many others , providentially guided to the Bible , he was amazed to find there , " not the doctrines of Rome , but the doctrines of Luther ." --Wylie , b . 13 , ch . 9 . Henceforth he gave himself with entire devotion to the cause of the gospel .
" The most learned of the nobles of France ," his genius and eloquence , his indomitable courage and heroic zeal , and his influence at court , --for he was a favourite with the king , -- caused him to be regarded by many as one destined to be the Reformer of his country . Said Beza : " Berquin would have been a second Luther , had he found in Francis I a second elector ." " He is worse than Luther ," cried the papists . -- Ibid ., b . 13 , ch . 9 . More dreaded he was indeed by the Romanists of France . They thrust him into prison as a heretic , but he was set at liberty by the king . For years the struggle continued . Francis , wavering between Rome and the Reformation , alternately tolerated and restrained the fierce zeal of the monks . Berquin was three times imprisoned by the papal authorities , only to be released by the monarch , who , in admiration of his genius and his nobility of character , refused to sacrifice him to the malice of the hierarchy .
Berquin was repeatedly warned of the danger that threatened him in France , and urged to follow the steps of those who had found safety in voluntary exile . The timid and time-serving Erasmus , who with all the splendour of his scholarship failed of that moral greatness which holds life and honour subservient to truth , wrote to Berquin : " Ask to be sent as ambassador to some foreign country ; go and travel in Germany . You know Beda and such as he--he is a thousand-headed monster , darting venom on every side . Your enemies are named legion . Were your cause better than that of Jesus Christ , they will not let you go till they have miserably destroyed you . Do not trust too much to the king ' s protection . At all events , do not compromise me with the faculty of theology ." -- Ibid ., b . 13 , ch . 9 .
But as dangers thickened , Berquin ' s zeal only waxed the stronger . So far from adopting the politic and self-serving counsel of Erasmus , he determined upon still bolder measures . He would not only stand in defense of the truth , but he would attack error . The charge of heresy which the Romanists were seeking to fasten upon him , he would rivet upon them . The most active and bitter of his opponents were the learned doctors and monks of the theological department in the great University of Paris , one of the highest ecclesiastical authorities both in the city and the nation . From the writings of these doctors , Berquin drew twelve propositions which he publicly declared to be " opposed to the Bible , and heretical ;" and he appealed to the king to act as judge in the controversy .
The monarch , not loath to bring into contrast the power and acuteness of the opposing champions , and glad of an opportunity of humbling the pride of these haughty monks , bade the Romanists defend their cause by the Bible . This weapon , they well knew , would avail them little ; imprisonment , torture , and the stake were arms which they better understood how to wield . Now
130