Letters of John Calvin, Volume I / Compiled from the Original Manuscripts and Edited with Historical Notes

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Migraturus ad Deum Johannes Calvinus, quum de commodis EcclesiÆ ne tunc quidem cogitare desincret, sua mihi ?e????a, id est Schedarum ingentem acervum commendavit ut si quid in iis invenissem quo juvari possent EcclesiÆ, id quoque in lucem ederetur."—Th. de BÈze to the Elector Palatine, 1st February 1575. This letter is printed as a Preface to Calvin's Latin Correspondence.

[2] "Multa quippe familiaritor inter amicos dici scribique consueverunt, prÆsertim ab ingenui spiritus hominibus, qualis fuit Calvinus si quisquam nostris temporibus alius, quÆ minime expediat emanare. Et habenda quoque nobis fuit non modo personarum, verum etiam temporum et locorum ratio."—Letter already cited.

[3] "Ad eam rem unius prÆcipue Caroli JonvillÆi istarum rerum custodis fidem, diligentiam, operam denique nobis appositissimam fuisse profitemur."—Advertisement of BÈze to the reader.

[4] It is the collection intitled:—Calvini EpistolÆ et Responsa quibus interjectÆ sunt insignium in Ecclesia Dei virorun aliquot etiam EpistolÆ, first published at Geneva, in 1575, reprinted in the following year at Lausanne, and inserted with some additions in the collection of Calvin's Works, Calvini Opera, tom. ix., edit. d'Amsterdam, 1671. This latter edition, one of the sources of the work which we now present to the public, comprises about 420 letters or memoirs, of which 284 are letters of the Reformer.

[5] Das Leben Calvins, 3 vols. in 8vo. Hambourg, 1835-1842.

[6] Johannis Calvini, BezÆ, aliorumque litterÆ quÆdam nondum editÆ, 1 vol. in 8vo. Leipsic, 1835. Published on the occasion of the Reformation Jubilee at Geneva.

[7] Histoire de la RÉformation en Suisse, 7 vols. in 8vo. Lausanne, 1838.

[8] Petite Chronique Protestante de France, XVI^e SiÈcle; 1 vol. in 8vo. Paris, 1846.

[9] We give here entire the striking passage, of which a fac-simile will be found at the commencement of this volume.—"Or au pseaulme prÉsent il est parlÉ de la noblesse et dignitÉ de l'Eglise, laquelle doit tellement ravir À soy et grans et petits que tous les biens et honueurs de la terre ne les retiennent, ny empeschent qu'ils ne prÉtendent À ce but d'estre enrollÉz au peuple de Dieu. C'est grand chose d'estre Roy, mesme d'un tel paÏs; toutefois je ne doubte pas que vous n'estimiez sans comparaison mieux d'estre Chrestien. C'est doncq un privilÈge inestimable que Dieu vous a faict, Sire, que vous soiez Roy ChrÉstien, voire que vous luy serviez de lieutenant pour ordonner et maintenir le Royaulme de JÉsus Christ en Angleterre."

[10] It is only necessary to quote the names of the two illustrious French historians, M. Guizot and M. Miguet, who in their writings have rendered a respectful homage to the religious and moral influence of the Reformation. A distinguished writer, M. Charles de RÉmusat, has lately published, under the title of "De la RÉforme et du Protestantisme," an eloquent paper, which might well inaugurate a new era of justice and impartiality in historical writing.

[11] We need only name "L'Histoire de Calvin," by M. Audin, in itself entirely devoid of truthfulness, and the fruitful source of calumnious and lying pamphlets against the memory of the Reformer.

[12] Mr. Constable translated only the first two volumes, which were published in Edinburgh.—Editor of the Board.

[13] This letter is the earliest in the series of Calvin's correspondence. Born at Noyon the 10th of July 1509, educated in the belles lettres at Paris,—in 1527 he went to study law at the University of Orleans, which he left soon afterwards, in order to avail himself of the lectures of the celebrated Alciat at Bourges. In the first mentioned of these towns, he had for fellow-students and friends, several young men who were distinguished not less by their piety than by information and accomplishment. Nicolas Duchemin was of this number, to whom, at a later period, (1536,) he dedicated a letter, entitled "De fugiendis impiorum illicitis sacris et puritate ChristianÆ Religionis." That letter was translated into English, (London, 1548, in 8vo.) The original is inserted in the Latin Edition of Calvin's Works, (Amsterdam, 1671,) in the eighth volume. Also in the "Recueil des Opuscules," Edition of 1566.

[14] Gerard Chauvin, or Cauvin, father of the Reformer, a man of strict morals, of good understanding and judgment, which we have on the testimony of ThÉod. de BÈze, Calvini Vita. Originally of Pont l'EvÊque, he had been promoted, by his ability, to the office of notary apostolic, secretary to the bishopric, and promoteur of the Chapter at Noyon. Le Vasseur, "Annales de l' Eglise CathÉdrale de Noyon," chap. x. p. 1151.

[15] It seems uncertain whether Gerard Chauvin died this year. The letters of Calvin, so far as yet appears, contain no other allusion to that event, which must have exercised a desirable influence on his life, in drawing him away from the study of law to that of theology, in which direction all his own tendencies drew him. See ThÉod. de BÈze, Vita Calvini.

[16] Philippe Laurent, librarian of the library at Orleans.

[17] Francis Daniel, advocate of Orleans, the fellow-student and friend of Calvin at the university of that town. ("Quant À OrlÉans, dit Th. de BÈze, il y avoit bien desjÀ quelques personnages, aians connoissance de la vÉritÉ, comme entr' autres FranÇois Daniel, advocat, et Nicolas Duchemin, tenant escholiers en pension."—Hist. Eccl. i. 9.) From several letters of the Reformer it appears, (1559-1560,) that while fully acknowledging the necessity of a reformation of the Church, Francis Daniel remained inwardly attached to Rome. His two sons, Francis and Peter Daniel, distinguished themselves in the study of law and literature.

[18] Nicolas Cop, the physician, professor in the College of Sainte Barbe, and friend of Calvin. In 1533 he became rector of the University of Paris.

[19] Pseudonyme, adopted by some unknown friend of Calvin.

[20] P. Danesius. P. DanÈs, the scholar of Lascaris and of BudÉ, the learned Professor of Greek at the University of Paris.

[21] Melchior Wolmar, who was Calvin's master at the University of Bourges, and the preceptor of Theodore Beza; called by the Duke of Wurtemberg to the Professorship of Law in the University of TÜbingen; he died in retirement at Eisenach in 1561. Calvin dedicated to him, August 1, 1546, his Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

[22] That is to say, Paris.

[23] In the Latin, Petrus ad Vincula.

[24] This is the book entitled, L. AnnÆi SenecÆ Libri ii., de Clementia, ad Neronem CÆsarem, Commentariis Illustrati. Paris, 1532, in 4to. Calvin had dedicated this work to his old fellow-student, Claude de Hangest, of the illustrious family of Mommor, now become Abbot of St. Eloy at Noyon. The Epistle Dedicatory is dated from Paris the 4th April 1532.

[25] This letter is addressed to Dr. Bucer, Bishop of Strasbourg. Martin Bucer, a very distinguished minister and theologian, was born at Schelestadt in 1491, and was initiated by Luther himself in the doctrines of the Reformed, which he introduced at Strasbourg, in concert with Mathias Zell and Hedion. Of a moderate and conciliating turn, he interposed continually between the Reformers of Germany and of Switzerland, and made sundry efforts to induce them to adopt a common symbol. "His learned writings and commentaries, his disputations and conferences on unforeseen occasions, his goings out and comings in for the sake of the Church's peace, will always make known his remarkable erudition, great piety and zeal, joined to an excellent disposition."—Th. BezÆ Icones, GenÈve, 1580. Compelled with several friends to leave Strasbourg in 1549, on the advance of the imperial army, he sought an asylum in England, and obtained a chair in the University of Cambridge. He died there in 1551, and was interred with extraordinary pomp. His body was disinterred under the reign of Mary, and publicly burnt at the stake. In the reign of Elizabeth his memory was honourably restored.

[26] Addressed—To Monsieur my brother and good friend, Monsieur Daniel, Advocate at Orleans.

[27] Letter without date of the month. Written, doubtless, in October 1533. On the testimony of Th. Beza, we know that Calvin dwelt at this period in the College of Forteret at Paris. Histoire EcclÉsiastique, edit. de 1580, tom. i. p. 14; the same author, in Vita Calvini. Already he preached the Reformed doctrine with much skill and success. Implicated in the month of November following, along with his friend Nicolas Cop, the Rector of the University of Paris, he had to leave the capital in order to escape the pursuit of which he was the object, and secretly repaired to AngoulÊme.

[28] Margaret of Valois, sister of Francis I., Queen of Navarre, one of the most distinguished women of her age, both by the generosity of her character and the graces of her understanding. Inclined by the bent of her mind towards reform, by the devout breathings of her soul, of which we find the expression in her poetry and in her letters, she made use of her influence with her brother, the French monarch, to abate the persecution directed against the disciples of the Evangel, and her generous conduct more than once aroused the fury of the Sorbonne against her. Calvin, exiled from France, had recourse on more than one occasion to the influence of this Princess, and addressed very free exhortations to her. See, in this collection, the letter of Calvin to the Queen of Navarre, of the 28th April, 1545.

[29] MegÆra. This MegÈre was an allusion to Gerard Roussel, preacher to the Queen of Navarre, one of the most zealous missionaries of the Reformation at Paris. (MegÆra—Mag. Gerardus.) This information we have from the celebrated John Sturm, in a letter to Bucer, which shews that the introduction of MegÆra was a play upon the name: "Nuper in Gymnasio Navarrico novus quidam ... p???t?? Reginam introduxit, quÆ se in disciplinam diaboli traderet, una cum sacrifico quem Megeram appellant, alludens ad nomen Magistri Gerardi."—Letter of Nov. 1533, printed in Strobel, Histoire du Gymnase de Strasbourg, p. 109.

[30] This Lauret is designated, in the letter of Sturm above cited, as a man of great erudition and of much influence, "homo potens et rex sapientum."

[31] The Mirror of a Sinful Soul: a mystical poem, wherein the Queen of Navarre acknowledges no other Mediator than Jesus Christ, and no other righteousness than his expiatory death. This book, which first appeared in print at AlenÇon in 1531, reprinted in 1533 at Paris, forms part of the poetical collection published under the title, "Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses, trÈs illustre Reyne de Navarre." Lyon. 1547. 2 vols. in 8vo.

[32] Louise of Savoy, regent of France during the captivity of Francis I. at Madrid. She died in 1531. After having favoured for a time the doctrines of the Reformers, this cunning and cruel princess gave the signal for the most ruthless persecution of the preachers of the Gospel.

[33] William Parvi, Bishop of Senlis and confessor of the king. He had translated into French the Livre d' Heures of Margaret of Valois, suppressing at the same time from the book a great number of pieces addressed to the Virgin and to the saints.

[34] Without date. After an attentive examination of this letter we believe it to refer to the first months of the year 1534, while Calvin resided with his friend Louis du Tillet at AngoulÊme. It is known that the young Reformer, while he was obliged to retire from Paris, after the discourse of his friend Nicolas Cop, (November 1533,) found an asylum in the house of Du Tillet, and spent several months at AngoulÊme in solitude and retirement. It is from that town, designated under the Greek name of Doxopolis, that he wrote to his friend Francis Daniel, in praise of the kindness of his host (Louis du Tillet) and of the peaceful retreat which Providence had prepared for him.

[35] Christopher Libertet or Fabri, of Vienne in Dauphiny, a worthy minister of the Church of Neuchatel. At an early period he entered into friendly relations with Calvin, was in 1536 pastor of the congregation at Thonon, took part the same year in the disputation at Lausanne, and was recalled in 1546 by the Church of Neuchatel, which he served until the time of his death, in 1563, with equal wisdom and faithfulness.

[36] Without year. This letter, written before the publication of the Bible of Robert Olivetan, refers evidently to the year 1534. Under the necessity of leaving France in order to escape persecution, Calvin had retired to Basle, where, in the year following, he composed his book, "De l'Institution ChrÉtienne."

[37] Peter Robert Olivetan, related to Calvin, and translator of the Bible into the French language. Banished from Geneva in 1533, he had retired to Neuchatel, where he published successively (1534-1535) his translation of the New and of the Old Testament. This work, undertaken at the request of the Vaudois of Piedmont, had been revised by Calvin.

[38] This is the treatise which is entitled, "Psychopannychia, qua refellitur eorum error qui animas post mortem usque ad ultimum judicium dormire putant."—Paris, 1534, 8vo. This treatise, translated into French by Calvin himself, has been inserted, with a preface of the author, "À un sien amy," in the "Recueil des Opuscules," p. 1.

[39] A pseudonyme which Calvin sometimes made use of in his Latin correspondence.

[40] This is the first letter of the Reformer after his settlement at Geneva. Having left his retreat of Basle in the end of the year 1535, he had made a rapid tour in the north of Italy, and revisited France, which he had left in the month of July on his return to Switzerland. Not being able, without danger, to traverse Champagne and Lorraine, he went back to Basle by the way of Geneva, (August 1536,) when he was detained in that town by the entreaties of Farel. Afterwards he accepted the office of Professor of Theology, and attended the disputation of Lausanne on the 1st of October, which was followed by the establishment of the Reformation in the Pays de Vaud, conquered by the Seigneury of Berne from the Duke of Savoy.

[41] Calvin had left Noyon accompanied by his brother Antony and his sister Mary, who went to settle at Basle. BÈze, Calvini Vita.

[42] The book here referred to is no other than the Institution ChrÉtienne, first published in Latin, (Basle, 1536, in 8vo.) Calvin thought of giving a translation of that work. The first known edition of the Institution ChrÉtienne in French bears date 1540.

[43] The disputation of Lausanne, in which Farel, Viret, and Calvin took part began the 2d October, and lasted seven days. The narrative of what took place may be found in Ruchat, Histoire de la RÉformation en Suisse, edit. 1836, vol. iv. pp. 161-163.

[44] Edict of July 16, 1536. Ruchat, Histoire de la RÉformation, vol. iv.; PiÈces Justificatives, No. II.

[45] Gaspar Grossmann, (Megander,) from Zurich, minister of the Church of Berne. In 1537 he presided in the Synod of Lausanne, where the errors of Caroli were condemned, and in the following year became pastor of the Church at Zurich.

[46] Letter without date, written evidently a little before the meeting of the Synod of Lausanne, which took place about the middle of the month of May 1537.—Ruchat, Histoire de la RÉformation en Suisse, tom. v. p. 24-40.

[47] Peter Caroli, of Rosay in Brie, doctor of the Sorbonne, known by his disputes with Farel and with Calvin. His unsettled disposition, as well as interested motives, led him towards the work of the Reformers; he sought the friendship of Le Fevre of Etaples, at Paris, and in 1534, went to Geneva, where the license of his manners drew upon him the censures of Farel and also of Viret, against both of whom he vowed thenceforward an irreconcilable hatred. Called afterwards as minister to Neuchatel and to Lausanne, he attacked the doctrines of the Reformers, maintained the necessity of prayers for the dead, and saw his doctrine condemned in the Synod of Lausanne. (May 1537.) Banished by the Senate of Berne, he retired to France, went back to the Church of Rome, and died miserably in that city, after an agitated and wandering career.

[48] Is this Maurus MusÆus, a French gentleman, who was converted to the Gospel, the friend of Bucer and of Œcolampadius? We are here left to loose conjecture in the absence of positive testimony.

[49] Such is the address: To my very dear brother, Viret, Minister of the Church of Lausanne.—The minister, Peter Viret, one of the three great Reformers of French Switzerland. Born at Orbe in 1511, he completed his education at the University of Paris, and from the time of his return to his own country, devoted himself to the preaching of the reformed doctrine, which he spread at Orbe, at Payerne, and at Granson. Gifted naturally with persuasive genius and eloquence, he was sent by Farel to Geneva in 1534, and there held a public disputation against the Dominican Furbiti. He contributed powerfully to the establishment of the Reformation in that city. Named two years after (1537) Pastor of the Church of Lausanne, he served that charge until 1538, the period of his destitution by the Senate of Berne, and of his retirement to Geneva with the more illustrious members of the Vaudois clergy. Compelled by his weak state of health to leave Switzerland, he removed in 1561 to the South of France, wrought in the work of the ministry in the churches of NÎmes, of Lyons, of Orange, and died in 1571, either at Orthes or Pau. The numerous writings of Viret mentioned by Senebier, Hist. Litt. de GenÈve, tom. i. pp. 156-159, prove him to have been an original writer, though rather diffuse, and ingenious and eloquent as a moralist.

[50] Antony Froment, originally from Dauphiny, one of the earlier missionaries of the Reformation at Geneva. He was nominated pastor of the Parish of Saint Gervais in 1537; at a later period he resigned the ministry, was attached as secretary to Bonnivard in the work of drawing up the Chronicles of that town and city, and died, leaving behind some curious memoirs on the history of the religious revolution of which he had been one of the instruments at Geneva. Senebier, Hist. Litt. de GenÈve, tom. i. pp. 93 and 150. These memoirs were published in 1855 at Geneva. 1 vol. 4to., by M. Gustave Revilliod.

[51] Louis du Tillet, senior curate of Claix in Poitou, and fellow-student of Calvin, then in retirement at Geneva, under the name of Mr. de Hautmont. In the year following he returned to France. See, in this Collection, three Letters of Calvin to Louis du Tillet, (1538.)

[52] Antoine Saunier, regent of the College of Geneva.

