A change which took place in the government of this prince seemed likely to effect a change with respect to evangelical Christians, and the friends of the Reformation indulged lively hope from it. Margaret, aunt of the emperor, who for ten years had governed the Netherlands with wisdom but with severity, died in 1531, and was succeeded by Mary, queen of Hungary, the sister of Charles. This princess was a great lover and student of literature. ‘Verily,’ said Erasmus, speaking of her, ‘the world is turned upside down; monks are ignorant and women are educated.’ She was a clever woman, of heroic spirit, and a great huntress. But when she went to the hunt she carried the Gospels in her pocket. We have already met with her in Hungary, and have not forgotten the words of consolation which Luther gave her after the death of the king her husband.
At the Diet of Augsburg she had had the Gospel preached in her own house, and had won the hearts of the Protestants, who admired her moderation and her piety. She loves the evangelicals, they used to say, and has often allayed the wrath of the emperor. She pleads their cause with him, although with moderation and timidity.[[810]] She was thus an object of suspicion to the pope and his adherents, and they accused her of heresy. The pope, when he had learnt her conduct, instructed his legate to complain of her to the emperor. ‘She secretly favors,’ said the nuncio to Charles, ‘the Lutheran faction; she lowers the Catholic cause, and opposes the measures of your ministers.’[[811]] She was charged even with having dissuaded the elector of Trèves from joining the Catholic alliance, and with having prevented the bishop of Lavaur, envoy of Francis I., from going into Germany for the purpose of taking counsel with the Romish party.
Mary of Hungary arrived at Brussels, and took up her abode in the palace of the court. Little reflection was needed to discover how difficult was the position assigned her. Although she was not a fully enlightened Christian and disciple of the Reformation, she nevertheless loved the Gospel and felt pity for the persecuted evangelicals. On the other hand, she was sent by her brother to execute his laws against the Protestants, laws which the emperor did not fail to sanction and often to aggravate by new ones. What should Mary do? How escape from this cruel dilemma? She ought to have refused the government with which her brother had invested her; but this office gave to the widowed queen a rank among the princes of Europe, and Charles was not one of those whose favors it was easy to refuse. He had set her in a false position, and unhappily she remained there. She proposed to steer her course between two contrary currents; and, while carrying out the orders of her lord and brother, while endeavoring also to retain his favor and to dissipate his suspicions by severe letters against the Protestants, she strove as much as she could to alleviate their sufferings. Some have believed that as governess of the Netherlands, she had renounced the religious sentiments which she had held as queen. This, we think, is a mistake. Her life was a tissue of inconsistencies and contradictions; but she held to the last sentiments which were suspected at Rome. This was shown by the determination of Philip II., who, when he resolved to execute in these provinces his sanguinary designs, recalled his aunt to Spain. Poor woman, poor princess! What inward struggles she had to undergo! Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the torments which she suffered in her own heart were the penalty of her ambition and her cowardice. By the course which she took she did harm even to the cause which she had wished to promote. Her leaning to the Gospel, accompanied by the sanction which she gave to the death of those whom in her own conscience she honored, frequently added to the distress of pious men, and increased the weakness and humiliation of the Reformation. Hope deceived weighs down and disheartens.
Cornelius Crocus.
