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Daybreak in France
125
which he publicly declared to be “opposed to the Bible,” and he
appealed to the king to act as judge in the controversy.
The monarch, glad of an opportunity of humbling the pride of
these haughty monks, bade the Romanists defend their cause by the
Bible. This weapon would avail them little; torture and the stake
were arms which they better understood how to wield. Now they
saw themselves about to fall into the pit into which they had hoped
to plunge Berquin. They looked about them for some way of escape.
“Just at that time an image of the virgin at the corner of one of the
streets was mutilated.” Crowds flocked to the place, with mourning
and indignation. The king was deeply moved. “These are the fruits
of the doctrines of Berquin,” the monks cried. “All is about to be
overthrown—religion, the laws, the throne itself—by this Lutheran
conspiracy.
The king withdrew from Paris, and the monks were left free to
work their will. Berquin was tried and condemned to die, and lest
Francis should interpose to save him, the sentence was executed
on the very day it was pronounced. At noon an immense throng
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gathered to witness the event, and many saw with astonishment
that the victim had been chosen from the best and bravest of the
noble families of France. Amazement, indignation, scorn, and bitter
hatred darkened the faces of that surging crowd, but upon one face
no shadow rested. The martyr was conscious only of the presence
of his Lord.
Berquin’s countenance was radiant with the light of heaven. He
wore “a cloak of velvet, a doublet of satin and damask, and golden
hose.
He was about to testify to his faith in the presence of the
King of kings, and no token of mourning should belie his joy.
As the procession moved slowly through the crowded streets,
the people marked with wonder the joyous triumph of his bearing.
“He is,” they said, “like one who sits in a temple, and meditates on
holy things.”
4
Idem.
5
D’Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, bk. 2, ch.
16.