[53] Simon GrynÉe, a learned theologian and professor of the belles lettres, the friend of Erasmus and of Melanchthon, rector of the Academy of Basle. His intercourse with Calvin dates from the epoch of the first visit of the Reformer to that town, (1535, 1536.) They became more intimate when Calvin, banished from Geneva, returned anew to seek an asylum at Basle, and was hospitably entertained in the house of GrynÉe, to whom he dedicated, in testimony of his remembrance, his Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, (18th October 1539.) Two years afterwards, Simon GrynÉe died of the plague. His nephew, James GrynÉe, discharged the office of Dean of the Church of Basle, and was the correspondent and friend of ThÉodor de BÈze.

The calumnious accusations directed by Caroli against the doctrine of Farel and of Calvin having spread at Basle, the latter considered it his duty, in a letter to GrynÉe, to expose the whole history of the controversy with Caroli, in order to oppose the entire calumny. See the two letters of GrynÉe to Calvin.—Simonis GrynÆi EpistolÆ. Edit. de Streuber. Basle, 1847, pp. 50-53.

[54] See Note 3, p. 47.

[55] In 1536. No copy of this first edition of the Catechism of Calvin is known, nor of the second, which was published two years later at Basle, (1538.) The earliest known edition is that of (1541) at Strasbourg.

[56] That meeting had ended on the 13th May.—See Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf., tom. v. p. 24.

[57] These two deputies were Rudolph de Graffenried, Banderet, and Nicolas Zerkinden, Secretary of State.

[58] One of these ministers was Gaspar Grossmann, (Megander.) See Letter XIII. p. 47. He had been charged by the seigneury of Berne to draw up the oath which was to be taken by the ministers, and the order of procedure to be followed in the Synod.

[59] On the authority of Ruchat, it appears that Caroli did not wait for the decision of the Lords of Berne, and that he withdrew himself into voluntary exile from the condemnation with which he was threatened. The act of his desertion was given to Farel and to Calvin, the 29th of June 1537. (MSS. de Grossmann. Archives de Berne.) We shall meet him again in the following letters of the Reformer.

[60] See that Confession, (Calv. Epist. et Responsa,) p. 227.

[61] William du Bellay, Seigneur of Langey, one of the cleverest diplomatists under the reign of Francis the First. Born in 1491, he died the 9th January 1543. William du Bellay and his brother John, the Bishop of Paris, had shown themselves favourable to the first ideas of Reformation, and had consulted with the King for the purpose of calling Melanchthon into France, there to put in train the work of religious pacification.—BÈze, Hist. Eccl. tom. i. p. 10; Florimond de Remond, Histoire de la Naissance et du ProgrÈs de l' HÉrÉsie, liv. vii. p. 817. The last mentioned author has given the letters which passed on this occasion between Melanchthon and Francis I. The French Protestants formed great expectations from Du Bellay. In these terms Bucer wrote to the physician Ulrich Chelius, 17th Aug. 1534: "Dominus excitet multos isti heroi similes, et spes erit forte ut emergat aliquando regnum Christi."—Sturm, on his part, wrote to Bucer, 17th Nov. 1535; "Si LangÆus isthuc veniat, obsecro, habe eum in numero eorum qui quidvis pati volunt pro Christo."—MSS. de Strasbourg.

[62] Louis du Tillet, curÉ of Claix in Poitou, canon and archdeacon of AngoulÊme. He was the brother of John du Tillet, the celebrated registrar of the Parliament of Paris, and of that other Du Tillet who became Bishop of Sainte-Brieuc and of Meaux. Having devoted himself to an ecclesiastical career, his first leanings inclined him towards the Reformed. With Calvin he became acquainted at the University of Paris, formed a friendship with him, shared his perils, and received him in 1534 at AngoulÊme in his own house. United thenceforth to the young Reformer by a like faith, he resigned his curacy of Claix to follow him, under the name of Hautmont, to Strasbourg, to Basle, and into Italy. In August 1536 he was at Geneva, when Calvin was there retained by the earnest entreaties of Farel. But the struggles to which the Reformer was thenceforward condemned, were little suited to the mild and contemplative disposition of Louis du Tillet. A prey to indecision, he secretly left Geneva and went to Strasbourg, where his anxieties were only put an end to by his return to the Roman Catholic faith. He wrote to Calvin to inform him of this change, and to submit to him his scruples regarding the lawfulness of the ministry in the Reformed Churches. Calvin replied; and that controversy, free, sincere, but tempered by respect, marked the later relations between these two men, at first united and too soon separated by the religious revolution of the sixteenth century.

[63] Ville Affranchie (GenÈve.)

[64] John du Tillet, brother of Louis, raised at a later period to the honours of the Episcopate. Accomplished in the knowledge of the ancient languages and in sacred archÆology, he was charged with various scientific missions by Francis I., and in the course of his travels had visited Geneva.

[65] Bucer and Capito, the Reformers of Strasbourg.

[66] In the French original: Les sacs mouillÉs dont nous avons coutume de nous couvrir devant les hommes.

[67] The opposition which the establishment of the ecclesiastical discipline drawn up by Farel and Calvin met with at Geneva, became every day more intense and lively. The newly-elected Syndics made common cause with the malcontents, and already gave signs of the forthcoming crisis which was to lead the way to the triumph of the party of the Libertins and the banishment of the Ministers.—Spon, Histoire de GenÈve, edit. 1730, tom. i. p. 276.

[68] Charles d'Espeville. Pseudonyme adopted by Calvin during his residence at AngoulÊme, and his journey in Italy, (1534-1536.)

[69] Henry Bullinger, born July 18, 1504, at Bremgarten, minister of that parish in 1529, was a friend of the Reformer Zuingli and his successor at Zurich, after the fatal battle of Cappel, 1531. He discharged the ministry of that church with wisdom and prudence for more than forty years, kept up a regular correspondence with the Reformers abroad, was on friendly terms with Melanchthon, Cranmer, Calvin, ThÉodor de BÈze. In 1566 he drew up the Swiss Confession of Faith, and in the way of advice, exercised a decisive influence over the progress of the Reformation in the different countries of Europe. He died at Zurich, September 17, 1575. His decease was deplored by the churches of Switzerland as that of a father, and ThÉodor de BÈze consecrated some verses to his memory.

"Doctrina si interire, si pietas mori, Occidere si candor potest; Doctrina, pietas, candor, hoc tumulo jacent, Ilenrice, tecum condita.".... (Icones Virorum Illustrium.)

Bullinger left some precious works; among others a Chronicle which he wrote in German, Commentaries and Theological Treatises, some of them on important and remarkable questions, and a vast Correspondence, preserved more especially at Zurich and at Geneva.

[70] Bucer and Capito were at this time engaged in very active negotiations to bring about a union between the Reformed Churches of Switzerland and those of Germany. Luther did not oppose himself to this accommodation, and had written, Dec. 1, 1537, to the Reformed districts of Switzerland, a letter full of the spirit of tolerance and conciliation, in which we remark the following passage:—"They can easily advise with Bucer also and Capito on all these matters, provided we can lay aside all that is offensive, and in like-minded agreement give room for the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, that we may go forward in pious and brotherly concord. Assuredly, in so far as we are concerned, and especially as regards myself, casting aside whatever may be occasion of offence, I shall embrace you in faith, good will, and with love."—Hospinian Historia Saeramentaria, tom. ii. p. 276. In another letter to Capito of the same year, 6th Dec. 1537, he thus expresses himself:—"I write these things that you may know that our heart is upright and sincere in the hope of agreement; may the Lord himself complete the work. Amen."—D. M. Luther's Briefe, edit. De Wette, tom. v. p. 70.

In a letter to Bullinger, written 4th March 1538, at length he renders an evidently deep-felt homage to the memory of Zuingli and Œcolampadius. "I can freely declare that, after having seen and heard Zuingli at Marbourg, I have considered and esteemed him as a most excellent man, as also Œcolampadius; so that their calamity has well-nigh disheartened me," &c. These sentiments of true generosity seemed almost to open up an era of reconciliation and of peace between the Churches.

[71] Important events had fallen out at Geneva. Expelled from that town (23d April 1538) for having refused to administer the communion on Easter day, Calvin and Farel had gone to Berne.—(Spon, Hist. de GenÈve, tom. i. p. 276.) The deputies of the Reformed Swiss cantons were met at Zurich to treat about the union with the Lutheran Church. The two ministers appeared before that assembly and gave account of their conduct at Geneva. Without intimating any opinion on the matter at issue, "The Lords deputies resolved to write in friendly terms to the Genevese, to induce them to support their pastors in the work of re-establishing and putting their churches on a better footing. They also charged the Bernese to support that letter by a deputation."—(Ruchat, Histoire de la RÉformation en Suisse, tom. v. p. 84.) But this double intervention proved ineffectual. The banishment of the ministers was confirmed, May 26th, by the assembly.

[72] Peter Konzen, minister of Berne, deputy to the Synod of Zurich. In that assembly he manifested the most hostile sentiments toward Farel and Calvin, whose conduct at Geneva he disapproved.

[73] In order to testify the conciliatory spirit which animated them, Calvin and Farel accompanied, within a short distance from Geneva, the deputation which had been charged to entreat their return. But their solicitations having been rejected, they determined to proceed to Basle, where they arrived after a most fatiguing and even perilous journey. See following letter.

[74] John Oporin, Director of the Academy of Basle, one of the most celebrated printers of that town.

[75] The conclusion of this letter is addressed to the minister Courault, the colleague of Calvin, expelled along with him from Geneva. He lived in retirement with Christopher Fabri at Thonon, whence he was called as minister by the Church of Orbe.

[76] The first letter of Calvin to du Tillet (Letter xvii. p. 60) did not remain unanswered:—"If my retreat in this country has caused you great annoyance, as I have understood by your letter of the last of January, I myself have not thought the less of it, considering the interruption of our accustomed converse and familiarity ... could not produce in you so much disquietude. But what could I have done, if, having been there two years or thereby, my conscience could never be at peace on this account, that without a clear call I had retired from a charge which I ought not to have relinquished without the command of God, whereby I have been put into a state of languor, such as you have seen, and by reason of the great unceasing depression of mind which has taken possession of my spirit, I have for this some time past been useless for everything?"—Paris MSS. This letter, written from Paris, (10th March,) did not reach Calvin at all; it was during a sojourn to Strasbourg that the Reformer, driven from Geneva, (23d April 1538,) had retired to Basle, and imparted to his old friend the events which condemned him to a new exile.

[77] See Note, p. 60.

[78] Bucer and Capito, already mentioned.

[79] That town, then independent, and already Reformed, was united by a treaty of alliance to the Protestant cantons of Switzerland.

[80] Probably Geneva.

[81] The Bernese were the declared opponents of the ecclesiastical discipline which Farel and Calvin had wished to establish at Geneva, and which appeared to them to trench upon the right of the civil power. The seigneury of Berne were not disposed to favour the two banished ministers.

[82] Allusion to the truce concluded, 18th June 1538, between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V., and to the approaching conclusion of a general peace, on which great expectation was founded for the settlement and reformation of the Church.

[83] Antony Firmin, minister of the church of St. Thomas at Strasbourg.—See Sculteti Annales, I. 170, 172.

[84] To my most excellent friend and brother, William Farel, faithful minister of the church at Neuchatel.

William Farel, the most illustrious missionary of the Reformation in French Switzerland, was born at Gap, in Dauphiny, (1509?) He studied at the University of Paris, under the direction of the learned Le Fevre of Etaples, whose friendship he speedily obtained, and shared with him the same faith. Of an ardent spirit, and gifted with an impetuous eloquence, he preached the doctrines of the Reformation successively at Paris, at Meaux, in Dauphiny. In 1524 he left France, when he retired to Strasbourg, and brought over to the new doctrine (as the true doctrine of the Gospel was termed at that time) the Duchy of Montbeliard, Bienne, Morat, Neuchatel, Aigle, Geneva. Driven at first from the latter town in 1532, he reappeared there, and was thereupon banished. On the 27th August 1535, he obtained the famous declaration which restored the Reformation. In less than two years afterwards he was banished from Geneva along with his colleague Calvin, whom he followed to Basle, and became, in the month of July 1538, pastor of the church of Neuchatel, which he served until his death (13th Sept. 1565) with indefatigable activity.

Having been called as minister by the Church of Neuchatel, Farel had left Basle precipitately, without taking leave of Calvin, then on his journey to Strasbourg. On returning to Basle, Calvin wrote the following letter to his old colleague, which is one of the earliest in the long correspondence which they kept up with each other.

[85] The new ministers elected at Geneva to replace Calvin, Farel, and Courault, were Antony Marcourt, pastor of the Church of Nyon, and Doctor Morand. Their nomination, approved only by a part of the Church, gave occasion to serious disorder. See Gaberel, Histoire de l' Eglise de GenÈve, 1853, vol. i. passim.

[86] Without doubt, Peter Caroli.—See Note 3, p. 57.

[87] See Note 2, p. 73.

[88] The pestilence, seven times in the course of this century, made great havoc in the city of Basle. The plague of 1564 carried off a third part of the population of the town and suburbs.—See Jean de Muller, Hist. de la ConfÉdÉration Suisse, tom. xi. passim, and the Diary of the Physician Platerus, MS. Library of Basle.

[89] Letter without date, but written, as the first words indicate, shortly after the departure of Calvin from Basle, and his arrival at Strasbourg, (September 1538.) Earnestly solicited by Bucer and Capito to associate himself in their labours, he had accepted the charge of Professor of Theology and the ministry of the French Church in that town.

[90] Bucer had entered into correspondence with some of the magistrates of Geneva to bring about a reconciliation between them and the banished ministers.

[91] The Church at Geneva was at this period given up to the most lamentable divisions and in a state of deplorable disorder.

[92] The Reformation had extended to Metz in 1523. Two martyrs, Jean le Clerc and Jean Chatelain, had sealed with their blood the introduction of the Gospel into that country.—BÈze, Hist. Eccl., tom. iii. p. 431.

[93] Although he had become the minister of a community of exiles, and had engaged in theological works of the greatest importance at Strasbourg, the activity of Calvin was by no means confined to these objects. But in the midst of the contending claims on his time and care, his attention was ever turned towards the Church of which he had been the pastor—towards "these relics of the dispersion," whom he exhorted from the depths of his exile, and whom he consoled by his letters.

[94] From Farel's hand: Received in the month of October 1538.

[95] The negotiations relative to the union of the Reformed Churches of Germany with those of Switzerland, were at all times eagerly promoted by Bucer. But the theologians of Zurich had but little hope of arriving at a satisfactory accord of agreement between the two parties, on account of the absolute opinion of Luther on the Supper. Having been invited to a conference held in the house of Simon GrynÉe, at Basle, they did not attend that meeting, where Bucer and Capito were both present, and which took place without attaining the object for which they had met.—Hospinian, Hist. Sacrament., vol. ii. pp. 290-300.

[96] Pierre Konzen, a minister of Berne, the opponent of Farel and of Calvin, whose conduct at Geneva he disapproved.

[97] Ministers of the Church of Geneva. See note 1, p. 74.

[98] The French Church of Strasbourg.

[99] In a new letter to Calvin (7th September 1538) Louis du Tillet had thought it his duty to signalize the events which had recently occurred at Geneva as a providential chastening, destined to recall his old friend from the way of schism. "I am disposed to think, indeed," said he, "that the things which have happened to you have been brought about and pursued by the evil disposition of persons who have more care about the aims and ends of this world than consideration of what is due to God. But what I beseech you take in good part, I believe you have rather to consider on your part whether our Lord has not meant to warn you by that to bethink yourself if there has been nothing to reprove in your administration, and to humble you in his sight, and that by this means the great gifts and graces with which our Lord has furnished you may be employed to his glory, to the salvation of his elect, and on that account always more and more increased."—MSS. of Paris. Calvin replies to that objection, and appeals from "the sentence of the wise" to the tribunal of God.

[100] The passage in Du Tillet's letter, to which Calvin here alludes, is as follows:—"One thing to be most carefully avoided is an overweening confidence in our own judgment, and a too great readiness either to accept new opinions or to condemn old ones, especially where matters of religion or piety are concerned; for a mistake on such ground is more fatal than on any other; ... and God punishes the temerity of such as thus act, bringing them into a thousand perplexities."—MSS. of Paris.

[101] That is to say, in France. Louis du Tillet had advised Calvin to return to that country, where the profession of the Evangel was interdicted. "I greatly desire that on your part it might be possible for you to retire hitherward, and that our Lord had furnished you the means ... but if that cannot be done as yet, I applaud and appreciate your determination to stop for the present at Basle, without mixing yourself up in anything else. In waiting upon our Lord you will shew plainly whitherward you tend."—MSS. of Paris.

[102] These expressions are taken from a letter addressed by Simon GrynÉe to Calvin, to induce him to decide on accepting the ministerial charge at Strasbourg. Here is the original text, which Calvin quotes from memory:—"Fac esse quod tuÂ unius gravissima culpa res Christi sic labefactÆ sint GenevÆ, non tamen pia erit ejusmodi poenitentia, quÂ in ista ministrorum qui istic idonei sunt copia, tu istis dotibus non tibi sed EcclesiÆ ornatus, oblatum ministerium repudies."—GrynÆi EpistolÆ, edition of Streuber, p. 55.

[103] Du Tillet had made an offer of money to Calvin in the letter above cited:—"It is possible that you may be ill provided with money, without which you cannot live there in a manner becoming you; but you need not mind about that, for should you receive nothing elsewhere but from me, if you wish it, God helping, I will supply enough to meet your necessity, as for the present I have no occasion for any money, living entirely in the house of my brother.... But that notwithstanding, I will find means to furnish you."

[104] The minister Courault. See following note.

