The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 165

The European Union in Prophecy
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 splendor 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
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