We have been speaking of some humble Christians of Louvain; we must now turn to their brethren at Brussels.
Giles Tielmans.
There had been signs of an awakening in this capital; and there were to be found in it men who were truly imitators of Jesus Christ, a class unhappily too small. One of the citizens, Giles Tielmans, a native of Brussels, was not ‘of a rich family nor of great renown,’ but he had acquired by his virtues a higher esteem, even on the part of the enemies of pure doctrine. Giles had never wronged a single creature, and he had always made it his aim to give pleasure to every body. He was now thirty-three years of age, and no one had ever had a complaint against him. If he encountered opposition he would give way. He would rather relinquish his rights than quarrel about them, in order that he might in this life maintain peace and charity.[[877]] This Christian man fulfilled, both in the letter and in the spirit, the commandment of his master—‘If any man will take thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.’ He had been endowed by God with a good disposition, but ‘having begun to taste in his youth the heavenly wisdom drawn from the sacred writings, this natural goodness had improved to an incredible degree.’ His look was sweet and modest, his deportment amiable, and every thing about him revealed a soul holy and born for heaven, dwelling in a pure and chaste tabernacle. He spent the greater part of his time in visiting the sick, in relieving the poor, and in making peace between any of his neighbors who might be at variance with each other. Tielmans used to say that it was a disgraceful thing to pass one’s life in idleness. In order to avoid this, to earn his living by his own labor, and to have something to give to the poor, he had followed the trade of a cutler. He lived in a very humble way, spending hardly any thing on himself, but distributing among the needy the fruits of his toil, which God greatly blessed. ‘He had thus won the love of the people.’ ‘All good men were fond of talking with him; all listened to him, and all gave up their property at his bidding.’[[878]] But if any one made him a present, ‘he accepted it only for the purpose of relieving some poor person known to him.’ He had at Brussels his baker, his shoemaker, his tailor, and his apothecary. Of the first he took bread for the hungry; of the second shoes for the barefooted; of the third garments to cover the naked in winter; and of the fourth medicines to cure the sick. The physician he paid out of his own purse.
His principal aim was to become well acquainted with the doctrines of the Gospel. He therefore read the Scriptures diligently, and meditated on them deeply. With so much fervor did he put forth all the energies of his soul in prayer, that ‘oftentimes his friends found him on his knees, praying and in a kind of rapture.’ He was a hard worker. He read all the best books which were written on the doctrine of salvation, but especially the Holy Scriptures; and when he explained the Christian faith, it was with so much eloquence that people exclaimed—‘O pearl of great price! why art thou still buried in darkness, whilst thou oughtest to be kept in the sight and knowledge of all the world, esteemed and prized by every one!‘[[879]]
His Evangelical Zeal.
In 1541, the epidemic raged again. Famine accompanied it. ‘The republic was in great distress, and many poor people were in very great trouble.’ Tielmans sold his goods by auction, and they fetched a large sum. From this time not a day passed but he went into the public institutions in which the plague-stricken were treated. He gave them what they were in want of; and served them with his own hands. He went to the inns where strangers were entertained, and he removed the sick into his own house, nursed and fed them. When they had recovered their health, he gave them the means of pursuing their journey. One day he visited a poor woman who was near her confinement. She had already five children who slept with her every night. He immediately returned to his house, sent her his own bed, the only one which remained in his possession, and slept himself on straw.[[880]]
He was physician not only to the bodies of men, but also to their souls. He came to the bedside of sick persons and taught them to know the Saviour. With great power he said to them—‘Trust not in your own works. The mercy of God alone can save you, and this is to be laid hold of by faith in Christ.[[881]] So vast was the extent of sin that divine justice could be appeased only by the sacrifice of the Son of God. At the same time, the love of God towards man was so unspeakable that He sent his Son into the world, from the hidden place of his abode,[[882]] to cleanse men from sin by his own blood and to make us inheritors of his heavenly kingdom.’ So energetic were the words of Tielmans that many of those ‘who lay upon their death beds attacked by the pestilence, in distress and consternation and a prey to all the horrors which follow in its train, seemed to recover life; and, casting away all pharisaical opinions and all trust in their own deservings, embraced the doctrine of the Saviour, and passed joyfully to their heavenly home.’ Those who escaped the contagion, having been brought by the Word to the knowledge of the truth, were scattered about in the neighboring towns, and sowed there what they had learnt of it; go that by these means ‘religion had been restored in its purity in the whole of Brabant.’ Such was the life of Giles Tielmans. In him faith and works were admirably united. This case is one of the fruits of the Reformation which it is worth while to know.
Persecution had not been slow in causing agitation and terror among the faithful of Louvain. Unfortunately, not all of those who ‘said that they had tasted of the Gospel and had laid hold of the true religion’ were able to persevere. There were several such at Louvain, and especially among those who belonged to the higher classes, who no longer showed any sign of true Christianity, and who, though they did not believe in Romish doctrines, yet gave out that they did, and became thorough hypocrites. They broke off intercourse with those who in their opinion might compromise them. If they had in their households any pious men, they expelled them, bidding them provide for themselves elsewhere. ‘Ah!’ said one of those who were thus turned into the street, ‘I marvel at the thoughtlessness of men. Is there any greater virtue, any ornament of life more excellent than to maintain true religion, with high courage and unconquerable spirit, even to one’s last breath? It gives me great pain to see people, who were not among the worst, lose heart at the first breathing of the storm, and like cowards put off the profession of piety.’
The same blow fell upon Brussels. The parish of La Chapelle had for its parson a fanatical priest named William Guéné, ‘a wicked rake,’ says the chronicler. The incumbent of this benefice was William de Hoowere, bishop in partibus of Phœnicia, suffragan vicar of the bishop of Tournay. But as other offices prevented his giving his personal services in the parish, he had entrusted the administration to Guéné, with the title of vice-pastor. This Guéné, ‘who ought rather to be called a wolf, considering his wicked tricks and his abominable actions,’ was continually making outcries in public, and particularly against the pious Giles Tielmans, a man so rich in good works. He put questions to him in his sermons, ‘swore and called upon heaven and earth to witness that, if this man were not taken out of the way and put to death, the whole country would in a little while be of his opinion.’ Guéné did not confine himself to saying these things in his church; but went to the attorney-general and formally accused ‘this innocent and excellent man.’ Peter du Fief did not wait to be told a second time. He seized Tielmans and put him in prison. Matters did not stop here.[[883]] More than three hundred suspected persons, inhabitants of the towns of Brabant and Flanders, had been pointed out. Their names had been enrolled and their persons were to be seized. Many of them resided at Brussels. There were Henry van Hasselt, Jacob Vrilleman, Jan Droeshout, Gabriel the sculptor, Christian Broyaerts and his wife, a niece of Antoinette van Roesmals, and others, besides ‘a great number of the most respectable people of the city.’ But the tragical scene at Louvain had raised the alarm. Many took flight and remained in concealment in secret places. Some were, however, arrested.
Justus Van Ousberghen.