[105] The aged monk, Augustin Courault, a zealous preacher of the Reformation at Paris and at Geneva. He took part with Calvin and Farel; after a short imprisonment was banished from Geneva, found a retreat with Christopher Fabri at Thonon, and was appointed pastor at Orbe, where he died, 4th October 1538. Courault was advanced in years, and had become blind. ("Illuminant les Âmes, dit BÈze, combien qu'il fust devenu aveugle quant au corps."—Hist. Eccl. tom. i. p. 15.) His death, which was at first attributed to poison, caused the deepest regret both to Farel and Calvin, who were his colleagues in the ministry.

[106] As one of the cities in league with Smalkald for the defence of the Gospel, the town of Minden had just been placed under the ban of the empire. The Roman Catholic princes of Germany confederated at Nuremberg prepared to execute the sentence against which the Protestant princes had solemnly protested.—Sleidan, Commentarii, lib. xii. p. 338, Édit. de 1612, in 4to.

[107] Antony Saunier, countryman and disciple of Farel, was honoured to be his companion in announcing for the first time the simple Gospel in Geneva, (September 1532.)—(See Spon, Hist. de GenÈve, tom. i. p. 215, Note P.) Having been appointed Regent of the college of that town, he offered, in 1538, a determined opposition to the pastors who were elected in room of Farel and Calvin, and along with his colleague Mathurin Cordier was banished, on account of his refusal—notwithstanding the advice of Calvin himself, to receive the sacrament at the hands of the new ministers. He retired to the Pays de Vaud, and at a later period became pastor of the church at Morges.

[108] He refers here to the second edition of the Institution ChrÉtienne, which appeared in 1539 at Strasbourg.

[109] Robert Olivetan died in 1538, at Ferrara. That intelligence was announced to Calvin by Francisca Bueyronia, wife of the physician, John Sinapi, a German settled at the Court of the Duchess of Ferrara as the preceptor of her children.

[110] George Duke of Saxony, cousin of the Elector of Saxony, John Frederick. Although the princes of his family had adopted the (so called) new doctrines, this prince had constantly opposed the Reformation, which he persecuted in his states. He died in 1539.

[111] Under the inspiration of Farel the company of pastors of Neuchatel had put forth a desire for the union of the Churches of Germany and Switzerland; but that wish for union, actively followed out by Bucer, desired with so much ardour by Calvin, must necessarily be the fruit of reciprocal concessions; and certain of the Zurich ministers, too much inclined to exalt the memory of Zuingli at the expense of Luther, seemed not much disposed to favour the connection. They altogether distrusted Bucer, who, they said, maintained an artificial spirit throughout these negotiations, equally adapted to deceive both sides; and even Bullinger himself, who was of so conciliating and so elevated a character, was not entirely free from these tendencies.—Hospinian, Hist. Sacramentaria, tom. ii. p. 290.

[112] The Synod of Zurich, held from the 29th April to the 3d May of the preceding year, had remained without result. The ministers of Strasbourg and of Zurich had separated much dissatisfied with each other.

[113] The theologians of Zurich had accused Bucer of having spread a snare to entrap their good faith by artificial expressions, better suited to veil the difficulties of union than to solve them.—See Hospinian, tom. ii. p. 290.

[114] This letter of Bullinger is only known to us by Calvin's allusion to it. Bucer manifested great displeasure at the conduct of the theologians of Zurich, and bitterly complained of it in a letter to Comander, minister of Coire. But if we may believe the testimony of Sturm, quoted by Hospinian, it does not appear that the friendly relations between the churches of Zurich and Strasbourg were thereby long or seriously affected.

[115] Bibliander (Theodore), professor of theology at Zurich. He died of the plague in 1564.

[116] The friends of Calvin at Strasbourg were at this time very desirous of having the Reformer married. See the following Letters, (1539-1540,) passim.

[117] Hermann of Liege, the celebrated Flemish Anabaptist. He had maintained a discussion at Geneva, publicly, against Farel and Calvin; and overcome on that occasion, he had been banished from the town the 19th March 1538.

[118] Written to Bullinger after a long silence, this letter was to be the means of drawing closer the ties of friendship which had already united the French Reformer to the minister of Zurich, and to remove the unjust prejudice of the latter against Bucer and the Strasbourg ministers. See the preceding letter.

[119] Calvin was about to set out for Frankfort, charged with an important mission by the Church of Strasbourg. Reconciled by a recent treaty with his rival Francis I., Charles V. had turned his whole attention in the direction of Germany, and solemnly announced his intention to accommodate religious differences in that country. The French king appeared to enter into his views, and the German princes shewed themselves disposed to favour the accomplishment of his wishes in meeting together at a solemn public conference between the Protestants and the Roman Catholic doctors. The day of meeting was fixed by the emperor himself for the 12th February 1539, and Frankfort was pointed out for the theatre of these conferences.—Sleidan, Commentarii, lib. xii., pp. 338, 339. Anxious to be represented at that assembly at Frankfort by the most eminent ministers, the town of Strasbourg chose for its deputies Bucer, Sturm, and Calvin.

[120] This was no doubt, M. Du Tailly, a French gentleman, who had taken refuge at Geneva. He was a correspondent of Calvin.

[121] Is this John Le Comte, minister of Grauson, or Beat Comte, a minister of Lausanne, who at a later period devoted himself to medicine, and distinguished himself by his devotedness to the care of those who were affected with the plague in that town? (See Ruchat, tom. v. p. 277.) We incline rather to this last conjecture.

[122] Genan, an unknown personage.

[123] The Elector John Frederick, the friend of Luther, and truest protector of the Reformation in Germany.

[124] Maurice of Saxony, who had so great a part in the religious wars of Germany with Charles V.

[125] Philip of Hesse, who, from the year 1521, had been favourable to the tenets of Luther.

[126] Ernest, Duke of Lunebourg, promoter of the Reformation in his states.

[127] The Treaty of Alliance formed by the Protestant Princes at Smalkald, (1538,) had been agreed to by a great number of the Towns.

[128] Christian III., King of Denmark, (1534-1559,) who introduced the Reformation into his States.

[129] Eastern Prussia was reformed and secularized, in 1525, by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Albert of Brandenbourg. It formed since that epoch the Duchy of Prussia.

[130] Ulrich, Count of Montbeliard, and Duke of Wurtemberg.

[131] Louis, the Elector Palatine, and Joachim, the Elector of Brandenbourg, although favourable to the Reformation, remained attached to the cause of the Emperor, and tried to bring about a reconciliation between the two parties.

[132] John Vesal, Archbishop of Lunden, was the Emperor's ambassador at the Diet. (Sleidan, lib. xii. p. 339.) He became afterwards Bishop of Constance, and was present at the Council of Trent.

[133] Albert of Brandenbourg, the brother of Joachim, the Elector of Brandenbourg. This prelate sternly opposed all compromise in religious matters. He made continual complaints of the indulgence shewn by the Emperor towards Protestants.

[134] On the death of Charles Van Egmont, Duke of Gueldres, his relation, William, Duke of Cleves and Juliers, took possession of that town, of which he was dispossessed by the Emperor in 1543.

[135] The King of England, Henry VIII.

[136] The details of these negotiations will be found in Burnet, and in Seckendorf, Commentarii, lib. iii. sect. 19, par. 73. The Protestant princes of Germany, desirous to bind so powerful a monarch as the King of England as closely as possible to the cause of the Reformation, had sent deputies to request his assent to the Augsburg Confession, and the revocation of the cruel statutes still in force against those of his subjects who professed the pure Gospel. Two of the King's counsellors, Cromwell and Archbishop Cranmer, seconded timidly the entreaties of the Protestant princes; but this imperious and violent monarch, satisfied with having transferred to himself the papal authority in matters of religion, shewed indisposedness to promote the interests of an actual reformation. He protracted the negotiations, and added daily by new laws to the rigour of the most hateful despotism—that which is exercised by a prince over the consciences of his subjects.

[137] John Lambert, schoolmaster.—See Burnet, Hist. Ref. vol. i. pp. 252-254.

[138] He was living in exile on the Continent from the time of the rupture of England with the See of Rome. He returned under the reign of Mary, became Archbishop of Canterbury, President of the Royal Council, and died in 1558, after having been the instrument of a short but bloody restoration of Popery in his native country.

[139] See Hume, History of England, chap. xxxi.

[140] See note 1, p. 105. George of Saxony himself died the same year.—Sleidan, lib. xii. p. 342.

[141] It was not Maurice who succeeded Duke George, but his father, Henry the Pious, who recalled all the exiles on account of religion, and introduced the Reformation into the Duchy of Saxony.—Ibid. p. 344.

[142] The Elector of Saxony, John Frederic, had married Sibilla of Cleves, who evinced the most noble character on the misfortune of her husband, vanquished and dispossessed after the battle of MÜhlberg.

[143] It was not until the next year (1540) that a resolution was adopted on this subject. The princes desired to use their influence in favour of those who were suffering in France on account of their religious opinions; but not before they had obtained correct information regarding the state of affairs in that country, the private inclinations of the king, and the probability that their interference would prove successful.—Sleidan, xiii. p. 361.

[144] Martin Frecht, a learned preacher and theologian of the Church at Ulm. He refused to submit to the Interim, and died the 14th September 1556, at TÜbingen.

[145] This was undoubtedly "L'Institution ChrÉtienne." See Note 2, p. 45.

[146] Calvin had returned to Strasbourg without waiting the conclusion of the deliberations of the colloquy at Frankfort.

[147] Wendelin, the printer at Strasbourg.

[148] Farel laboured hard to bring about a union between the Churches of Geneva, of Neuchatel, and of the Pays de Vaud, which were at variance in regard to the Sacraments, and ecclesiastical discipline in general.

[149] A party, growing every day more numerous at Geneva, deplored the exile of Calvin. As the organ of that sentiment, M. Du Tailly incessantly exhorted the Reformer to forget the injury which had been done him, and to restore peace to the congregation and church at Geneva by his return. Calvin would by no means separate his cause from that of Farel, so as to make his return a personal matter to himself, and not, as it was, a question of principle. Therefore, he felt little disposed to resume the function of the ministry at Geneva.

[150] Louis du Tillet.

[151] The alliance of Smalkald, which the intrigues of the Catholic party endeavoured to break up, in the Assembly at Frankfort.

[152] The town of Strasbourg.

[153] From Neuchatel Farel observed attentively the progress of events at Geneva, and sent intelligence thereof to Calvin.

[154] The Church of Payerne, founded by the preaching of Farel and Viret.

[155] The minister Gaspar Grossman, (Megander,) had been discharged in 1537, by the Senate of Berne, for having composed a Catechism, which, on some points, did not agree with that of Bucer. Zebedee, minister of Orbe, had been censured for the same reason.

[156] The friends of Calvin at Strasbourg and in Switzerland were bent on bringing about the marriage of the Reformer. Farel and Bucer displayed the most active zeal in the prosecution of their matrimonial project; and it is known that Calvin's marriage, which took place the following year, may be attributed to the management of the latter.—Th. de BÈze, Calvini Vita.

[157] A letter, written in French, like that of the 1st October 1538,—"To the residue of the dispersion of the Church of Geneva." The French original is lost. It is preserved only in the Latin translation by Theodore Beza. We perceive in it the peculiar circumstances in which the Reformer retired to Strasbourg,—saw it to be his duty a second time to exhort the Church of Geneva. Discord among the members of that Church had never ceased from the time of their being deprived of their first pastors. The authority of the new ministers was constantly treated with contempt, and the town, scarcely reformed, had to struggle with the old disorders, aggravated by the excesses arising from the schism. Observant of these sad divisions, and superior to the resentment of injury personal to himself, Calvin exhorted the members of his old flock, reminded them of the holy sanction of the ministerial charge, and implored them to rally around their lawful pastors.

[158] Mal. ii. 7; 2 Cor. v. 20; 1 Thess. v. 13.

[159] The date of this letter is in the handwriting of Farel.

[160] The magistrates of Strasbourg united themselves to Protestant princes of Germany to intercede in common with Francis I. in favour of his cruelly persecuted Protestant subjects.

[161] Sulzer, minister of the Church of Berne. At a later period he was pastor of the Church of Basle.

[162] Cardinal Sadolet, Bishop of Carpentras, informed of the troubles of Geneva, had written to the magistrates of that town exhorting them to return to the communion of the Roman Church. Calvin wrote a reply to Sadolet, and that letter, dated from Strasbourg, 1st September 1539, is one of the most remarkable monuments of the Reformer's genius. See Calv. Opera, edit. d'Amsterdam, tom. viii.; and the Recueil des Opuscules, p. 145.

[163] Condemned by the Synod of Lausanne, and banished by the Senate of Berne, Caroli had returned to the Church of Rome, and had in vain sought the favour of the Cardinal de Tournon. Deceived in his expectations, he reappeared in Switzerland, confessed his past offences, and obtained the forgiveness of Farel. Afterwards he proceeded to Strasbourg, where Bucer and Sturm tried every means to reconcile him with Calvin.—Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉformat. en Suisse, tom. v. pp. 129-134.

[164] Bonneville, on the Lake of Bienne. It was there where the interview between Caroli and Farel, accompanied by the two deputies from Neuchatel, had taken place.

[165] Rognac—is it the burgh of that name in Provence, department of Bouches du Rhone?

[166] James Bedrot, native of the Grisons, professor of Greek in the Academy at Strasbourg.

[167] That is to say, the preceding letter concerning Caroli.

[168] Alexandre, late minister of Thonon. He had been excommunicated by the presbytery of Neuchatel for having deserted his charge.

[169] This refers, doubtless, to the Edict which was published the following year in France. It contained most rigorous clauses against heretics.

[170] Ulric Chelius, a distinguished physician, the friend of Bucer.

[171] See notes 2, pp. 129, 150. The Protestant princes of Germany, irritated by the persecutions directed against their brethren of the Reformed Churches of France, threatened the rupture of all friendly relations with the reigning sovereign, Francis I.

[172] Sec p. 125, note 2. These deputies had at first been most graciously received by the King of England. They held frequent conferences with his counsellors, at the house of Thomas Cromwell, regarding the object of their mission—the foundation of a defensive alliance between the German princes and the English monarch. Henry appeared favourable to the project. This was, however, but a political ruse; for, after having amused the deputies with fair words and pretended negotiations, he allowed them to depart.—See Seckendorf, lib. iii. sect. 19, parag. 73; and Burnet.

[173] The Act of the Six Articles, called the Bill of Blood, promulgated the 28th April 1539. See Burnet, Hist. Ref. vol. i. pp. 256-260.

[174] William du Bellay, Lord of Langey, and Viceroy of Piedmont, then occupied by Francis I.

[175] Anne de Montmorency. He had been promoted to the office of Constable in 1538, for his able defence of Provence against the Imperialists.

[176] The Memoirs of Du Bellay furnish no information in regard to the discussions which are treated of in the close of this letter, and of which the Waldenses of Piedmont were the subject. William du Bellay was governor of Piedmont, which had recently been subjugated by Francis I., and did honour to himself by the generous protection which he extended to the Waldensian Churches.

[177] This word, as also several others, is effaced in the original.

[178] That meeting took place at Arnstadt, a town of the Thuringi. See Sleidan, lib. xii. p. 347.

[179] Joachim II., Margrave-Elector of Brandenbourg, (1534-1571.) After having shewn himself all along faithful to the cause of the Emperor, this prince established the Reformation in his States.

[180] Henry VIII. sought again at this time the alliance of the Protestant princes of Germany. He espoused (Jan. 6, 1540) Anne of Cleves, whom he repudiated some months afterwards.

[181] This prince, who at this time still wavered between Catholicism and the Reformed doctrines, succeeded his brother as Elector-Palatine, in 1544, and completed the work of the Reformation in his State.

[182] Here is the passage of the letter of Luther, containing a flattering allusion to the letter of Calvin to Sadolet: "Bene vale, et salutabis D. Joannem Sturmium et Joannem Calvinum quorum libellos cum singulari voluptate legi. Sadoletum optarem ut crederet, Deum esse creatorem hominum etiam extra Italiam. Sed hÆc persuasio non penetrat corda Italorum, cum tam soli prÆ cÆteris exuerint plane humanum sensum prÆ superbia."—Dr. Martin Luther's Briefe, edit. de Wette, tom. v. p. 411.

[183] The preface of this Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans is dedicated to Simon GrynÉe, and contains an eulogium of Melanchthon, of Bucer, and of Bullinger, accompanied with the following reflections:—"God never designed in such a way to exercise liberality towards his servants, as that each should be endowed with a full and perfect understanding on every point; and doubtless, in this respect, he intended, in the first place, to keep us humble, and next of all to keep up and maintain the desire and the exercise of brotherly love and communion. On this account, since such is the case, we have no reason to expect, in this present life, to see what would otherwise be so desirable, that in the understanding and the exposition of certain passages of Scripture, there ever can be among us an out-and-out entire agreement, (in allusion to the sacraments,) yet we ought to be particularly careful, when we do depart from the opinion of those who have written before us, that we do so without being carried away by the silly appetite for saying something new," &c.—Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Geneva, in 4to, 1562.

[184] Minister of the Church of Neuchatel.

[185] The truce of Nice had for the moment reconciled Charles V. and Francis I.

[186] The Duke of Cleves had been put in possession of the town of Gueldres, notwithstanding the protestations of the Emperor, and with the tacit approbation of the French King.

[187] The King of France and the Emperor equally put forth pretensions to the possession of the Milanese.

[188] The town of Ghent having revolted, Charles V. sought permission from the French King to pass through France, in order to suppress more promptly the revolt. Francis consented, and, on the faith of his word, Charles did not hesitate to traverse the states of his rival. His expedition was a triumph. The two sovereigns made their formal entry into Paris, January 1, 1540.

[189] Amiens. The interview proposed in that town between the two monarchs did not take place.

[190] Charles, Duke of Savoy, dispossessed of the greater part of his territory by Francis I.

