r of philosophy in the college of the Cardinal Le Moine.
This advantageous position he resigned, in order that he might be able
to second the labors of Lefevre in the new field which Bishop Briconnet
had thrown open to him. Other pupils or friends of the Picard doctor
followed--Michel d'Arande, Gerard Roussel, and others, all more or less
thoroughly imbued with the same sentiments.

[Sidenote: The king's mother and sister encourage the preaching of the
reformers.]

A new era had now dawned upon the neglected diocese of Meaux. Bishop
Briconnet was fully possessed by his new-born zeal. The king's mother
and his only sister had honored him with a visit not long after
Lefevre's arrival,[142] and had left him confident that in his projected
reforms, and especially in the introduction of the preaching of the Word
of God, he might count upon their powerful support. "I assure you,"
Margaret of Angouleme wrote him a month later, "that the king and madame
are entirely decided to let it be understood that the truth of God is
not heresy."[143] And a few weeks later the same princely correspondent
declared that her mother and brother were "more intent than ever upon
the reformation of the church."[144] With such flattering prospects the
reformation opened at Meaux.

[Sidenote: Immediate results.]

From the year 1521, when the ardent friends of religious progress made
their appearance in the city, the pulpits, rarely entered by the curates
or by the mendicant monks unless to demand a fresh contribution of
money, were filled with zealous preachers. The latter expounded the
Gospel, in place of rehearsing the stories of the "Golden Legend;" and
the people, at first attracted by the novelty of the sound, were soon
enamored of the doctrines proclaimed. These doctrines stood, indeed, in
signal opposition to those of the Roman church. By slow but sure steps
the advocates of the Reformation had come to assume a position scarcely
less unequivocal than that of Luther in Germany. In 1514, two years
after the publication of the commentary in which he had clearly
enunciated the Protestant doctrine on one cardinal point, Lefevre would
seem still to have been unsurpassed in his devotion to pictures and
images.[145] Two years later he was regarded by Luther as strangely
deficient in a clear apprehension of spiritual truths which,
nevertheless, he fully exemplified in a life of singular spirituality
and sincerity.[146] And it was not until 1519 t