While sitting at the royal table, a few daj'S before his death, Lci'evre was observed to weep, whei-eupon queen Margaret complained of tlie sadness of one whose so- ciety she had sought for her own diversion, and asked the occasion of his sorrow. ' How can I minister to the joy of others, wlio am myself the greatest sinner upon earth?' was Lefevre's mournful and unexpected response. Pressed to explain himself, the old man, af- ter admitting that tlirougli a long life he liad main- tained exemplary morality of conduct, exclaimed in words frequently interrupted \>y sobs : ' How shall I be able to stand at God's tribunal, who have taught others the purity of the Gospel ? Thousands have suf- fered and died in defence of the doctrine in whicli I instructed them ; and I, unfaithful shepherd that I am, after reaching so advanced an age, when I ought to love nothing less than life, or rather to desire death, have basely avoided the martj'r's crown, and betrayed the cause of my God !' The queen and the other per- sons who were present administered such coiiEolation to the pious Lefevre as they could find, and shortly afterwards he died, relying on the forgiveness of his Maker, leaving his library to his disciple, Gerard Eous- sel, and the rest of his scanty property to the poor. The truth of tliis story, which rests upon the authority of Hubert Thomas, counsellor of state and secretary of the elector palatine, has been discredited liy Bayle in his Critical Dictionary, and after him by Tabaraud in the Bingi-aplite Univergelle, and more lately bj' Haag, in his great work on French Protestant Biographj'. All rest their rejection of the stoiy chieflj' upon the entire silence of the Reformers, who might well be ex- pected to notice so suggestive an occurrence, were it indeed authentic. But in tliis instance, as in so many others, it has been proved how unreliable are all such arguments. With singular good fortune, M. Jules Bon- net has recently discovered among the unexplored treasures of the Genevcse public librarj' a minute, in the handwriting of the reformer Farel, wliieh de- monstrates the truth of the circumstances described by Hubert Thomas. He writes : ' Our master, Jacques Lefevre, of Staples, w-hen suftering from the disease by which he died, was for some daj's so greath- ter^ rifled by the judgment of God that he cried out that his fate was sealed, saj-ing that he w as eternallj' lost because he had not openly professed the truth of God. Tliis complaint he continued to utter day and night, AVhcn Gerard Roussel admonished him to be of good courage and trust in Christ, he answered, "I am con- demned ; I have concealed the truth which I ought to have professed and openl}' borne witness to." It was a fearful sight to see so jiious an old man so distressed in mind and so overwhelmed by so great a dread of the judgment of God. At lengtli, however, freed from his fears, he began to entertain a good hope in Christ' (published for tlie first time in the Eidleiin de la Socilte de Vllistoire du Protestantisme Fran^ais, t. ix [18G2], p. 214, 215)." — Baird, in Methodist Quarterly Rentu; lbG4, p. 41. He died at Nerac in 153G (.1537?). A full ac- count of his writings ma}- be found in the Ziitschiift fur histor. Theol. (1852), parts i, ii. See also Graf, Es- sai sur la vie et les tcrits de Leftrre d'Etaples (Strasb. 1842) ; Ilocfer, Novi\ Eiograph. Ginerale, xxx, 334 sq. ; Haag, La France Protestante ; Herzog, Rtal-EmyUop. iv, 310 ; King, Ilandivin-terhuch d. Philos. ii, 2 sq. ; Du- pin, Eccles. History, IGth cent. p. 436.
Faber, Johaini (named Malleus H.eretico- RCM from one of liis books against Protestants), arch- bishop of Vienna, was born at Leutkirch, in Suabia, in 1478, and studied at Freiburg. He eaih' entered the Dominican order. His talents secured liim rapid advancement. In 1519 the bishop of Constance made him his vicar general, and in 152G he was made con- fessor to Ferdinand (afterwards emperor). At first his literar}' associations made him friendly with Erasmus and Qicolampadius, and especially with Zwingle, and he opposed the sale of indulgences in Switzerland
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strenuousl}-. But about 1520 he -went rapidly round to tlie other- extreme of opinion, and in 152"2 appeared his Opus (idccrgns novn qiidd an dogmata M. Lutheri. After this hi; Avas an unwearied opponent of the Eefor- mation in writings, colloquies, conferences, etc. His zeal was rewarded by the bishopric of Vienna, to which he was raised in 1531. He died in 1541. His princi- pal writings are the Malleus Ilcereticorum (1524, and Eoma>, 1569; a revision of the Ojms above named), and sermons and controversial writings collected into 3 vols. fol. (Cologne, 1537-1541). — Diipin. Eccles. Hist. cent, xvi, p. 433: Kettner, Diss, de J. Fahri Vita et Scriptis (Lips. 1735, 4to) ; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. iv, 307; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gemrale^ xvi, 894.
Faber, Johannes, a Dominican monk and po- lemical writer, born at Heilbronn, 1504. His eloquence and learning gained him earh- distinction, and in 1534 he was made cathedral-preacher at Augsburg. He wrote largeh^ against the Reformation. Among his writings are Enchiridion Bibliorum (Augsli. 1549, 4to) : — Fructus quibus dignoscimlur Jmretici (Augsb. 1551, 4to) : — Quod fides essepossit sine charitate (Augsb. 1548, 4to) : — Joel's Prophetie erUdrt : — Testimonium Scriptu- rcE etPatrum, retrum Aposiolum PomcB ficisse, etc. See Echard, Scn2}t. ord. Prced. ii, 161 ; Wetzer und Welte, KircJu')i-Lex. iii, 870.