[191] The marriage of Calvin with Idelette de Bure did not take place till the following month of August.

[192] See the preceding Letter.

[193] Minister of the Church of Zurich.

[194] They are the two letters entitled: EpistolÆ duÆ, prima de fugiendis impiorum illicitis sacris, et puritate ChristianÆ religionis; secunda de Christiani hominis officio in sacerdotiis papalis ecclesiÆ vel administrandis vel abjiciendis. GenevÆ, 1537, in 8vo.

[195] This interview, which had been proposed to be held at Calais, in reference to fresh matrimonial projects of Henry VIII., did not take place, (see Hume, cap. xxxii.,) and after apparent hesitation on the part of the English monarch between an alliance with Francis I. and one with the Emperor, he turned to Charles V., sacrificing at once the friendship of the King of France and that of the German Princes.

[196] The citizens of Geneva, perceiving at length that their divisions were ruinous to their country, resolved in a General Council, assembled Feb. 1, 1540, to be at agreement with each other, and to live in unity together. The recall of the banished ministers put the seal to this reconciliation.—Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉformation, vol. i. p. 137.

[197] The meeting at Smalkald took place the 1st of March, to draw up a form of agreement between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants.—Sleidan, book xii. p. 351. The meeting separated on the 13th April.

[198] The Chancellor Granvelle, father of the celebrated Cardinal Granvelle, minister and ambassador of Charles V.

[199] They were the Earls of Thierry of Mandersheit, and William Nuenar, magni consilii et dignitatis viri.—Sleidan, book xii. p. 352.

[200] See that answer related fully in Sleidan, book xiii. pp. 353-61.

[201] In the intense desire of concluding an agreement with the King of England, the German princes shewed their willingness to open a colloquy for that object, but these conferences did not take place, and the hope of a happy reconciliation between the churches of England and Germany was not realized.—Sleidan, book xiii. p. 361.

[202] Without doubt on the subject of the free proclamation of the Gospel in that town, then subject to England. It was not restored to France till 1558, by Francis of Lorraine, Duke of Guise.

[203] Gaspar, called Cormel, minister of Neuchatel.

[204] Peter Toussain, late canon of Metz and almoner to the Queen of Navarre. He was at this time minister of the Church of Montbeliard, which he administered till an advanced old age.

[205] William du Bellay, Viceroy of Piedmont.

[206] While he sought the alliance of the Protestant princes of Germany, Francis I. persecuted the Protestants in his own dominions with an extreme rigour, under the odious designation of Sacramentaries. The year 1540 witnessed numerous burnings at the stake, in the provinces of Dauphiny, Vivarais, at Paris, and in the valleys of Provence. There dwelt for many centuries a pastoral population, which was only known to the world by simplicity of manners and the purity of its faith. De Thou, liv. v. c. 7; Histoire des Martyrs, liv. iii. pp. 133-146. The Vaudois of CabriÈres and Merindol, hated by the Roman Catholic clergy on account of their being estranged from the superstitions of the time, were devoted to death by the fanatical fury of the parliament of Aix. The arrÊt, which condemned in the mass an innocent and inoffensive people to extermination, was dated 18th November 1540. The intercession of the Senate of Strasbourg, of the Swiss Cantons, and of the German princes, suspended the execution of it until the year 1545.

[207] A meeting was convocated for the month of July 1540, in the town of Haguenau, in order to prepare matters for a general conference between the Roman Catholic and Reformed theologians. See following letter.

[208] Ambroise Blaurer, minister and reformer of the town of Constance.

[209] Carlostad, the friend, and, at a later period, the hot-headed adversary of Luther. At this time he had retired to Basle, where he was settled as minister of St. Peter's. He died in 1541.

[210] Lazarus Baisius, a distinguished and learned man, ambassador of the French king at the Diet of Haguenau.

[211] Pont de Veyle, a small town of the Bresse, handed over at that time by the King of France to the Duke of Savoy.

[212] Andrew Zebedee, minister at Orbe, deposed by the Senate of Berne for having set himself in opposition, on some points, to the theology of Bucer.

[213] M. Du Tailly, a French gentleman, who had taken refuge at Geneva, a declared partisan of the Reformation and of Calvin, whose return he pressingly urged, as the following letter, taken from the MSS. of the Company of Neuchatel, sufficiently attests:—

Monsieur Du Tailly to Farel.

Very dear Brother,—At the suasion of the most of the good brethren hereaway, I have written to our good brother Calvin that there is a need of him to come to the help of his brethren of Geneva, without taking any heed to the injury which had been done to Jesus Christ in chasing him away, but that he will have to consider the desolation in which they are, and his own bounden duty; wherefore I have written to him to let me know his mind, before that they send away a deputation to him. I shall, besides, entreat of you on your part, that you do charge and persuade him what he ought to do. I say no more to you. Your letter has been very well taken by those hereabout, and I believe that it will greatly profit them, and they hold themselves specially bounden to you for having mind of them in their time of need, and by that shewing evidently that you are a true pastor, not of those who leave them exposed to danger. For the rest, the Lord has done his pleasure as concerning Sir Michel Balthazar. It is a great loss for the town so far as man can see. Nevertheless his will must be done, and none other. May the Lord enable you to persevere as you have begun. From Geneva, this 3d October 1540.—To the uttermost, your friend and brother,

Du Tailly.

[214] Frederic Nausea, theologian, known by some writings of a controversial kind against the Lutherans.

[215] John Faber, Vicar-General of the Church of Constance, a renowned theologian of the Roman Catholic Church. In recompense of his zeal in opposing the Protestants, he obtained the Bishopric of Vienna.

[216] John CochlÆus of Nuremberg, one of the principal opponents and detractors of Luther, against whom he displayed more anger than skill in his warfare. He appeared at the Conferences of Worms and of Ratisbon, in 1541, and died in 1552. We have, of his writing, the "Libri duo Hussitarum HistoriÆ," MoguntiÆ, 1549.

[217] The princes of the Empire, met at Nuremberg in 1524, had drawn up a list of the abuses of the Court of Rome, proclaimed the necessity of a Reformation, and appealed to a general council, interdicting, at the same time, the publication of any opinion contrary to the dogmas of the Church, previous to the convocation of that assembly.

[218] Repulsed at the same time in the requests which he had addressed to the Church of Neuchatel and to that of Strasbourg, Caroli had retired to Metz, from whence he wrote a letter to Calvin full of bravado and reproach, offering to be reconciled with him and Farel if they would procure him a benefice. The reply of Calvin, equally remarkable for power as well as charity, is a testimony of the moderation and of the wisdom of the writer.

[219] Hugh Latimer and Nicolas Saxton.

[220] The Edict of Fontainbleau, put forth the 1st of June 1540, called on the inquisitors, the bishops, and the parliaments to repress the crime of heresy, and by which it was assimilated to the crime of treason. The number of victims increased greatly on the promulgation of this edict, and the punishment was rendered more cruel by the atrocious tortures which preceded.

[221] Calvin, in the month of August 1540, had married Idelette de Bure, the widow of an Anabaptist of Liege, John StÖrder, whom he had brought back to the Reformed faith. He lived nine years with her in the most entire union, and remained a widower in the month of April 1549.

[222] Bucer was on the eve of setting out for the Conference of Worms, which he was to have attended, accompanied by Calvin.

[223] Marguerite, sister of Francis I. The letter to which Calvin here refers is unfortunately lost.

[224] The end is wanting.

[225] Directed on the back,—To the Magnificent and Honourable Lords Messieurs the Syndics and Council of Geneva.

Two years had scarcely passed away since the banishment of Calvin, and already the victorious party, left to itself, had exhausted itself with its own excess and disorders. Of the four Syndics who pronounced the expulsion of the ministers, two were exiled to Berne; the other two had perished by a violent death.—Spon, Hist. de GenÈve, liv. i. pp. 280-282. Anarchy produced its ordinary fruit, regret for the absence of authority. Taught by severe experience, the people of Geneva demanded to have Calvin brought back again, and the new Syndics,—organs of the popular sentiment, sought to recall him.—Arch. of Geneva, Registres du Conseil, ann. 1540, passim.

[226] The bearer of this letter was Amy Perrin, who sought anxiously to bring about the recall of the Reformer, whose most determined adversary he became some years afterwards at Geneva.—Spon, tom. i. p. 283. Note P.

[227] In accordance with the desire expressed by the ministers of the Church at Strasbourg, Calvin had repaired to the Diet at Worms, to assist at the conferences which were about to take place between the theologians of the two modes of worship. It was in this town that he received the deputies of the Council of Geneva, bearers of the following letter:—

To Doctor Calvin, Minister of the Gospel.

Monsieur, our good brother and special friend,—We commend ourselves very affectionately unto you, for that we are thoroughly informed that you have no other desire than the growth and advancement of the glory and honour of God, and of his sacred and holy word. On the part of our lesser, great, and general councils, (which hereupon have strongly admonished us,) we pray you very earnestly that you would transfer yourself hitherward to us, and return to your old place and former ministry; and we hope, with the help of God, that this shall be a great benefit, and fruitful for the increase of the holy Evangel, seeing that our people greatly desire you among us, and will conduct themselves toward you in such sort, that you shall have occasion to rest content.—Your good friends,

The Syndics and Council of Geneva.

This 22d October 1540.

With the seal: Post tenebras spero lucem.

[228] The Conferences of Worms, where Melanchthon and Eck appeared as the principal actors, were in fact broken off at the request of the Emperor, and resumed with greater Éclat the year following at the Diet of Ratisbon. Calvin went thither, and his wonderful intelligence procured for him, on the acknowledgment of Melanchthon himself, the surname of Theologian. He retraced the picture of that Assembly in several of his Latin letters, and above all, in the following writing:—"The Proceedings of the Imperial Diet held in the City of Regensbourg, otherwise called Ratisbon, the year one thousand five hundred forty and one, about the differences which are at present concerning Religion." Geneva, 1541.

[229] From the Assembly at Worms, where he sustained with Bucer and Melanchthon the weighty interests of the Reformation, Calvin cast a look of attentive regard on the humble parish of which he was the pastor at Strasbourg, and addressed to the Deacon Nicolas Parent, who was charged with the duty of supplying his place while absent, several letters, animated with the most lively interest in the spiritual wellbeing of his parishioners.

[230] Calvin had received at Worms the letter of recall and of the ambassadors of the Senate of Geneva. See the preceding Letter.

[231] Claude was the other deacon of the French Church at Strasbourg.

[232] See the note appended to the preceding French Letter. Nicolas Parent became, at a later period, minister of the Church of Neuchatel.

[233] Viret had gone for six months to Geneva; where he was further detained at the request of the Seigneury, and was not restored to the church at Lausanne until the 12th July 1542.—Ruehat, tom. v. pp. 161, 162.

[234] See the preceding letter.

[235] The Conferences at Worms had been transferred to Ratisbon by a decree of the Emperor.

[236] The Bernese Bailiffs of Gex and of Thonon had entered into possession of certain lordships belonging to the town of Geneva. The judges who were appointed to settle the dispute could not come to agreement among themselves, and the whole matter had been submitted to the arbitration of Basle.—Roset, Chronique Manuscrite, cited by Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf., tom. v. p. 148.

[237] The enemies of the Waldenses did not spare any amount of calumny in order to compass their ruin. In a Confession of Faith, published 6th April 1541, the Waldenses eloquently declared their respect for constituted authority, strikingly confirmed by their life and conversation. "As regards the magistrates," said they, "such as princes, nobles, and judges, we look on them as ordained of God, and willingly obey their laws and ordinances, paying the tributes, taxes, and tithes which they impose, ... rendering them honour and obedience in all matters not contrary to the will of God."—BÈze, Hist. Eccl. vol. i. p. 41.

[238] The Cardinal de Tournon, who uniformly displayed sentiments of the utmost hostility against the Waldenses.

[239] With consent of the nobles of Berne, and by request of Calvin, Viret had left the church at Lausanne to afford to that of Geneva the support of his talents and his zeal; but the return of Calvin alone could avail to terminate the crisis which his banishment had occasioned, and Viret, therefore, joined the Seigneury in entreating that he would resume his charge as minister at Geneva.—Spon, tom. i. p. 283. Note P. Calvin, at that time on his way to Ratisbon, freely poured out to his friend his doubts and difficulties on the subject.

[240] James Bernard, formerly a monk, converted to the Reform by the preaching of Farel and Viret, and a minister of the Church of Geneva during the exile of Calvin. Feeling his insufficiency and that of his colleagues, he had written a touching letter to the Reformer, to urge upon him to resume the direction of his former charge:—"Indeed," said he, "one Sunday lately, when I was preaching in the chapel of Rive, seeing our church desolate, and the people all in tears, I was impelled to exhort them earnestly to turn to God, and to entreat of him humbly, in Christ's name, that he would send them a faithful pastor, such as is necessary for the interests of his Church. Two days thereafter the Council of Two Hundred was assembled, and unanimously called for Calvin; on the following day the General Council met, and all, without one dissenting voice, cried, 'We must have Calvin, that wise and holy man, that faithful minister of Jesus Christ.'... Come, then, most honoured father; come, for you are ours."—Calvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 12.

[241] Calvin was setting out for the Diet at Ratisbon.

[242] James Bernard and his colleagues, appointed ministers of Geneva after the expulsion of Calvin, had, by their weakness and want of firmness, sanctioned the disorders against which Calvin, Farel, and Courault had opposed themselves in vain.

[243] While Calvin was present at the Diet of Ratisbon, the plague was raging in upper Germany and on the banks of the Rhine. It also visited Strasbourg, where the victims were numbered by thousands. Many of the friends of the Reformer fell under this scourge; Idelette de Bure, his wife, escaped by flight. Calvin, in writing to Farel, gives him some account of the ravages it had made at Strasbourg, and of the solemn conferences at which he assisted at Ratisbon.

[244] Claude Ferey, French refugee at Strasbourg. See Calvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 15, a letter of Claude Ferey to Farel.

[245] Louis and Charles de Richebourg, sons of M. de Richebourg, to whom the next letter is addressed.

[246] The two brothers, William and Louis of Bavaria, reigned in common in that country.

[247] Henry, Duke of Brunswick, unhappily distinguished throughout the whole of Germany by his turbulent spirit and disorderly conduct. He was deprived of his states in 1542 by the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse.

[248] Christopher of Wurtemberg, who succeeded Duke Ulrich his father in 1550.

[249] Gaspar Contarini, a prelate as remarkable for his moderation as for his enlightened mind and understanding. Legate of Pope Paul III. at the Diet of Ratisbon, he in vain attempted to bring the two parties to agreement, and died the year following, not without suspicion of poison.

[250] The Cardinal Morone, Archbishop of Modena, one of the most merciless persecutors of the Reformed in Italy.

[251] Henry of Brunswick maintained a very lively paper war against the Protestant princes of Germany before attacking them more openly. Luther replied to those attacks by one of his most virulent pamphlets, Hans Wurst, a name which the Germans use to designate their harlequin.—See Seckendorf, lib. iii. par. 93.

[252] George Martinuzzi, tutor of the young King of Hungary, John Sigismund.

[253] After the death of King Louis II. the crown of Hungary was long disputed between Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V., and John Zapoli. The treaty of Great Waradin (24th February 1538) guarantied the throne to the latter, but without reversion to his descendants. He died in 1541, leaving an infant in the cradle as his heir. His widow, yielding to the advice of George Martinuzzi, refused to cede the crown to Ferdinand, and called the Turks into Hungary.

[254] Sigismund I., King of Poland, (1506-1548.) This prince was continually engaged in strife with the Tartars of the Crimea, the Moldavians, and the Russians.

[255] An allusion to the state of bigamy in which the Landgrave of Hesse was then living, with the authorization of Luther, of Melanchthon, and of Bucer. The explanations given by Seckendorf (lib. iii. par. 79, addit. 3) are altogether ineffectual to clear up this affair—one of the scandals of the Reformation in Germany.

[256] There is little known concerning M. de Richebourg. It appears from the letter of the Reformer that he had been for some years separated from his sons Charles and Louis, who had repaired to Strasbourg, probably to finish their education. The plague, which raged in Alsace, carried off Louis, the younger of the two brothers, and his preceptor, both tenderly beloved by Calvin, who, from Ratisbon, where the sad intelligence had reached him, wrote this letter of Christian consolation to M. de Richebourg.

[257] Claude Ferey, so much regretted by Calvin, was tutor to the sons of M. de Richebourg, and a very distinguished professor of Strasbourg.

[258] Idelette de Bure, the wife of Calvin, Antony, his brother, and Marie, his sister, had quitted Strasbourg, to avoid the infection of the plague.

[259] One of the numerous French refugees, whom persecution had driven into Switzerland. He was a member of the Church at Neuchatel.

[260] Ulrich Chelius. See note 2, p. 160.

[261] The process between Geneva and Berne, submitted to the arbitration of the town of Basle.

[262] Julius Pflug, Canon, and afterwards Bishop of Numburg in Saxony, a learned man, and of conciliatory and moderate temper.

[263] John Gropper, Canon of Cologne. He was so far enlightened as to see and acknowledge the abuses of the Roman Church, but had not courage to go forward in the reform of them. He obtained the Cardinal's dignity, and was put to death in a strange and unusual manner, having been strangled with the strings of his Cardinal's hat. See BezÆ Icones.

[264] John Mayer, better known under the name of Eck, Doctor in Theology, celebrated on account of his controversies with Carlostadt and Luther.

[265] John Pistorius, superintendent of the province of Nidau. He was called to the Diet of Augsbourg in 1529, and died, in 1583, at a very advanced age.

[266] See the portrait of Eck which Mosellanus has sketched, cited by Seckendorf: "Big-bodied, broad-shouldered, stout-hearted, even to impudence, and more like the town-crier than a theologian—one whom you might rather expect to find figuring in the theatre than a Council;"—such was the principal adversary of the Protestants at the Diet of Ratisbon.

