ortation to the epistle or gospel, or both, at
his discretion."

There did, indeed, seem to be amply sufficient ground for the
"exultation" expressed by the worthy Picard at the rapid progress of the
Reformation throughout Europe and the flattering prospects offered in
France itself.[156] Everything seemed for a time to promise success at
Meaux. Bishop Briconnet received with delight the advice of the Swiss
and German reformers. The letters of Oecolampadius, from Basle, in
particular so deeply impressed him, that he commissioned Gerard Roussel
to read in the French language and explain the meaning of the Pauline
Epistles every morning to a promiscuous gathering of persons of both
sexes, and chose out the most evangelical preachers to perform similar
duty in all the more important places in his diocese.[157]

[Sidenote: Enmity of the Franciscans.]

[Sidenote: Weakness of Bishop Briconnet.]

But the bishop had excited the active enmity of a resolute and
suspicious foe. In forbidding the Franciscan monks entrance to any
pulpit within his jurisdiction, he had, even before the advent of
Lefevre and the reformed teachers, incurred their violent
animosity.[158] The new movement, while arousing their indignation, gave
them the opportunity they coveted for invoking the power of the
university and of parliament. At first the bishop was bold enough to
denounce the doctors of the Sorbonne as Pharisees and false
prophets,[159] while in his private correspondence he stigmatized the
clergy as "the estate _by the coldness of which all the others are
frozen_,"[160] or even as "_that which is the ruin of all the
rest_."[161] But, frightened by the incessant clamor and attacks of his
enemies, he began gradually to waver, and presently lost all courage. In
the end he yielded so far as to suffer to be published in his name
official documents which were intended to overturn from the foundation
the very fabric he had been striving to rear. In one of these, a
"Synodal Decree" addressed to the faithful of his diocese, the bishop
was made to condemn the books of Martin Luther, and to denounce Luther
himself as one who was plotting the overthrow of "the estate which
_keeps all the rest in the path of duty_."[162] Quite another
description of the clergy this from either of the descriptions which he
gave to Margaret of Angouleme! The other document was a letter to the
clergy of his diocese, warning them against certain preachers "brought
in by