wealthy merchants and other laymen, men were to be met with who had a certain knowledge of the Gospel. This people, more enlightened, more civilized, and more free than most of the European nations, could not fail to be one of the first to accept this precious reformation of the Church, so congenial to its own character, and so well adapted to increase its greatness.[[716]]
Reform At Antwerp.
It was at Antwerp that the fire first blazed forth. In the convent of the Augustine order there was a simple, sensitive, and affectionate man, who, although not a German, was one of the first to be impressed by the preaching of Luther. He had been a student at Wittenberg, had heard the great doctor, and had been attracted at the same time both by the sweetness of the Gospel and by the pleasing character of the man who proclaimed it. It was the prior, Jacob Spreng, commonly called Probst (provost), after the name of his office. He had not the heroic courage of his master, nor would he have made at Worms such an energetic declaration. But he was filled with admiration for Luther; and when any daring deed of the reformer was made known and the monks talked of it with one another, he used to say, lifting up his head, ‘I have been a disciple of his.’ He gloried in it, as if he, a feeble and timid man, had a share in the heroism of his master. Then unable to repress the affectionate feeling that filled his heart, he added, ‘I love him ardently; I love him above every thing.’[[717]]
At the outset of his career, the reformer was looked upon, not as a heretic, but as a monk of genius. Consequently the monks, filled with admiration, regarded their chief with respect. The Word of God which the professor Ad Biblia expounded at Wittenberg had entered into the heart of Spreng; and while the Antwerp priests were preaching nothing but fables, he proclaimed Christ.[[718]] Some of the monks and several inhabitants of the town were converted to God by the reformer’s disciple.
It was likewise through Luther’s influence that the light reached the university town of Louvain. Some of the shorter writings of this reformer, printed at Basel in 1518, were read at Louvain in 1519. A storm immediately burst forth. The theologians of the university put forth all their efforts against the book, prohibited booksellers from selling it and the faithful from reading it; but the latter courageously defended the writings and their author.[[719]] ‘’Tis heresy!’ exclaimed the theologians. ‘Not so,’ replied the townsmen, ‘it is a doctrine really Christian.’[[720]] Increasing in number day by day, they determined to judge for themselves, read the books, and were convinced. The theologians were more angry than ever. Disparagement, falsehood, imposture, craft, and every available means were resorted to by them. They ascended the pulpit, and exclaimed in tones of thunder ‘These people are heretics; they are antichrists; the Christian faith is in danger.’ They occasioned in houses and in families astonishing tragedies.[[721]]
It was not Luther’s writings and influence alone which began the work of the Reformation in the Netherlands. Brought into contact by their commerce with all the countries of Europe, they received from them, not only things salable for money, but in addition and without money that which Christianity calls the pearl of great price. Foreigners of every class, both residents and travellers, merchants, German and Swiss soldiers, students from various universities, everywhere scattered on a well-prepared soil the living seed. It was to the conscience that the Gospel appealed; and thus it struck its roots deeper than if it had only spoken to the reasoning faculty, or to an imagination fantastic and prone to superstition. One man especially contributed, not to the establishment, but to the preparation of the Reformation.
Erasmus Assailed.
Erasmus was at this time at Louvain. Some of the monks went to him and accused him of being an accomplice of Luther. ‘I,’ he replied—‘I do not know him, any more than the most unknown of men. I have hardly read more than a page or two of his books.[[722]] If he has written well, it is no credit to me; and if ill no disgrace. All I know is that the purity of his life is such that his enemies themselves find nothing in it to reproach.’ In vain Erasmus spoke thus. Day by day the Dominicans in their discourses[[723]] threw stones at him and at Luther; but they did this so stupidly that even the most ignorant people said that it was the monks who were wrong and not Luther. The theologians, perceiving the state of things, published on the 7th of November, 1519, a bull of condemnation, hoping thus to have the last word.[[724]]
The light appeared also in the provinces of the North. Dort, a town of South Holland, was one of the first to receive it. A Dominican named Vincent, one of those violent men who passionately disparage their opponent and are desperate in conflict,[[725]] delivered a foolish and aggravating discourse against the Reformation. The hearers went away greatly excited, and there was immense agitation around the church. The excitement soon passed from honest and religious men to that ignorant and passionate class which is always ready to make a riot. When the monk came out, they uttered loud cries and were almost ready to stone him. Vincent, in alarm, threw himself into a cart, and fled to Louvain, where he presented himself as a martyr. ‘I have all but lost my life for the sake of the faith,’ he said.[[726]] ‘Erasmus is the cause of it, and the letters which he has written.’ To burn Erasmus would in his opinion have been a truly Roman exploit.
The Dominicans availed themselves of this incident, and appealed to the Count of Nassau, governor of Flanders, Brabant, and Holland. The States-general were to be assembled at the Hague. The Dominicans vehemently complained to the count of the progress which the principles of reform were everywhere making, and demanded that the States should without delay put a stop to it. ‘Go, then,’ said Nassau to them, ‘preach the Gospel of Christ in sincerity, as Luther does, without attacking any body, and you will have no enemies to contend against.’[[727]] Henry of Nassau thus sounded the prelude to the noble aspirations of his family.