[267] Davus, the type of all insolent slaves in the ancient drama. Melanchthon writes, in speaking of Eck, "I do not think that any pious person could listen without horror to the sophisms and vain subtleties of that talking mountebank."—Seckendorf, iii. parag. 80, addit. 1.

[268] The Bishop George Martinuzzi, Waywode of Transylvania. He was feebly supported by the Turks, whom he had called into Hungary from hatred to King Ferdinand.

[269] Henry of Brunswick endeavoured to have himself appointed head of the Romanist League concluded at Nuremberg in 1538, in opposition to the Protestant League of Smalkald. Incited by a blind hatred of the Gospel, he is accused of having hired mercenary troops to lay waste the dominions of the Elector of Saxony.—Seckendorf, iii. parag. 86.

[270] John Frellon, a printer of Lyons.

[271] Martin Bucer.

[272] This was doubtless that gentleman of the chamber of King Francis I., to whom Œcolampadius wrote in 1524, to congratulate him on his sincere attachment to the Gospel. This gentleman is known only under the pseudonyme of Maurus MusÆus, a secretis et cubiculo Regis Galliarum. See the letter of Œcolampadius in the Life of Gerard Roussel, by M. Schmidt. Strasbourg, 1845, in 8vo, App. No. 3, p. 179.

[273] John Brentz, a celebrated German theologian, much attached to the Lutheran dogma of the Supper. He assisted at the Conferences of Haguenau, of Worms, and of Ratisbon, and seemed, in the latter, to go over to the interpretation of Calvin, against which, at a later period, he maintained a very sharp controversy.

[274] Eck died two years later, the 16th February 1543, in consequence of a second attack of apoplexy, brought on by his intemperance.—Seckendorf, iii. parag. 112.

[275] Louis du Tillet; he had made a long stay at Basle with Calvin, before accompanying him into Italy.

[276] At the request of Farel and the magistrates of Geneva, the pastors of the Church of Zurich had written to Calvin, then deputed to the Diet at Ratisbon, exhorting him to resume the office of the ministry in his earliest charge. Calvin, in his reply, freely unburdens himself of the sentiments of terror and repugnance which he felt at the thought of returning to Geneva.

[277] The peculiar modesty of Calvin is the more remarkable, when we consider the Éclat which attended his preaching and teaching at Strasbourg. During the two years which he passed in that city, the French Church continually increased, and the name of Calvin was alone sufficient to attract, from all parts of France, young persons desirous of learning, and even men already distinguished as learned.—See Sturm's Antipappi, iv. p. 21.

[278] The Waldenses of Provence.

[279] The conferences at Ratisbon were prolonged without any result. Calvin solicited and obtained leave of departure. He took the route of Strasbourg, where he no doubt arrived toward the end of June 1541.

[280] Albert, Margrave of Brandenbourg, a bold and perfidious adventurer, entirely devoted to the cause of the Emperor. He is reported to have said: "If the Devil will but pay me well, I will serve him." He maintained in 1553 a long struggle with Maurice of Saxony, and was vanquished, the year following, at the battle of Sievershausen, where his adversary perished.

[281] Without doubt, George of Anhalt, the scholar of Luther, and who, notwithstanding his high birth, wished to be ordained minister and ecclesiastical inspector of the diocese of Mersebourg. He died in 1553.—Melch. Adam. VitÆ Theologorum Germanorum, p. 245.

[282] The Sultan Soliman had entered into Hungary, and had already taken possession of the town of Buda, under pretext that the young King John Sigismond was incapable of defending it against his enemies.

[283] That letter was an urgent and pressing appeal to the justice and to the clemency of Francis I., by the whole Church of Christ: "We have been very much grieved, because, when it could not be denied that many abuses of long standing clung to the Churches, nevertheless, so greatly has the heat of anger been inflamed everywhere, that not only private individuals, but also whole nations may be brought into jeopardy: which, when they become suppliants to your royal highness, you may consider that it is not we only, but the very Church of Christ that lies mourning at the feet of the greatest kings, and implores and entreats their help, that the light of the dawning Gospel may not be extinguished, and that quiet, modest men and members of Christ may be let alone." This earnest prayer remained unanswered in the corrupt court of Valois. Policy alone brought about the adoption of measures which humanity demanded, and the ruin of the Vaudois, and the retribution upon the persecutors, were adjourned to another time.

[284] Such is the address: To the excellent and very faithful Servants of Christ, William Farel and Peter Viret, my very dear Brethren.

[285] Otho Henri, brother of Frederic, Count Palatine.

[286] See note I, p. 270.

[287] The young preacher who is spoken of here, seems to have been Peter Du Brenil, who succeeded Calvin in the direction of the French Church of Strasbourg, and was a martyr at Tournay in 1545.—See Sleidan, lib. xii. et xvi., and Crespin, Histoire des Martyrs.

[288] Caroli effected his reconciliation with the Sorbonne, but it was in vain that he solicited a benefice in the Church of Rome.

[289] See note 2, p. 275.

[290] He refers to the process pending between Berne and Geneva which had been submitted to the arbitration of Basle.

[291] See Sleidan, lib. xiv. p. 387.

[292] Letter without date, but written most probably in the month of August 1541. It informs us as to the last inward struggles of the Reformer on the eve of quitting Strasbourg to return to Geneva.

[293] After having overcome the last scruples, and taken leave of the members of his Church, "avec tristesse, larmes, grande sollicitude, et dÉtresse," as he himself tells us in the preface to the Psalms, Calvin left Strasbourg towards the end of August 1541. He stopped a little at Basle; and being called to Neuchatel by unforeseen circumstances, he wrote to the Seigneury of Geneva to excuse himself for this delay.

[294] See Calvin's letter to the Seigneury of Neuchatel, p. 286.

[295] After a short visit at Berne, Calvin, being at Morat, wrote to Farel, to inform him as to some of the incidents of his journey.

[296] That deputation had gone to solicit the favour of the King, Francis I., for the Waldenses of Provence.

[297] Calvin had arrived at Geneva the 13th September 1541. We find under that date, in the Extracts from the Council Registers:—"Calvin, having arrived at Geneva, presented himself to the Council, to whom he brought letters from the Magistrates and Ministers of Strasbourg. He excused himself on account of his journey having been delayed. He represented that it would be necessary to set about the work of ecclesiastical ordinances. Resolved, that they would apply themselves to it immediately, and for that purpose appointed, along with Calvin, Claude Pertemps, Amy Perrin, Claude Roset, Jean Lambert, Poralis, and Jean Balard. Resolved also to retain Calvin here always.—October 1541. The stipend of Calvin assigned at five hundred florins, twelve measures of corn, and two tuns of wine." For a dwelling they offered the mansion Fregneville, purchased at the price of two hundred and sixty crowns, with an ell of velvet for clothing.

[298] That Church was at this time in a state of great disorder, which Calvin had in vain tried to tranquillize, at Neuchatel. See the following Letter.

[299] On the back, in the handwriting of Viret:—"Letters sent to those of Neuchatel, when they wished to drive away Farel, their minister, brought by Viret, sent on the part of the ministers of Geneva, with the following instructions to inform them of their opinion."

Inflexible in the exercise of the duties of his ministry, Farel had publicly censured, in one of his discourses, a lady of rank, whose conduct had been a matter of scandal in the Church of Neuchatel. Irritated by that censure, the relatives of that lady roused a party of the towns-people against that courageous minister, and obtained a sentence of deposition against him, which was not annulled but upon the interference of the Seigneury of Berne and of the principal Swiss Churches.—Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf., tom. v. p. 164, and following pages.

[300] The mission of Viret, and his endeavours to pacify the Church of Neuchatel, had been without the desired result. A violent party, opposed to the Reformation, and impatient of all order as of all authority in the Church, demanded the expulsion of Farel. In these circumstances, Calvin had recourse to the credit and trust reposed in Bucer, and the intervention of the Church of Strasbourg to appease these unhappy differences.

[301] Calvin had left at Strasbourg his wife, Idelette de Bure, who rejoined him some time afterwards at Geneva. In the Council Registers we have the following entry, 13th September 1541:—"Resolved, ... to bring hither the wife of Calvin and his household furniture."

[302] See the preceding Letter and Memorial.

[303] The Church of Strasbourg acted in conjunction with the Churches of Constance, of Zurich, and of Basle, to decide the inhabitants of Neuchatel to retain Farel.

[304] The ecclesiastical ordinances, drawn up by Calvin and approved by the magistrates, were solemnly accepted by the citizens of Geneva, met in general assembly in St. Peter's Church, the 20th November 1541.—See Gaberel, Histoire de l'Eglise de GenÈve, vol. i. p. 269.

[305] He endeavoured to procure from the Seigneury of Berne a prolongation of leave for the minister Viret, which they had already granted for the period of six months to the Church of Geneva. On the representation of Calvin, the magistrates of Strasbourg wrote on two occasions to those of Berne to ask that favour. In the second of these letters they render most honourable testimony to Calvin. "M. Calvin," they say, "has comported himself among us with so much uprightness and constancy, and has become so acceptable by his skill and ability, that not only we would have retained him among us with pleasure, but more especially, for the sake of our Church, we would not easily have yielded him up, if we had not believed that he would be more useful at Geneva.... On that account we perceive with grief that he cannot complete the work which he has commenced, and with which he had burdened himself beyond his strength, &c...."—MS. of the Archives of Berne, cited by Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf., tom. v. p. 162.

[306] The magistrates of Strasbourg, desirous of testifying to Calvin their satisfaction on account of his services, and at the same time their esteem for his character, before his departure for Geneva bestowed on him the honorary distinction of citizenship by making him a burgess. They offered also a year's pension; but the latter present he refused.

[307] The plague continued its ravages at Strasbourg, where it carried away this year the children of the first two Reformers of Switzerland, William, the son of Zuingli, and EuzÈbe, the son of Œcolampadius. It soon spread to Basle and to Zurich, where it found many victims. It broke out towards the end of the following year at Geneva.

[308] The Church of Basle had lost Simon GrynÉc, and the pious burgomaster, Jacob Meyer, who had so powerfully contributed to the reformation of the town.

[309] Conrad Hubert, secretary of Bucer.

[310] RenÉe of France, daughter of Louis XII. and of Anne of Brittany, born at the Castle of Blois the 29th of October 1510, and died at the chateau of Montargis the 12th of June 1575. United, from views of political expediency, to one of the smaller princes of Italy, a vassal of the Bishop of Rome, this princess, endowed with a strong mind and an excellent spirit, quitted France, in 1528, to follow her husband, Hercules of EstÉ, to Ferrara; and she brought along with her to that court a taste for literature, with free and generous sentiments of belief, which she had inhaled from her intimate association with Marguerite of Navarre. She received at Ferrara Clement Marot, who dedicated some of his verses to her, and also Calvin, who initiated her in the faith of the Reformed, for which she was honoured to suffer, and which she professed courageously till her death. This was the origin of the long correspondence which she maintained with the Reformer, whose letters recurred from time to time to encourage and confirm her. The letter which we insert here is, doubtless, one of the earliest in that series. On the last leaf we have the following words written in another hand:—

"Against a certain almoner, Master Francis, who made (Madame) go to mass, and set her against those who would not go, as against scandalous persons. It treats very fully about things lawful and not lawful, and how scandals must be avoided."

[311] Anne de Parthenay, daughter of John de Parthenay, Lord of Soubise, and of Michelle de Sanbonne, governess of RenÉe of France. She married Antony de Pons, Comte de Marennes, was instructed by Calvin himself in the Reformed doctrine, and remained a long time attached, as dame d'honneur, to the Duchess of Ferrara, to whose court she was an ornament, both by her virtues and her ability. Clement Marot addresses her in several of his poems, and the learned author, Lilio Gregorio Gyraldi, dedicates to her the second book of his History of the Gods.

[312] Heb. ix. 25, 26.

[313] 1 Cor. xi. 23-26.

[314] In the margin, handwriting of Calvin,—"After having understood the will of God, give advice."

[315] This is the title of that work, "De Missa Matrimonio et Jure Magistratus in Religione. D. Wolfgango Capitone, auctore." The Dedication to Henry VIII., "Summum in terris EcclesiÆ AnglicanÆ Caput," is of 15th March 1537.

[316] This was the letter of Calvin to Louis Duchemin, intituled, "De fugiendis impiorum illicitis sacris, et puritate ChristianÆ Religionis. GenevÆ, 1537. 8vo." That letter, translated into French, has been inserted in the Recueil des Opuscules, edit. 1566, in fol., p. 57.

[317] De la CÈne de nostre Seigneur.

[318] The conclusion of this letter is wanting in the original French, and we restore it here from the Latin translation inserted, (Calv. EpistolÆ et Responsa, edit. d'Amsterdam, p. 93.) A near approximation to the date of that piece is supplied by the passage relative to Capito:—"Et de cela Capito qui est l'ung de ceux qui taschent fort À modÉrer les choses, a naguÈres inscript un livre." The dedication of this book to Henry VIII. is of the 15th March 1537; the death of Capito happened in December 1541; and the letter of Calvin to the Duchess of Ferrara, written from Geneva, between the two events, places the date, without doubt, in October 1541, after the return of the Reformer to that town.

[319] A Synod of the churches of the Pays de Vaud was then assembled at the town of Vevay.

[320] Persecuted with equal animosity by the fanatical bigotry of the courtiers and of the priesthood, the Waldenses had appointed two procurators, Francis Chaix and William Armand, charged with the duty of justifying their innocence at the Court of France; but these agents could not even obtain from their judges a copy of the process which had been instituted against the inhabitants of CabriÈres and Merindol, condemned by an iniquitous tribunal without ever having been heard in defence; and it required no less than royal intervention to compel the Parliament of Aix to give a copy of the acts and procedure of the whole process. The two prelates, the Bishop of Cavaillon and the Archbishop of Arles, were among the most violent opponents of the Waldenses.—BÈze, Hist. Eccl. tom. i. p. 39.

[321] Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre.

[322] Mathurin Cordier left Neuchatel a few years afterwards, to become Regent of the College of Lausanne. It was in 1557 that, at the request of Calvin, his old pupil, he took upon him the office of Principal of the College of Geneva. See the interesting notice of Mathurin Cordier, by M. Professor Betant. Geneva, 1848.

[323] Stephen Dolet, the celebrated printer of Lyons. He published learned writings concerning antiquity; drew upon himself much enmity by the boldness of his opinions, and perished at the stake in 1544, equally suspected on both sides. He had published a work on the reading of the Bible in the vernacular dialect, which has given occasion to consider him as one of the martyrs of the Reformed Church.—See Bayle, Dict. Hist., Art. Dolet.

[324] Capito had died of the plague at Strasbourg, in the month of November, as we learn from a letter of Calvin to Farel:—"When this worthy brother had brought word that our excellent father, and of holy memory, Capito, had been taken away from us, and that Bucer, besides, was suffering from the plague, I was so affected both in mind and spirit, that I could do nought but lament and bewail."—Letter of 29th November 1541; Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 19. Endowed with the wisest and most conciliatory spirit, Capito left a great void in the Church at Strasbourg; "happy at least," says Beza, "to have been called away from this life before having witnessed the ruin of that Church. He did not share the exile of his beloved colleagues, Bucer and Fagius, but went before to the abode and dwelling-place of the heavenlies."—Theodori BezÆ, Icones. The decease of Capito excited a general mourning; his loss was equally deplored by the Reformers of Germany and of Switzerland.—Melchior Adam, VitÆ Theologorum Germanorum.

[325] The troubles which had arisen in the Church of Neuchatel (see letter, p. 286) not having been quieted by the arbitration of the Seigneury of Berne, the latter referred that grave matter to the decision of the burgesses solemnly assembled. The majority of votes pronounced in favour of Farel. He was thereupon settled in the ministry, and peace was thus established in that Church, so long a prey to intestine disorder.—Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf., tom. v. p. 167. At the news of that happy event, Calvin wrote in his own name, as well as in that of Viret, to congratulate Farel, and to recommend moderation after the victory.

[326] Oswald Myconius of Lucerne, the distinguished philologist and theologian, disciple of Glarean and of Erasmus. He taught literature at Zurich in the lifetime of Zuingli, who honoured him with his friendship; was then called to Basle, where he discharged the office of theological pastor, and was elected first pastor on the decease of Œcolampadius, (1531.) Zealous partisan of the Lutheran dogma of the Sacraments, in his relations with the Swiss churches, he was ever animated by a spirit of moderation and gentleness, which procured him the constant affection of Calvin. He died October 15, 1552, at the age of sixty-three years, and was succeeded by the minister Sulzer in the direction of the Church of Basle.—Melch. Adam, VitÆ Theologorum Germanorum, pp. 223-226.

[327] "I will write concerning Viret to Berne as soon as I am able, but in the name of the brethren, that it may come with greater authority, if the object can be accomplished at all. For we also desire that the Church of Geneva may be as well supplied as possible for the good of other churches."—Oswald Myconius to Calvin, 10th February 1542.

[328] The right of censure and excommunication belonging to the Consistory. It was not without much difficulty that the right of ecclesiastical censure was granted to the Consistorial Court,—a body which included at once the ministers and some members of the magistracy, chosen from the various municipal councils. This right of the Consistory was often contested, and was only definitely recognized after long resistance, of which traces are to be found in the Registers of Council, from 1542 to 1553.

[329] To the very faithful minister of Christ, D. Oswald Myconius, pastor of the Church at Basle, my much respected friend.

[330] Bucer had gone to Cologne, called thither by the Archbishop, Elector Hermann de Wied, the pious and distinguished prelate who had courageously undertaken the reformation of his diocese.