Meanwhile the evangelical meetings multiplied under Mary’s government. They were held sometimes in the open air, and sometimes in concealed retreats; and their attendants were counted by thousands. Among all the towns of Holland, Amsterdam was distinguished by the number of its inhabitants, its commercial activity, and the abundance of its wealth. Evangelical doctrine had early been proclaimed there, either by some of its inhabitants who cultivated literature and read the Greek Testament of Erasmus, or by such of its burgesses as went to Germany on matters of business and brought the Gospel back with them, or by pious foreigners who came amongst them for the sake of their trade. There was a priest, by name Cornelius Crocus, a learned man who taught the belles-lettres, but at the same time, being full of zeal for the papacy, addicted himself to all the Romish practices, and despised the Reformation. It was, however, silently making progress around him, and he suddenly found himself encompassed with evangelicals. His kinsfolk, his acquaintances, and his former disciples[[812]] had embraced the doctrine of Luther and Œcolampadius, and were aiming, he thought, to corrupt those who were still pure in faith. He was alarmed. The peril which was hemming him round took up his thoughts and tormented him night and day. Nevertheless, full of confidence in himself, he fancied that if only he could write a book the danger would be dispelled. But he saw one obstacle in his way, and only one. As a member of the Minorite order, he had every day so many prayers to read that not a single moment was left him for composition. Only a month, he thought, one month of leisure, would accomplish the task. The book would be written, and Lutheranism destroyed. He resolved to apply to episcopal authority; and on the eve of the Epiphany, 1531, he wrote to the official of Utrecht, delegate of the bishop, to exercise his jurisdiction in this matter—‘I most earnestly entreat you to permit me to break off my prayers for one month only, in order that I may compose a work adapted to turn away men’s minds from Luther and Œcolampadius, and to prevent the corruption of those who are as yet unaffected. I am obliged to make all the more haste because some of those whom I have in view are to set sail next month on a voyage to the East, according to the custom at Amsterdam.’[[813]] Amsterdam, already famous for its maritime expeditions, was even then privileged to bear afar in its vessels the doctrine of the Gospel.
Controversies.
There was especially one evangelical at Amsterdam whom Crocus in his alarm did not lose sight of. This was John Sartorius, who was, as it appears, his colleague in teaching the belles-lettres. Born in this town in 1500, endowed with remarkable ability and a strong character, he had much distinguished himself as a student. On a visit to Delft, he had made the acquaintance of Walter, a Dominican of Utrecht, who, being proscribed by his own party, had taken refuge in this town. This monk was the first to impart to Sartorius a taste for the truth. Afterwards, Sartorius having become intimate with Angelo Merula, pastor of Heenvliet, he gained by intercourse with this pious man, a solid knowledge of the truths of the faith.[[814]] Sartorius was master of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; and being charged with the teaching of the learned languages, he obtained permission of the magistrates to give his pupils a course of Hebrew lessons which, as we know, was at this time almost a heresy. Ere long he gave yet more convincing proofs of his religious sentiments. While engaged on philology, he endeavored to implant in the minds of his pupils the fundamental principles of the Gospel; and the doctrine on which he most dwelt was that of faith alone,[[815]] because he was certain, like all the reformers, that it was the surest means of filling a Christian’s life with good works. Crocus, while mechanically reading his long prayers was thinking of something else; and, being carried away by the violence of his passion, uttered loud cries. He resolved to attack Sartorius, confident that he should crush him at the first blow. He therefore composed and printed at Antwerp a work entitled Concerning Faith and Works, against John Sartorius. Crocus was joined by Alard, another divine of Amsterdam. ‘This man,’ said he, ‘has a cultivated mind, but he has unfortunately chosen the worst of all preceptors, presumption.’ Sartorius, though sharply assailed, did not waver. Immovable in his faith, he courageously defended it, and without flinching contended against the enemy. He was not afraid of the superstitious, and was determined to resist them. He wrote successively—On justifying faith against Crocus, and On the holy Eucharist; and in these works, aiming to call things by their true names, he fearlessly made use of expressions rather too strong. He published also Assertions of the Faith, addressed to the satellites of Satan.[[816]] But while he remained immovable in his convictions, he was obliged frequently to change his place of residence. We find him at Norwic, at Haarlem, and at Basel. Other evangelical Christians were compelled like him to quit their native land. John Timann, having tasted the truth and finding that he could not freely teach it to his fellow-citizens, took refuge at Bremen, where he labored as a faithful minister for thirty years, and there died. It was no unimportant matter that the civil power should thus deprive the Christian people of their guides, and this it was to learn one day to its own cost. Sartorius could not endure exile, and he afterwards returned to his native land, where
Longtemps tourmenté par un destin cruel,
Rend son corps à la terre et son esprit au ciel.
These are the last two lines of his epitaph, written by himself.[[817]] Sartorius was one of the noblest combatants of the Reformation.