§ 108. calvin's struggle. 499
of right and wrong. Under the i)retext of the freedom of the spirit, they advocated the unbridled license of the flesh. Their spiritualism ended in carnal materialism. They taught that there is but one spirit, the Spirit of God, who lives in all creatures, which are nothing without him. " What I or you do," said Quintin, " is done by God, and what God does, we do ; for he is in us." Sin is a mere negation or privation, yea, an idle illusion which disappears as soon as it is known and disregarded. Salvation consists in the deliverance from the phantom of sin. There is no Satan, and no angels, good or bad. They denied the truth of the gospel history. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ have only a symbolical meaning to show us that sin does not exist for us.
The Libertines taught the community of goods and of women, and elevated spiritual marriage above legal marriage, which is merely carnal and not binding. The wife of Ameaux justified her wild licentiousness by the doctrine of the communion of saints, and by the first commandment of God given to man: "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth" (Gen. 1 : 28).
The Libertines rejected the Scriptures as a dead letter, or they resorted to wild allegorical interpretations to suit their fancies. They gave to each of the Apostles a ridiculous nickname.^ Some carried their system to downright atheism and blasphemous anti-Christianity.
They used a peculiar jargon, like the Gypsies, and distorted common words into a mysterious meaning. They were experts in the art of simulation and justified pious fraud by the parables of Christ. They accommodated themselves to Catholics or Protestants according to circumstances, and concealed their real opinions from the uninitiated.
The sect made progress among the higher classes of France,
1 They called St. Matthew, the publican, iisurier (a usurer) ; St. Paul, potcasse(a. broken vessel) ; St. Peter, on account of his denial of Christ, renonceur deDieu; St. 3o\\n, jouvenreau et foUet (a childisli youth), etc.
500 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
where they converted about four thousand persons. Quintin and Pecquet insinuated themselves into the favor of Queen Marguerite of Navarre, who protected and supported them at her little court at Nerac, yet without adopting their opinions and practices.^ She took offence at Calvin's severe attack upon them. He justified his course in a reply of April 28, 1545, which is a fine specimen of courtesy, frankness, and manly dignity. Calvin assured the queen, whose protection he had himself enjoyed while a fugitive from persecution, that he intended no reflection on her honor, or disrespect to her royal majesty, and that he wrote simply in obedience to his duty as a minister. " Even a dog barks if he sees any one assault his master. How could I be silent if God's truth is assailed? 2 ... As for j^our saying that you would not like to have such a servant as myself, I confess that I am not qualified to render you any great service, nor have you need of it. . . . Nevertheless, the disposition is not wanting, and your disdain shall not prevent my being at heart your humble servant. For the rest, those who know me are well aware that I have never studied to enter into the courts of princes, for I was never tempted to court worldly honors.^ For I have good reason to be contented with the service of that good Master, who has accepted me and retained me in the honorable office which I hold, however contemptible in the eyes of the world. I should, indeed, be ungrateful
1 Bonnet, in a note on Calvin's letter to the queen (1.429), says of her: " In the later years of her life [she died in 1549] her piety gradually degenerated into a kind of contemplative mysticism, whose chief characteristic was indifference towards outward forms, uniting the external ordinances of the Roman Church with the inward cherishing of a purer faith." See above, p. 32.3.
* " Un chien abaye, sil voyt quon assaille son maistre; ie serois lien lasc.he, si en voyant la verite de dieu ainsi assail ye, iefaisois du muet sans sonner mot."
* " Au rests, ceulx qui me coqnoissent, savent bien que nay iamais aspire davoir entree aux courtz des princes, dautant que ie nestois pas tente' de parvenir aux estatz" (honorum studio titillatus).