[331] Discord prevailed among the members of the League of Smalkald, one part refusing the subsidy to the Emperor for the war against the Turks, the other shewing a disposition to grant it. "It is spread abroad that there exists dissension between the Princes and the Cities concerning the money and men to be given against the Turk. I rejoice that Christ is Lord, otherwise I had altogether despaired. Himself will preserve his Church."—Oswald Myconius to Calvin, 10th February 1542.

[332] The Margrave Albert of Brandenbourg, a bold adventurer, who lent his sword in turn to all parties during the troubles of Germany.

[333] Sebastian Munster, Professor of Theology at the University of Basle, and author of the Cosmographia Universalis.

[334] Allusion to the disputes between Berne and Geneva, submitted to the arbitration of the Seigneury of Basle.

[335] On the back: Letters against the Carmelite. Without date. A Latin letter of Calvin to Farel, of the 10th May 1542, relative to the same subject, furnishes us with the date, and informs us that this white friar, who had gone over to the ranks of the Reformed, belonged to Lyons: "Venit Carmelita Lugdunensis a quo non frustra timuimus." Calvin forewarned the faithful of that town to be upon their guard against that false friar.

The Church of Lyons, one of the most glorious of the French Reformation, owed its origin to the preaching of an old Jacobin monk, Alexander Camus, surnamed Laurence de la Croix, who suffered martyrdom at Paris in 1535. The first members of that Church were merchants, "some goldsmiths and others of the town," who met together in secret. The work begun by Alexander Camus was manfully followed up by John Fabri, (or Le Fevre,) who found pious continuators in the ministers, Peter Fournelet and Claude Monnier, before the epoch of the great persecutions.—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. pp. 55, 56.

[336] That is to say, Geneva.

[337] The Church of Lyons.

[338] The Republic of Geneva incurred the loss of an excellent magistrate and friend in Porral, who had been named first Syndic of this year. He had concurred with Calvin in drawing up the Ecclesiastical Ordonnances adopted the preceding year, and he died, as this letter of the Reformer to Farel testifies, with sentiments of the deepest and most lively piety.

[339] Two years before, he had a keen religious dispute with the minister Henri de la Mare, and James Bernard had supported his colleague. De la Mare upheld that the magistrate should not punish sins; that no one can have assurance of his election; that no one could go more gladly to his wedding than Jesus went to death. Amy Porral pronounced these opinions to be false and dangerous.—Arch. de GenÈve, Savion, c. 45. This dispute degenerating into a quarrel, had embroiled the two ministers with the magistrate.

[340] The disputes which had fallen out between Geneva and Berne had not yet been finally settled.

[341] Letter without date, but written to Viret shortly after his return to Lausanne from Geneva, at which former place he had resumed the functions of pastor, July 12, 1542.

[342] The ministers elected to exercise along with Calvin the office of pastors at Geneva were the following:—Philippe, surnamed De Ecclesia, Peter Blanchet, Louis Geniston, and Treppereau.—See the Consistory's Registers, 1542.

[343] Henri de la Mare and Champereau, ministers before the last election.

[344] To B. Textor, my brother and esteemed friend. Benoit Textor, the distinguished physician and friend of Calvin, who dedicated to him, in 1550, his Commentary on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, in remembrance of the care which he had bestowed during the sickness of Idelette de Bure.

[345] See Letter LXXXVII., p. 335, note 2.

[346] Is he the minister Philippe de Ecclesia, who was afterwards deposed?

[347] The minister James Bernard. See Letter LXII. He became pastor of a country parish.

[348] Is this Calvin's Catechisme, reprinted at Strasbourg in 1541, or perhaps the treatise De la CÊne, of which a second edition was published in the same year at Geneva? The journeys which Calvin had made in Germany, to promote the interests of the Church at Strasbourg, had laid him open to suspicion of Lutheran tendencies by the Swiss theologians; it was to remove this suspicion that he published that little work, which is distinguished by the spirit of moderation which pervades it, and which was approved of by Luther himself. See Hospinian, ii. p. 312.

[349] This Commentary was not published for some time afterwards, when it appeared under the care of Robert Etienne.—Commentarius in Genesim, in fol., Geneva, 1554.

[350] The person here mentioned is no other than Sebastian Castalio, who was afterwards so unhappily celebrated by his debates with the Reformer. Born at Fresne near Nantua en Bresse, he sought an asylum at Strasbourg, where he was acquainted with Calvin, and became a member of the French Church; esteemed by Calvin on account of his character and talents, he followed him after his recall to Geneva, and was nominated regent in the new college of that town.

[351] The minister Peter Blanchet.

[352] The minister Henri de la Mare. He had discharged the functions of the ministry, during the exile of Calvin, under conditions which were scarcely compatible with the dignity of the ministry.

[353] He had set out for Metz.

[354] After the affair of the Placards this Princess shewed herself less avowedly and openly favourable to the Protestants of France; she, however, took an unceasing interest in their cause. She wrote, in 1541, to Calvin, on occasion of the projected marriage of her daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, with the Duke of Cleves:—"We think that God has given us a son to our own heart and mind, by whom we hope that we shall contribute somewhat to his honour and glory. We entreat you, that in whatsoever you shall perceive that I can do you any good service, you will not spare me; and I assure you that I will do my endeavour very heartily, according to the power which God shall bestow upon me."—Paris MSS., an unpublished letter of the 25th July 1541.

[355] Of a vain and flighty turn, Froment could not remain content with that better part which had been assigned to him as the missionary of the Reform at Geneva. He abandoned the ministry of the Gospel to become a notary, and incurred more than once the censures of the Seigneury.

[356] The Chancellor of France, William Poyet, accused of malversation. He was condemned to pay a heavy fine, and deprived of all his offices.

[357] See Sleidan, lib. xiv. p. 408. The Institution ChrÉtienne of Calvin was particularly forbidden by this edict.

[358] Brought to a stand for six months before Perpignan, by the heroic resistance of the Duke of Alva, the French army could not cross the Pyrenees.—Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., book vii.

[359] More fortunate than the Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans began the campaign with success in Luxembourg, but he compromised all his advantages by a precipitate departure for the Rousillon, and the towns of which he had taken possession in the Netherlands fell back under the power of the Imperialists.—Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., book viii.

[360] In allusion to the struggle which the ministers had to sustain in the Councils of the Republic for the appliance of discipline.

[361] The lesser council, as distinguished from that of the two hundred. They have at Geneva four councils. 1st, The common council, or lesser council, formed of the four syndics going out of office, of the four new, and seventeen members nominated by the two hundred. This is the Senatus minor. 2d, The council of the two hundred. 3d, The council of the sixty. Lastly, The council general, a popular assembly, convoked only upon extraordinary occasions.

[362] It is to this sad loss that Calvin alludes in so remarkable a manner in his answer to the Jurisconsult Baudouin:—"Wishing to clear himself from the charge of a want of natural affection brought against him, Balduin twits me with my want of offspring. God had given me a son. God hath taken my little boy. This he reckons up among my misdeeds, that I have no children. I have myriads of sons throughout the Christian world."—Responsio ad Balduini Convitia. Geneva, 1561.

[363] Notwithstanding the constant endeavour of the Seigneury of Berne to maintain peace and union in their churches, serious differences on the subject of the Supper had made their appearance on several occasions among the members of the Bernese clergy. A new formulary, reproducing the terms adopted in the disputation of Berne in 1528, was then drawn up by order of the Seigneury, and submitted for the acceptance of the ministers. The Deans of the different Classes of the Pays Romand, Payerne, Yverdon, Lausanne, Morges, Gex, and Thonon, were assembled together at Berne, with the view of sanctioning, by their approbation, the uniformity of doctrine in the districts subject to the Government of Berne. Alive to every proceeding which might compromise the independence and dignity of the Church in a neighbouring country, Calvin does not spare giving his advice to Viret, and puts him on his guard.

[364] See the note of the preceding Letter. The different Deans of the Classes of the Pays de Vaud having met at Berne, received communication of the new formulary, and declared their adherence to the acts of the Deputy from Lausanne, regarding the question of the Sacraments.

[365] The Seigneury of Berne, jealous of the authority which they claimed the right to exercise in ecclesiastical as well as in civil affairs, and looking on every attempt of the ministers to maintain the dignity of their office as a direct infringement on their power, began to introduce the system of despotism in Church matters, which had met at first but slight resistance in the Pays de Vaud, recently brought under government, but which was destined gradually to excite there an energetic opposition, and to occasion the voluntary retirement of the most distinguished ministers.—Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf. tom. vi. p. 256, et seq.

[366] The minister Beat Gerung or Gering, a declared partisan of the Lutheran dogma of the Supper, and one of the most servile of the Bernese clergy.

[367] Another minister of Zurich.

[368] At the request of the Protestants of Metz, Farel had left Neuchatel to go to preach the Reformed doctrine in that town. He received Calvin's letter at Strasbourg, where the Reformer joined him the year following.—See Hist. des Martyrs, liv. iii. p. 153; BÈze, Hist. Eccl. tom. iii. p. 432.

[369] This letter throws light on the first disagreements or differences between Calvin and Sebastian Castalio, or Castellio, occupied on the translation into French of the sacred Scriptures. Castalio evinced very little anxiety about elegance and purity of language in the work on which he was engaged. Thus he could not fail to encounter the severe criticism of the Reformer, who doubtless was charged in the name of the Seigneury with the revisal of the translation of the New Testament, and refused to give his approbation. It was not until some years afterwards, at Basle, that Sebastian Castalio published his work, under this title,—"The Bible, with Annotations on the Difficult Passages. 2 vols. in folio, Basle, 1555." This work has become so rare, that it is at present impossible to procure it, and to ascertain the justice of the criticism which it has occasioned. The celebrated Henry Etienne accused the author of speaking the language of the Gueux. Bayle has been less severe.—See Dict. Hist., Art. Castalion; and MM. Haag, La France Protestante, 6me part, p. 365.

[370] Printer of Geneva.

[371] This word is taken in a bad sense: to haunt the wine-cellars and the cabaret, or beer-shop.—See the Dictionnaire de l'AcadÉmie.

[372] See note 2, p. 292. Dismissed by the Seigneury of Berne from the Church of Orbe, Zebedee was on the point to become pastor of the Church of Nyon.

[373] Celio Secondo-Curione, among the most illustrious of the preachers of the Reformation in Italy. Born at Turin in 1503, he devoted himself successfully to the teaching of Luther's doctrine, and preached the Gospel in Piedmont, at Ferrara, and at Lucca, stole away by flight from the pursuit of the Inquisition, and took refuge in Switzerland with his celebrated countrymen, Ochino and Peter Martyr. The same year he was appointed Director of the College of Lausanne.—See M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy; and Jules Bonnet, Vie d'Olympia Morata, third edition Paris, 1856.

[374] Concerning ecclesiastical affairs. See pp. 345-347.

[375] The Seigneury of Berne put to sale this year the property of the churches, of the priories, and of the cloisters, and drew from them considerable sums, of which a portion ought to have been applied to the foundation of new cures, and in augmentation of the ministers' stipends.—See Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf. en Suisse, tom. v. pp. 201-203.

[376] The year 1542 was signalized by the establishment of the Inquisition in Italy, and by the dispersion of the Reformed communities established at Naples, at Lucca, and at Venice.—See M'Crie, Hist. of the Ref. in Italy, c. v. pp. 212-231.

[377] Bernardino Ochino of Sienna, [ancien supÉrieur-gÉnÉral,] of the order of the Capuchins. Renowned for his eloquence throughout all Italy, he preached the Reformation successfully at Naples and at Venice, was cited before the tribunal of the Inquisition, and escaped by a voluntary exile the condemnation which threatened him. In the month of September, 1542, he arrived at Geneva, and was the first pastor of the Italian Church founded in that town.—See M'Crie, History, and Council's Registers, 1542, passim.

[378] See Note 1, p. 352.

[379] See Note 2, p. 228. Notwithstanding multiplied conferences, and the conciliatory efforts of the arbiters of Basle, the disputes between Berne and Geneva had not yet been settled. The two republics were brought to agreement only in the month of January 1544.

[380] He was then devoted to the Reformation and to Calvin, of whom he soon became the most determined adversary.

[381] "The plague having made its appearance in several houses of the town, the Plague Hospital was supplied with officers."—Registers of Council, 25th September 1542.

[382] "Peter Blanchet, minister, having offered to attend and offer consolation to the poor affected with the plague, who are at present in the Plague Hospital, his offer is accepted."—Ibid., 23d October 1542.

[383] According to the testimony of Michael Roset and of Savion, contemporaries of Calvin, the Reformer offered himself at the same time with Blanchet to visit the sick. But the Seigneury of Geneva refused his offer, "on account of the great need which the Church had of his services."—Registers of Council, 1st June 1545. Chronique de Roset, iv. fol., and Savion, 60.

[384] The plague prevailed equally at Lausanne.

[385] Ochino.—See Note 2, p. 355.

[386] "Bernardin de Sesnaz, of Sienna, an Italian minister, having asked permission to preach in that language, resolved to grant it to him, and that he shall preach in the chapel of Cardinal d'Ostie."—Registers of Council, 29th October 1542.

[387] Julio Camillo, better known under the name of Renato, which he had adopted on embracing Protestantism. Originally from Sicily, he left his native country in early youth, for Paris, where he was long devoted to the study of the Cabala. Having left Paris for Geneva, he preached the Reformation in the Valteline, and joined the sect of the Anti-trinitarians.—Bock, Hist. Anti-trinit., tom. ii. p. 482. His solemn and taciturn manner appeared to conceal heterodox opinions; Calvin's clear sight did not deceive him.

[388] The Seigneury of Geneva shewed their sense of the zeal and indefatigable activity exercised in their behalf by the Reformer. "Ordered, to make present to Calvin of a tun of old wine of l'HÔpital, for the pains which he takes on account of the town."—Extracts, Registers of Council, 17th Nov. 1542.

[389] Leo Juda, one of the pastors of the Church of Zurich, translator of the Old Testament into Latin. He died of the plague the 19th June 1542, in the sixtieth year of his age. "Our Church," wrote Bullinger, "has lost in that man an inestimable treasure. As regards myself, I have lost a good part of my life by the death of that much-loved brother; and if I did not find consolation by the hope of a better life in that which is to come, and of the resurrection of the dead, I must have given way under my sorrow."—Letter, cited by Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf. tom. v. p. 188.

[390] Michael Varod was procureur of the hospital at Geneva in 1542.

[391] On the back: "Answer to a certain CurÉ, which he had written while the plague was at Geneva, wherein there are several remarkable instructions—without date."—From the Council Registers we see that the plague made its appearance at Geneva in 1542, and that during several years it made great ravages in the town and throughout the whole territory of Savoy. The number of sick was immense. It was almost certain death to visit them. Three ministers offered spontaneously to discharge that duty: Calvin, Sebastian Castalio, and Blanchet. Castalio, who was the first person designated by lot, appears to have declined that perilous honour. Blanchet generously made the sacrifice of his life; and the urgent solicitations of the Seigneury of Geneva, who were afraid to expose the valuable life of the Reformer, could alone determine Calvin to desist from undertaking the charge which he had himself solicited. See Roset, Chronique, iv. 60, and Savion, 60.

[392] This letter is doubtless one of the first addressed by Calvin to Melanchthon. United, since the Conferences of Ratisbon, to the German Reformer by the bonds of affection and friendship, he thenceforth lavished upon him the testimonies of his esteem and respect, and kept up relations with him which were never interrupted, notwithstanding the difference of their doctrine and genius. Calvin dedicated, in 1543, to Melanchthon, the publication which he set forth against Doctor Albert Pighius, the opponent of the doctrine of grace, and he edited, some years afterwards, the Loci Communes of Melanchthon, translated into French; thus presenting a remarkable example of the spirit of union and concord which he applied in its development to the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, according to that beautiful passage of one of his Letters: "Would that the union between all Christ's Churches upon earth were such, that the angels in heaven might join their song of praise!"

[393] This treatise, first of all written in Latin, and afterwards translated into French, is inserted in the Recueil des Opuscules, p. 257, under this title, RÉponse aux Calomnies d'Albert Pighius, Contenant la DÉfense de la Saincte Doctrine contre le Franc Arbitre, with a Preface to Melanchthon, of February 1543.

[394] In his answer, dated the 4th of May following, Melanchthon thanks Calvin for the Dedication of his book, mingling the expression of his acknowledgments with high praise of the author. "I am much affected by your kindness, and I thank you that you have been pleased to give evidence of your love for me to all the world, by placing my name at the beginning of your remarkable book, where all the world will see it."—Calvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 175.

[395] Faithful to the engagements which he had contracted with the King of France, Soliman in fact invaded Hungary with a numerous army, and took possession of almost the whole country, while the crescent of Mahomet and the Lilies united, to the great scandal of Christendom, before the walls of Nice, then besieged by the combined fleets of France and Turkey.—Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., c. vii.

[396] The Archbishop, Elector of Cologne, had requested the advice of Bucer and of Melanchthon in endeavouring to reform the churches within his diocese. See Melch. Adam, Vita Melanchthonis, p. 34.

[397] The Council of Trent, so often announced and as often adjourned, only commenced on the 13th December 1545.

[398] See the next letter.

[399] See note 1, p. 316. The ecclesiastical ordonnances had separated distinctly the domain of religious authority from that of the civil jurisdiction. To the Consistory belonged the right of private remonstrance, of public censure, and of excommunication. When the delict was punishable by corporal chastisement or by fine, the Consistory then referred the matter to the Council, who pronounced sentence, and enforced the penalty.

[400] Conrad Pellican, a pious and learned professor of the Academy of Zurich. Born in 1479, he evinced from his infancy an extraordinary taste for the study of the Hebrew language, in which he made rapid progress, and which, at a later period, he taught at Basle and at Zurich. Called to that latter town in 1526, he acquired the friendship both of Zuingli and of Bullinger, was a correspondent of Calvin, and died in 1556. The celebrated Peter Martyr succeeded him.—Melch. Adam, VitÆ Theologorum Germanorum, p. 162. et seq.

