CHAPTER II.
REFORMATION AND INQUISITION.
SECRET MEETINGS.
Seville and Valladolid were the two principal seats of the awakening. These towns were at this time, properly speaking, the two capitals of Spain. In both of them evangelical Christians used to meet together secretly to worship God in spirit and in truth, and to confirm each other in the faith and in obedience to the commandments of the Lord. There were monasteries nearly all the members of which had received the doctrine of the Gospel. It had, moreover, adherents scattered about in all parts of the Peninsula. Rodrigo de Valerio, the lay reformer of Spain, continued his labors in Seville. He held conversations daily with the priests and the monks. 'Pray how comes it to pass,' he said to them, 'that not only the clergy but the whole Christian community is found to be in so lamentable a condition that there seems to be hardly any hope of a remedy for it? It is you that are the cause of this state of things. The corruption of your order has corrupted every thing. Lose no time in applying an efficient remedy to so vast an evil. Be yourselves transformed that you may be able to transform others.' Valerio supported these eloquent appeals by the declarations of Holy Scripture. The priests were astonished and indignant. 'Whence comes the audacity,' they said, 'with which you assail those who are the very lights and pillars of the Church?[43] How dare a mere layman, an unlettered man, who has been occupied solely in secular affairs and in ruining himself, speak with such insolence?... Who commissioned you, and where is the seal of your calling?' 'Assuredly,' replied Valerio, candidly, 'I did not acquire this wisdom from your corrupt morals; it comes from the Spirit of God, which flows, like rivers of living water, from those who believe in Jesus Christ. As for my boldness, it is given by him who sends me. He is the truth itself which I proclaim. The Spirit of God is not bound to any order, least of all to that of a corrupt clergy. Those men were laymen, plain fishermen, who convicted of blindness the whole learned synagogue, and called the world to the knowledge of salvation.'
JOHN EGIDIUS.
Thus spoke Rodrigo; and he was distressed to see all these priests 'unable to endure the shining light of the Gospel.' One great consolation was given to him. The preacher of Seville cathedral at this time was John Gil, or Egidius, a doctor, born at Olvera, in Aragon, and educated at the university of Alcala. He possessed the qualities of an orator; for he was a man of fine character and of keen sensibility. But these essential qualities, instead of being developed at the university, had lain dormant. The intellectual faculty alone had been cultivated. There was a fire in the man's nature, but it had been quenched by Scholasticism. Egidius had plunged into the study of the theology of the schools, the only science then in vogue in Spain. In this he had distinguished himself, had won the highest academical honors, and had become professor of theology at Siguenza. He was not content with letting the Word of God alone; he openly avowed contempt for the study of it, ridiculed such members of the university as diligently read the sacred books, and with a shrug of the shoulders used to call them 'those good Biblists.' Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Scotus, and other doctors of the same class, were the men for him. His flatterers went so far as to allege that he surpassed them. As the reputation of Egidius was spreading far and wide, when the office of chief canon or preacher of the cathedral of Seville became vacant, the chapter unanimously elected him, and even dispensed with the trial usual in such cases. Egidius, absorbed in his Scholastic books, had never preached in public nor studied the Holy Scriptures. He nevertheless fancied that nothing could be easier to him than preaching, which in his view was an inferior office. He expected even that he should dazzle his hearers by the blaze of Scholasticism, and attract them by its charms. He therefore ascended the pulpit of the cathedral of the capital of Andalusia. A numerous congregation had assembled, and expecting something wonderful were very attentive. The illustrious doctor preached, but after the Scholastic fashion. Having put forward some proposition, he explained its various meanings. The terms which he made use of were those of the schools, and his hearers could hardly understand them. What frivolous distinctions! What profitless questions! The preacher thought it all very fine: his audience felt it to be very tiresome. They gave him, however, a second and a third hearing; but it was always the same—dry and wearisome. The famous theologian was thus the least popular of the preachers, and Egidius saw his congregation lessening day by day. His sermons fell into the greatest contempt among the people. Those who had imprudently called him to the post began to consider how they could get rid of him; and the preacher himself, anxious about his reputation and the usefulness of his ministry, began to look out for a less brilliant position, in which people might make more account of him.[44]
VALERIO AND EGIDIUS.
Rodrigo had gone with the multitude, and was one of those who were dissatisfied with these Scholastic discourses. But he was gifted with the discerning of spirits, and beneath the Scholastic doctor he had been able to recognize the orator and his indisputable abilities. He was grieved to see the gifts of God thus thrown away, and he resolved to speak frankly to Egidius. 'Divine Providence,' says the chronicler, 'impelled him to this course.' Having made request, therefore, for an interview with the canon, Valerio, received by him with some feeling of surprise, but still with kindliness, began at once to speak to him about the function of the Christian orator.[45] This function, in his view, was not to set forth certain theses and anti-theses, but to address the consciences of men, to present Christ to them as the author of eternal salvation, and to press them to throw themselves into the arms of this Saviour, that through him they might become new creatures. 'You are in need of other studies,' he said to the schoolman, 'other books, and other guides than those which you have chosen.' Egidius was at first astounded; his pride rebelled. 'What audacity!' he thought; 'this man sprung from the common people, ignorant and of feeble understanding, dares to criticise me, and confidently to teach me, a man with whom he is hardly acquainted!'[46] Nevertheless, the natural kindliness of Egidius, and the reflection that Rodrigo was speaking of the art of preaching, in which he had miserably failed, repressed this first emotion. He kept his self-possession and listened attentively to the layman. Rodrigo frankly pointed out to him the defects of his manner of preaching, and exhorted him to search the Scriptures. 'You will never succeed,' he said, 'in becoming really powerful as a teacher unless you study the Bible day and night.'[47] He told him that in order to preach salvation he must first have found it himself, and that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth must speak. A few hours sufficed for the enlightenment of Egidius; and from this time he became a new man.[48] How many years had he lost, both as student and as professor! 'I perceive,' said he, 'that all the studies and all the labors of my past life have been vain. I now enter upon the new path of a wisdom of which I did not know the A B C.' The weariness and dejection of Egidius were now over, and he felt great peace and joy. He saw God opening to him the treasury of his love. 'The heavens were beginning to be serene and the earth peaceful.' Egidius was naturally very open-hearted, frank, and sincere. The Gospel, the great revelation of God's love, had for him an unspeakable charm. He received it joyfully, and his heart resounded with a new song. He studied the Holy Scriptures, prayed, meditated, and read good authors; and thus made progress in the knowledge of true theology.