[401] Farel was then at Metz. See the Letter XCIII.

[402] The life of Farel was threatened more than once, by the Roman Catholics of Metz, as it had been formerly, when he was preaching the gospel in the valleys of the Jura and the Alps; but, like the Apostle Paul, nothing could quench his zeal for the promulgation of the truth.—Hist. des Martyrs, lib. iii.

[403] Ochino allowed himself to be entangled at a later period in those opinions which at this time he repudiated. He afterwards became one of the principal chiefs of the sect of the Anti-trinitarians.

[404] This letter, written from Strasbourg, has reference, as well as the following, to the journey which Calvin undertook, in 1543, for the evangelization of Metz.

A town of the Empire, and the seat of one of the three bishoprics which the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis incorporated with France, Metz received betimes the seed of the Reformation. The first missionaries were John Leclerc and John Chatelain, who suffered martyrdom, (1523-1524.) The Church, which they had helped to found by their testimony, enlarged under the cross of persecution. She demanded, in 1544, the free exercise of religion at the Diet of Ratisbon, but without obtaining it. The year following, she called Farel. The intrepid missionary answered the perilous appeal. Driven from the town by a sedition, he retired to the village of Montigny, where the Protestants flocked together to wait upon his preachings. The gates of the town were shut upon them by order of the Roman Catholic magistrates, and thus they perceived they were driven from their country. Received with kindness by the magistrates of Strasbourg, they had recourse to the intervention of the Protestant princes of Germany to obtain free access to their houses and property, as well as the free exercise of their worship. It was during these negotiations that Calvin left Geneva, and rejoined Farel at Strasbourg.—BÈze, Hist. Eccl. tom. iii. p. 431, and following.

[405] Charles presided in the following year at the Diet of Spires with extraordinary Éclat, but strove in vain to bring the two parties to agreement. All that he obtained from the majority of that assembly was a declaration by which the points in dispute were to be submitted to a Council.

[406] The Duke of Cleves, the ally of France, was threatened at the time by the whole force of Charles V.

[407] To the godly and faithful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, the pastors of the Church of Geneva, my very dear brethren.

[408] The apostate Peter Caroli. Reconciled with the Sorbonne, he went to Metz to give proof of his zeal to support the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and had boasted publicly to confound Farel and Calvin by a public discussion, at which he dared not even appear.—BÈze, Hist. Eccl., tom. iii. p. 431, et seq.

[409] It is probable that Farel is here indicated, in allusion to the impetuosity of his disposition.

[410] Gaspar de Heu, Seigneur de Buy. It was under the administration of this magistrate, favourable to the Reformation, that Farel had been called to Metz.

[411] See note 2, p. 320. This prelate, remarkable for his zeal and for his piety, had boldly introduced the Reformed doctrines into his states, without allowing himself to be intimidated by the opposition of his clergy, or the menaces of the Pope. He protested, however, against the title of Lutheran, declaring, that he wished to order his diocese in manner conformable to the apostolic doctrine. In 1546 he was excommunicated by Pope Paul III., and deposed after the battle of MÜhlberg.

[412] That war, which was the last act of the struggle between Charles the Fifth and Francis I., was fought simultaneously in the Netherlands, in France, and in Italy. The Emperor was in alliance with the King of England, Henry VIII.; Francis I. with the Duke of Cleves and the Sultan Soliman. Peace was re-established by the treaty of Carpy, (18th September 1544.)

[413] Ill supported by the King of France, the Duke of Cleves was overborne by the Emperor, reduced to implore pardon on his knees, and dispossessed of a part of his states.

[414] To the ambassadors of Geneva at Berne.

[415] See the preceding Letter, p. 390.

[416] The negotiations pending between the Protestant Princes and the Magistrates of Metz were prolonged to a wearisome length. Tired of a proceeding that seemed to be endless, baulked in his expectation of seeing a free access open to the preaching of the Reformed doctrine in that town, Calvin sought permission to depart, from the Magistrates of Strasbourg, and prepared to return to Geneva. The refugees of Metz obtained leave that same year to return to their country, with the promise of a Church, and a precarious toleration of their worship, which, with much ado, scarcely lasted a few months.

[417] On the back: "To my good lord and friend Sire Jacques Le Franc."—James de Bourgogne, Seigneur de Falais and of Breda in Brabant, great-grandson natural of Philip le Bel, Duke of Burgundy. Brought up at the Court of Charles the Fifth, this seigneur adopted, in his youth, the Reformed faith, and under the Spanish rule not being able to avow his profession, by the advice of Calvin he quitted his country, abandoning the whole of his property, which was confiscated by a decree of the Court of Malines. Thenceforth devoted to perpetual exile, he dwelt successively at Cologne, Strasbourg, Basle, Geneva, and maintained an active correspondence with the Reformer, who heaped upon him the tokens of his friendship, and dedicated to him in 1546 his Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. These kind relations were unfortunately disturbed at a later period on account of the trial of Jerome Bolsec, in which M. de Falais openly took part against Calvin. The latter keenly resented that act of hostility on the part of a friend, which broke up the friendship, without any after healing, in 1552. The letters of Calvin to M. de Falais have been published in the last century at Amsterdam from the originals long preserved in that town.—Lettres de Calvin À Jacques de Bourgogne, Seigneur de Falais, 1 vol. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1744. We republish them here in more chronological order, revised and corrected from the originals now deposited in the library of Geneva, with some other pieces appended which have not hitherto appeared in print.

[418] David de Busanton, Seigneur du Hainaut, in retirement at Geneva.

[419] On the back: "To my lady and good sister Madame Katerine Le Franc."

Iolande de Brederode, of the ancient and illustrious house of the Counts of Holland, aunt of Henri de Brederode, who, in 1566, presented the request of the four hundred Reformed nobles of the Netherlands to Margaret of Austria, and thus laid the foundation of the liberty of the United Provinces. Of a stoical and generous spirit, Madame de Falais partook the sentiments of her husband, and she shared the noble fellowship of the sacrifices which he made for the sake of liberty of conscience.

[420] This letter is without date; but Calvin might have written it shortly after the two which precede it, in order to overcome the last scruples of M. de Falais, then on the point of abandoning his fortune and his country.

[421] Regent in the College of Geneva, Sebastian Castalio sought also to have the title of minister, as we see from the Council Register, January 1544, "Sebastian Chatillon, regent. Calvin represents to the Council, that it is very right to employ the Regent, but not in that office of the ministry, on account of certain peculiar opinions which he entertains." These opinions which were called in question, were his doubts on the doctrine of election, on the descent of Jesus Christ to hell, and on the authenticity of the Song of Solomon. Offended at not being able to obtain the office and functions of a minister, Castalio denuded himself of those of regent, and prepared to leave Geneva, provided with the most honourable attestations of the pastors of that town.

[422] Francis de Bonnivard, prior of St. Victor, celebrated for his wise and prudent spirit, his talents, and above all, by his long captivity in the Castle of Chillon. Restored to liberty on the conquest of the Pays de Vaud by the Bernese, he returned to his own country, and was charged with the editing of the Chronicles of Geneva. Having been married previously to Catherine Baumgartner of Berne, he married, in 1544, Jeanne d'Armeis, herself at that time widow of two husbands, and mother of the Syndic Amblard Corne. This marriage was not a happy one, and the quarrels of the two spouses drew upon them more than once the censures of the Consistory. See Notice of Francis Bonnivard, Prieur of St. Victor, by Doctor ChaponniÈre. GenÈve, 1546.

[423] After five years of embroilments and continued struggles between Berne and Geneva on account of the disputed territories then in litigation, peace was at length re-established between the two towns by the definitive sentence of the deputies of Basle, chosen as arbiters, (January 1544.) This decision, accepted equally by both parties, divided between them the jurisdiction of the lands belonging to Saint Victor, and the Charter granted to the Genevese fourteen cures or benefices out of the dependencies of the ancient bishopric, with power to place ministers; discharged the Bernese from the oath which those of Geneva pretended to be due to them on account of the occupation of the bailliages of Gex and of Ternier; and last of all stipulated for the free return of the banished exiles of Geneva, after the troubles of 1540.—See the Chronique de Roset, l. iv. c. 65; and Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf. tom. v. pp. 240, 241.

[424] See the preceding Letter.

[425] One of the Genevese refugees at Berne, belonging to one of the most distinguished families of the republic.

[426] In the original: ???st?a?. During the period of Calvin's banishment to Strasbourg, several parties had arisen at Geneva. The most important was that of the Articulans, or of the Artichaud, whose chiefs, after having possessed supreme power for some time, were either put to death or banished, in consequence of a popular reaction. Several of the exiles retired to Berne, whence, after matters in dispute had been arranged between the two cities, they were permitted to return to Geneva—Spon, Hist. de GenÈve, tom. i. pp. 281, 282, Note O.

[427] Without doubt the Dialogues of Viret, Dialogi de Confusione Mundi, published in Latin and French. Geneva, 1545.

[428] "It was," says Th. de BÈze, "in this year (1543) that those of Sorbonne, with the connivance of the bishops, usurped the authority of making articles of faith on the controverted questions of our time in the matter of religion."—Hist. Eccl. tom. i. p. 33. It was not Viret who replied to that strange pretension of the Sorbonne, but Calvin. The answer of the Reformer, a model of pith and irony, appeared in 1544, under the title, Les Articles de la SacrÉe FacultÉ de ThÉologie de Paris, avec le RemÈde contre le Poison.—Recueil des Opuscules, p. 71.

[429] Brieve Instruction pour armer tout bon FidÈle contre les Erreurs de la Secte Commune des Anobaptistes: Geneva, 1544. Inserted in the Recueil des Opuscules, with a preface by Calvin to the Ministers of the Churches of the county of Neuchatel, 1st June 1544.

[430] Sebastian Castalio.

[431] The Doctor John Chaponneau, aneien moine of the Abbaye of Saint Amboise, at Bourges, become minister of the Church of Neuchatel, had attacked in some points the doctrine of the book of the "Institution ChrÉtienne." Calvin answered his observations in a few words. Chaponneau did not feel satisfied, and repeated his attacks with extreme violence. The subject of debate was the Divinity of Christ, seriously altered by the rash interpretations of Chaponneau. The reply of the Reformer, written at the request of Farel, was addressed to the pastors of the Church of Neuchatel.

[432] Son-in-law of the minister Chaponneau, whose opinions he no doubt shared.

[433] The celebrated jurisconsult, Andrew Alciat, from Milan, whose instruction Calvin had received at the University of Bourges. He lectured upon Law alternately in the schools of France and Italy, and died in 1546, leaving numerous disciples in the various countries of Europe.

[434] The Church of Geneva, set up as a butt for the attacks and blackening defamation of her maligners who were unwilling to submit to the authority of her discipline, had also to lament the scandales occasioned by the conduct of many of her pastors. Two of Calvin's colleagues, Henry de la Mare and Champereau, were not ashamed to frequent the taverns and cabarets, and so to expose the office of the ministry to the mockeries of insolent raillery, and those who took a pleasure in repeating that the ministers wished to make Canons of them.—Chronique de Roset, lib. v. c. 2 et 3.—Grieved on account of these scandals, but without the power of repressing them, Calvin found vent to his sorrow in the intimacy of his correspondence with Farel and Viret.

[435] The Minister Louis de Geniston.

[436] Marcourt, senior minister of the Church of Geneva.

[437] This was the Reply to the Sorbonne Articles. See the note, p. 408.

[438] Calvin had already lost a son in the month of August 1542. See note 3, p. 344. He had afterwards another child by Idelette de Bure, which does not appear to have long survived.

[439] The imperial assembly of Spire dissolved in the month of May 1544. Charles the Fifth had then obtained considerable subsidies from the Protestant princes in return for the important concessions which he had made to them in the great concern of religion.—Hist. Charles V., lib. vii.

[440] The French had gained a brilliant victory at CÉrisoles, 14th April 1544, over the Marquis of Guasta, the Imperial General.

[441] Gifted with a remarkable genius for politics, which had been formed in the school of Zuingle, and called more than once, on this account, to enlighten by his experience the councils of the republic of Basle, Oswald Myconius maintained a correspondence with Calvin, which had not merely the interests of the Church in view, but those of the whole of Europe, kept at that time in suspense by the last act of the struggle between Francis I. and Charles V.

[442] The Protestant princes of Germany, the steady allies of France against the House of Austria, abandoned their usual policy on this occasion, and joined the Emperor against Francis I. They alleged as their motive for this change, the impious alliance of that monarch with the Turks, whose arms threatened equally France and Italy, and they wrote to the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, inviting them to follow their example, by refusing their assistance to Francis I.—See Sleidan, lib. xv. pp. 441-446.

[443] M. de Falais afterwards left Brabant and went to Cologne with his family, as we see by his request addressed to Charles the Fifth: "I went indeed first of all to reside in your city of Cologne, where I abode so inoffensively and beyond the reach of blame from any one, that no person could justly complain of me."... Immediately on his arrival at Cologne, he had requested Calvin to send him a minister. The war which then wasted the Netherlands, and rendered communication difficult, had not allowed the Reformer at once to meet his wishes.

[444] Bucer had gone to the Diet which was held in that town in 1544. The Emperor, pressed by two enemies at the same time, Soliman and Francis I., made important concessions on that occasion to the Protestant side.

[445] M. de Falais had intended at first to retire to Geneva. He had afterwards decided to fix his residence at Strasbourg, where he indeed established himself the following year.

[446] The sacramentary truce which was brought about in 1538, with so much labour, between Lutheranism and the Reformed, was afterwards broken, notwithstanding the efforts of Bucer, of Melanchthon, and Calvin. Full of ill-humour against the memory of Zuingli, Luther allowed no opportunity of invective to pass, in his writings, against the doctrines of the Swiss Reformer and the Church of Zurich, which he likened to the heresies of Munzer and the Anabaptists. Desirous of maintaining peace among the Churches, the ministers of Zurich at first abstained from all reply, in the hope of soothing him by their silence, and avoiding direct collision with the vehement spirit of Luther. But Luther having on many occasions renewed his attacks, they considered it their duty to answer him in an indirect way by publishing the works of Zuingli, with an apology for his doctrine prefixed.—See Hospinian, HistoriÆ SacramentariÆ, GenÈve, 1681, tom. ii. pp. 318, 322. Ann. 1544.

[447] See pp. 187, 228, 270, 273, 283, 308. Suspended by Letters-patent of the King, and by the humanity of the President ChassanÉe, the execution of the sentence of the Parliament of Aix was furiously demanded by the new President of that Court, Jean Menier, Baron d'OppÈde, supported at Court by the Cardinal de Tournon.

[448] William du Bellay, in his quality of lieutenant of the King at Turin, charged with the duty of making a report to Francis I., renders a very striking homage to the piety and purity of the Vaudois.—De Thou, Hist., lib. vi. They obtained the same testimony from the pious Bishop Sadolet, who took them under his protection, and pleaded in vain their cause at the Court of Rome.—De Thou, ibidem.—Hist. des Martyrs, lib. iii. p. 140. A doctor of the Sorbonne, having put some questions to some of the children in one of their villages, upon the Catechisin, was so struck by their answers, that he acknowledged, says Beza, "never to have derived so much benefit in all the disputations he had been engaged in, as he had learned from these little children."—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 42.

[449] CabriÈres, Merindol, et Lourmarin, in the present Department of Vaucluse.

[450] In a recent publication, entitled, "Short Confession concerning the Supper," (Kurzes Bekenntniss vom Abendmahl,) Luther, renewing his invectives against the adversaries of the Sacrament, had insulted the memory of Zuingli, and had not even respected that of the learned and pious Œcolampadius.—Hospinian, Hist. Sacrament., tom. ii. pp. 326-331. Grievously annoyed by these violences, Melanchthon would have fled into retirement to get rid of the sad spectacle of the disorders which rent in pieces the Reformed Churches. He wrote to Bucer, the 28th August 1544, "I have written to you about our Pericles, who has again begun to thunder most vehemently on the subject of the Lord's Supper, and has written a fierce attack, in which you and I are beaten black and blue. I am a quiet peaceable bird, nor would be unwilling if I may depart out of this prison-house, if our disturber shall constrain me."—Ph. Melanchthonis Opera, edit. of Breitschneider, tom. v. p. 464.

[451] See the two preceding letters. Roused by the Lutheran intolerance, kept up by a hot controversy, the quarrel about the sacraments disturbed the Reformed Churches, and furnished weapons to their adversaries. While Calvin deplored these excesses, addressing himself by turns to Bullinger, to Melanchthon, to Luther himself, he made vain efforts to bring about an accommodation between the parties.

[452] Claude de Senarelens, of a noble Savoyard family, which had settled in the Pays de Vaud, after having embraced the Reformation.

[453] This is the TraitÉ de fuir les Superstitions. Geneva, 1544. Inserted in the Recueil des Opuscules, p. 758.

[454] Excuse aux Faux Nicodemites. GenÈve, 1544. Recueil des Opuscules, p. 789.

[455] The German theologians were indeed less strict. However, says Beza, they admitted, with Calvin, that it is impossible to serve two masters, and therein condemned those who were called Nicodemites.—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 49.

[456] This is the title:—De vitandis superstitionibus quÆ cum sincera fidei confessione pugnant, una cum J. Calvini excusatione ad Pseudo-Nicodemos, cum duabus epistolis ad ministros EcclesiÆ TigurinÆ. Geneva, 1545. The second edition of this work appeared in 1549, enhanced by the approbation of Melanchthon, of Bucer, and of Peter Martyr. Calv. Opera Omnia, tom. viii.

[457] See note 2, p. 432.

[458] In a letter written at this period, Bucer made a humble remonstrance to Luther, representing to him, that if the theologians of Zurich had somehow incurred his indignation, he ought, however, to have had some consideration for the imperial towns of Upper Germany, and the cantons of Berne and Basle, who had given him no ground of complaint, and who had always remained faithful to the thought of a Christian alliance.—Hospinian, Hist. Sacramentar., tom. ii. p. 331.

[459] Andrew Osiander, professor of theology at the University of KÖnigsberg, was of a presumptuous and violent spirit; he put forth rash doctrines on the nature of Christ, on justification, and exaggerated, in the Roman Catholic sense, the Lutheran dogma of the Supper. He died in 1552. Melchior Adam, VitÆ Theolog. Germ., pp. 226-240.

[460] Transferred successively from Vicenza to Mantua, and from Mantua to Trent, the Council opened in that latter town the 13th December 1545.

[461] Francis de Tournon, Archbishop of Lyons, and a cardinal, one of the fiercest persecutors of the Reformed under the reigns of Francis I., of Henry II., and of Francis II. He introduced the order of the Jesuits into France, set himself steadily in opposition to the establishment of religious liberty, and died in 1562.

[462] Chatelain, Bishop of MÂeon, Reader to the King, Francis I., who partook of his taste and disposition. Favourable to the Reformation, which, however, he dared not to profess openly, this prelate, at a later period, betrayed the hopes of the Reformed by taking up his position among the persecutors of the Gospel.—See Beza, Hist. Eccl., tom. i. pp. 79, 80.

[463] These theologians actually did assemble at Melun: "but there was," says Beza, "such division among them, that they only exchanged words and abuse, and were on the point of coming sometimes even to blows; the more ignorant who had been mixed up with the others not being willing to suffer those who were more learned to touch upon the abuses, however gently."—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 48.

[464] A peculiar interest attaches to this letter, the only one which the French Reformer had written to the German Reformer. Inspired by the deep conviction of the unity of the Reformed churches, written with as much moderation as respect, the message of conciliation was not even listened to. Soured by the quarrel about the sacraments, in which he took too great a share during the latter years of his life, Luther evinced daily more and more irritation against the theologians of Switzerland, and Melanchthon did not even venture to present the letter of Calvin, to whom he wrote in sadness: "I have not shewn your letter to Dr. Martin, for he takes up many things suspiciously, and does not like his replies to questions of the kind you have proposed to him, to be carried round and handed from one to another.... At present I am looking forward to exile and other sorrows. Farewell. On the day upon which, 3846 years ago, Noah entered into the ark, by which God gave testimony of his purpose never to forsake his Church even when she quivers under the shock of the great sea billows."—Melanchthon to Calvin, MSS. of Geneva, vol. 106.

[465] A letter without address and without date, probably written to one of the friends of the Reformer in France,—perhaps Louis du Chemin, or Francis Daniel,—who, while sincerely adhering to the doctrine of the Reformed, kept up in appearance their connection with the Roman Catholic Church. It is to this enlightened but timid class of men that two writings, submitted by Calvin to the approbation of Luther, were specially addressed. See two preceding Letters. "These writings," says Beza, "were the cause of a great blessing, several persons having resolved to devote themselves to God's service, who had formerly been asleep in their uncleanness."—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 49. But we know not who is the individual to whom Calvin addresses warnings against the seductions of the Court of Rome, and in the absence of certain knowledge, we are only left to conjecture.

[466] See note 1, p. 438.

[467] It is the same thought confirmed by the events which the Reformer expressed six years later, in the preface of the Commentary on the Canonical Epistles, dedicated to the King of England.—"But although the venerable fathers had begun to dazzle the eyes of the simple with some Will-o'-the-Wisp stories about the sitting of a Council, all this shining deceptious appearance having been dissipated by a secret whisper suddenly mooted by the See of Rome, vanished in smoke, except, that in order to keep up the excitement, a little cloud hovered for a season over Bologna."—Dedication to King Edward VI., 26th January 1551, Édit. de GenÈve, 1562.

[468] See Sleidan, lib. xvi., pp. 455, 456.

[469] See the note 1, p. 437.

[470] See the note 2, p. 434.

[471] See the Letter to the Ministers of Neuchatel, p. 410.

[472] This was, doubtless, the celebrated printer of Paris, Robert Etienne, who retired in 1551 to Geneva.

[473] William du Bellay had died in 1543, without realizing the hope which the Reformers of Germany and Switzerland had rested on his character and talents, for the spread of the Gospel in France. (See note 1, p. 58.) Th. de BÈze accuses him of double-dealing, and stigmatizes him as "rather the servant of the king than of God."—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 22. Sleidan is less severe; witness the fine Éloge he has written of the Lord of Langey, lib. xv. pp. 424-426.

[474] The work of Viret which is here alluded to, is without doubt, the following:—Deux Discours addressÉs aux FidÈles qui sont parmi les Papistes, in 8vo, GenÈve, 1544.

[475] See note 1, p. 439, and Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 80.

[476] Of this number was doubtless the learned Danes, Professor of Greek in Paris, who at that time manifested favourable dispositions towards the Reformation. At a later period he became the preceptor of Francis II., a bishop, and a persecutor.—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 48.

[477] Written to Viret in the outpouring of an unconstrained friendship, and pilfered from his master by an unfaithful valet, this letter became the subject, in 1548, of a formal accusation brought against Calvin before the Seigneury of Geneva, by Eremite Defrique Trolliet, one of the chiefs of the party of the Libertines. See on this affair the Correspondence of the Reformer with Farel and Viret, September 1548.

[478] He had resigned the office of Syndic and of Lieutenant of the Police of Geneva.

[479] In retirement at Geneva in 1543, the celebrated French poet, Clement Marot, had been charged, at the request of Calvin, with the translation of the Psalms in verse. Extracts of Registers of the Council, 15th October: "Calvin offers to engage Clement Marot to put the Psalms of David in verse." The same year fifty Psalms were printed at Geneva, with a preface by Calvin, which is found at the beginning of the subsequent editions of 1551, 1556, 1563. The work of Clement Marot was finished by Theodore de BÈze.

[480] Oswald Myconius had written on the 6th March to thank Calvin for sending him the book intituled, "Supplex Exhortatio ad CÆsarem Carolum V. et Illustriss. Principes aliosque ordines SpirÆ nunc Imperii Conventum Agentes, ut RestituendÆ EcclesiÆ curam serio suscipere velint, GenevÆ, 1543." Translated into French in 1544; a writing much praised by Bucer and Beza. See the Letter of Myconius to Calvin.—Calv. Opera, p. 34.

[481] The Imperial Diet was then met at Worms. The Roman prelates were preparing for the celebration of the approaching Council by a life of gaiety and dissipation:—"Larvati ut non cognoscantur domos intrant civium; ibi edunt, bibunt, ludunt, saltant, libidinantur, &c., prÆparationes dignÆ sive ad comitia, sive ad Concilium."—Myconius Calvino, 6th March 1545.

[482] The plague had then broken out afresh and was raging at Geneva.

[483] See Spon, Hist. de GenÈve, tom. i. p. 283;—the details relating to that fearful conspiracy.

[484] See notes, pp. 430, 431, 432.

[485] The name of the Princess of Navarre has already appeared several times in this collection, pp. 36, 207, 342. Th. de BÈze does not hesitate to place her among the most illustrious witnesses for the truth in the sixteenth century. Endowed with the noblest and most brilliant qualities both of the head and heart, which rendered her the idol of her brother Francis I., and an object of admiration to all her contemporaries, she was long a steady friend of the Reformation, whose early representatives she protected in the persons of Lefevre d'Etaples, Bishop BriÇonnet, and GÉrard Roussel, and whose ministry she encouraged in the kingdom of Navarre. She died in 1549. In the later years of her life her piety gradually degenerated into a kind of contemplative mysticism, whose chief characteristic was indifference towards outward forms, uniting the external ordinances of the Romish Church with the inward cherishing of a purer faith. We find numerous proofs of this in her poems, published during her life, as well as in her letters, published for the first time in Paris by M. Genin, under the following title:—Lettres de Marguerite d'AngoulÊme; 8vo, 1841.—Nouvelles Lettres de la Reine de Navarre; 8vo, 1842.

Calvin corresponded at different times with this Princess, whose character and talents he admired, while, with holy boldness, he censured her infirmities. Unfortunately only one of these letters has been preserved, and is here presented to the reader as a testimony of the faithful courage of the Reformer.—BÈze, Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 49.

[486] This was the treatise, Contre la Secte Fantastique et Furieuse des Libertins qui se disent Spirituels. 1544, in 8vo. This sect spread more particularly in the Netherlands, denied the authority of the written word, and, by a false spiritualism, overturned the foundations of all Christian truth. Two of the principal leaders, Quintin and Pocquet, were attached to the household of the Queen of Navarre.

[487] Gerard Roussel, preacher to the Queen of Navarre, one of the earliest missionaries of the Reformation at Paris. Appointed Abbot of Clerac and Bishop of Oleron, he continued to preach the new doctrines without breaking with the Roman Catholic Church, and thus he drew upon himself the most severe censure of both Farel and Calvin. This latter addressed a letter to him in 1536, concerning the duty of a Christian man in the administration or the rejection of the benefices of the Papal Church, and urged him in vain to separate from the Romish Church, to which he remained attached until his death in 1550. "His life," says a Roman Catholic writer, "was without reproach; his kennel of dogs and of greyhounds was a great crowd of poor people; his horses and his train a flock of young children instructed in letters. He had much credit among the people, upon whom he stamped by degrees a hatred and contempt for the religion of their fathers."—Florimond de RÉmond, Hist. de l' HÉresie, lib. vii. pp. 850, 851. See especially the ingenious and learned Biography of Gerard Roussel, by M. Charles Schmidt, Strasbourg, 1845, in 8vo.

[488] Misled by the false reports of the secret agents of the Cardinal du Tournon, and by the calumnious denunciations of the Baron d'OppÈde, Francis I. at length was prevailed upon to carry into execution the sentence pronounced by the Parliament of Aix against the Vaudois of Provence, and to give the signal of the dreadfully atrocious massacres of CabriÈres and of Merindol.—Hist. des Martyrs, lib. iii.; De Thou, lib. vi. On hearing the sad intelligence, Calvin set out from Geneva in all haste for Berne, to implore at Berne and Zurich the interference of the Reformed cantons, even at the eleventh hour, in favour of these unhappy victims of intolerance and fanaticism.

[489] The Jesuit Maimbourg, in his Histoire du Calvinisme, lib. ii., states the number of these victims as amounting to 3600, and carries the number of the houses pillaged and destroyed as high as 900. According to De Thou, twenty-two bourgs and villages were reduced to ashes. The whole country, which had previously presented the aspect of a cheerful pleasure garden, was reduced to a desert and uncultivated wilderness.

[490] Calvin was already on his return from the journey which he had undertaken in Switzerland, and which he had accomplished with extraordinary despatch. In succession he had visited Berne, Zurich, Schaffhausen, Basle, Strasbourg, everywhere exhorting the magistrates to make energetic intercession in favour of their French brethren, so cruelly persecuted. Last of all, he had gone to the Diet of Arau, and had addressed the same entreaties to the deputies of the Cantons. These latter wrote to the King, Francis I., with much force of language; but their tardy interference had no influence upon the resolution of the monarch, blinded by perfidious counsels, and which were not entirely cleared away until two years afterwards upon a deathbed.—Extract from the Council Registers of Geneva, May 1545; Ruchat, Hist. de la RÉf., tom. v. p. 253.

[491] At the approach of the Imperial army, M. de Falais had withdrawn from Cologne to Strasbourg. When there, he received a visit from the Reformer in May 1545, when on a tour to Berne, Zurich, and Basle, which he had undertaken in order to rouse the Protestant cantons in favour of the unhappy victims of CabriÈres and Merindol.

[492] Allusion is made to the Emperor Charles V., who was then at Worms, with the intention of presiding at the Diet which was opened in that town in the following year.

[493] David de Busanton, a gentleman of Hainault, and a refugee, then residing at Geneva. He died in July 1545, in the most pious frame of mind, as may be gathered from a letter of Calvin's addressed to Viret. "When your letter was delivered to me our good friend David was just expiring. A short time after he delivered up his soul into the keeping of Christ with a rare and truly admirable composure. You will have an opportunity of reading his will when you come...." July 1545. David de Busanton bequeathed 1000 crowns to the poor of Strasbourg, and as much to those of Geneva, appointing Calvin one of his executors.

[494] On the back is written:—"To my brother and friend Master John ... deacon of the Church of Lausanne, or to Master Peter Viret, to put into his hands." Below, in Viret's hand:—"Calvin to John Cavent, deacon of Lausanne." Letter not dated, but written shortly after Calvin's journey to Strasbourg and his visit to M. de Falais, that is, in June 1545.

[495] Christophe Fabri, minister of the Church of Thonon.

[496] On the back is written in M. de Falais's hand—"Answered, 18th July 1545, at Strasbourg."

[497] Calvin refers to the purchase of a house at Geneva for M. de Falais.

[498] Jean, Seigneur de Fromont and Han-sur-Sambre, brother of M. de Falais.

[499] See note 1, p. 463.

[500] Hurt at the new attacks which Luther began to direct against their doctrine in his Short Confession upon the Supper, (see Letter CXXII.,) the ministers of Zurich published in 1545 an Apology, intituled:—"Orthodoxa TigurinaÆ EcclesiÆ Ministrorum Confessio, una cum Æqua et modesta responsione ad vanas et offendiculi plenas D. Martini Lutheri calumnias, condemnationes et convitia, etc...."—Hospinian, Hist. Sacrament., tom. ii. p. 354. Provoked by Luther's violence, this reply irritated the zealous Lutherans, afflicted Melanchthon, delighted the adversaries of the Reform by the unseemly divisions which had got the upper hand among them.

[501] Claude de Senarclens returned to Geneva loaded with testimonials of affection from the German Reformers. In the Town Library of Geneva there is an Album preserved, containing pious inscriptions of several of the Reformers, which he had brought away with him in the course of his travels.

[502] The sentence of the Parliament of Aix had been carried into effect, and those of the unfortunate Vaudois who had escaped the massacre which befell their brethren were pursued as heretics, buried alive in the dungeons, or condemned to the galleys. Some of them arrived at Geneva, and there found a generous refuge and assistance. 14th May 1545.—"The minister of Merindol, with some others, arrived in this town, flying from the persecutions, and in great misery. Resolved to help them." 18th May.—"The refugees of Provence are occupied on the fortifications, and that in accordance with Viret's request."—Registers of Council. Calvin, addressing both earnest and eloquent entreaties to the ministers of Zurich, of Schaffhausen, and of Basle, adjured them to employ their whole credit to promote new exertions in favour of their suffering brethren.

[503] The intractable savage D'OppÈde, and the Royal Commissioners, pursued by the cry of conscience, tried to give a colour of rebellion, and to represent the Vaudois as rebels; those whom they had cowardly assassinated.—See De Thou, lib. vi. p. 215.

[504] The Count Aymar de Grignan, deputy of the King at Worms and governor of Provence, one of the most savage persecutors of the Vaudois.

[505] This Commissary was a creature of the Cardinal de Tournon. The 23d August 1545, the authors of the massacre obtained, by the credit of the Cardinal, letters of approbation from the King, who afterwards, says Beza, "being at the point of death, had amazing remorse on account of this business, and charged his son, with strong protestations, to do justice in the matter."—Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 47; De Thou, lib. vi.

[506] See preceding letter.

[507] See the two preceding letters.

[508] Joachim Wadian, Burgomaster of Saint Gall, one of the most learned men of the 16th century. Educated at the University of Vienne, he there distinguished himself by an extraordinary aptness in the cultivation of literature and the sciences, and cultivated with equal success, poetry, eloquence, medicine, and mathematics; he travelled the principal countries of Europe, and returning to Saint Gall his native country, corresponded with some of the most illustrious persons of his time who honoured his genius and his virtues. United by the ties of friendship to the Swiss and German Reformers, he powerfully contributed to the establishment of the Reform in his country. An upright magistrate, a conciliatory theologian, an able statesman, he formed the connecting link of important negotiations between the different Swiss Churches, and died in 1550, leaving an illustrious name and revered memory. His books and his manuscripts, carefully preserved in his native town, form the principal basis of the Town Library of Saint Gall, called sometimes after his name, the Library of Wadian. See Melchior Adam, VitÆ Germanorum Medicorum. Edit. 1706, p. 24.

[509] Alluding to the quarrel about the Sacraments. While he freely admitted an interpretation opposed to that of Luther in regard to the Supper, Joachim Wadian had always shewn great deference for the Reformers of Germany, and animated by the desire of bringing about an accommodation between the Churches divided upon that fatal question, he published in 1536, a book entitled, "Aphorismorum Libri Sex de consideratione EucharistiÆ," which he sent along with a respectful letter to Luther.—See Hospinian, Hist. Sacrament., tom. ii. pp. 270, 271.

[510] See the preceding letters.

[511] It ceased to ravage Geneva only in 1546.

[512] A gentleman of Hanover, a refugee at Geneva.

[513] Another refugee, from BesanÇon. He was admitted to the ministry in the following year.

[514] From this letter it would appear that Ochino had not yet professed those opinions which soon thereafter alienated from him the affection of Calvin. Having retired to Geneva in 1542, Ochino quitted that town in 1545, to go to Basle. The same year we find him again at Strasbourg, which he left in 1548, to seek an asylum in England.

Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

On the opening illustration depicting the hand written letter, the ***** means there is a section that is unclear.

Page 60, footnote 62: The missing footnote anchor was added by the transcriber.

Clyx.com