Letters of John Calvin, Volume II

235

The new King of France, Henry II., sought an alliance with the Swiss with extreme eagerness. His envoys, Boisrigault, Liancourt, Lavan, and Menage overran the Cantons, scattering everywhere proofs of his liberality, to obtain a renewal of the ancient treaties. Everywhere, says the Swiss historian, their proposals were welcomed, except at Berne and at Zurich. In the latter town, Bullinger rose with great energy against this negotiating with a man who was converting a loyal and Christian people into a nation of hired murderers. He called to their recollection the persecutions of which France had been the theatre, and adjured his fellow-citizens to avoid all terms with a persecuting monarch, who was covered with the blood of their brethren. Better aware than Bullinger of the dangers which the supremacy of the Emperor was spreading over the various states of Europe, and over the Reformed Churches of Germany and Switzerland, and hoping, perhaps, to obtain by a treaty some relief to the faithful of France, Calvin was in favour of the French alliance, and in this remarkable letter attempted to vindicate its legitimacy by examples borrowed from the Old Testament. – Histoire de la Suisse, tom. xi. p. 306, et suiv.

236

On the back: It is thought that this letter has been written to Madame de la Roche-Posay, Abbess of Thouars. A Seigneur of that name played an important part in the religious wars of Poitou, but he figured in the ranks of the Roman Catholic army. – Bèze, Hist. Eccl., tom. ii. p. 588. There is a letter from the Reformed Church of de la Roche-Posay of the 27th May 1561, addressed to Calvin. (Library of Geneva, Vol. 107.)

237

This letter is without a date, but is evidently related to the early period of Bucer's residence in England. Proceeding from Strasbourg on the 5th April 1549 with Paul Fagius, he reached London on the 25th, and met with a very cordial reception at Lambeth, in the house of Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. At the desire of his protector, and amid the sorrows inseparable from his exile, he immediately undertook a new translation of the Bible, which he was not permitted to finish, owing to repeated illness, brought on by the change of climate. He was engaged, at the same time, on a revision of the English Liturgy, from which he removed everything that appeared to be tainted with Popery, without going as far in these corrections as he was desired by Calvin, who was pressing him by letter to remove the accusations of his life, by showing himself more resolute and firm than hitherto. – See La France Protestante of M. M. Haag. Art. Bucer.

238

War prevailed at that time between France and England, with Artois and Scotland for its theatre. Peace was concluded only the year following (May 1550). – De Thou, tom. vi.

239

In allusion to the Emperor, who saw his power increase by the weakness of the English and French monarchs, who were equally interested in opposing his supremacy on the Continent.

240

Doubtless one of the ministers of the Church of Berne.

241

Nicolas Amsdorf, a learned German minister, exaggerated the Lutheran doctrine regarding Works and the Supper, and wrote a book, in which he endeavoured to prove that good works are hurtful to salvation, – Bona opera sunt ad salutem noxia et perniciosa. – McIchior Adam, pp. 69, 70

242

The common formulary, doubtless, on the Supper, compiled by Calvin, which the theologians of Zurich and Geneva were led to adopt.

243

While Schaffhausen, Basle, and Bienne acceded to the French alliance, Zurich and Berne haughtily refused to be the allies of a monarch who was the persecutor of the churches of France. Moved by the eloquence of Bullinger, the Seigneury of Zurich declared that it would lean upon God alone, and dispense with the alliance of the king. – Hist. de la Suisse, tom. xi. p. 308.

244

"To the Most Noble, Most Gifted, and Most Honourable Lady Ann, Eldest Daughter of the very Illustrious Protector of England."

245

The messenger charged with the letter to the Regent of 22d October 1549.

246

The names and fate of these two brothers of M. de Falais are not known.

247

See the account of the persecutions in Hainault in L'Histoire des Martyrs, p. 184. A woman named Mary was buried alive. A learned Frenchman named M. Nicolas, endured courageously the torment of the stake, crying out in the midst of the flames: "O Charles, Charles, how long will thy courage endure?"

248

One of the martyrs here referred to was a poor tailor, who, led before the King and Diana of Poictiers, made a courageous confession of his faith, addressed stern words to la favorite, and was condemned to perish in the flames. The king wished to be a spectator of his sufferings, "and, to command a better view, went to the house of Sieur de la Rochepot, opposite the stake. The martyr remained firm, and having perceived the king, he fastened on him a look so fixed and penetrating, that the affrighted monarch was forced to retire; and he afterwards repeatedly confessed, that the look of that man incessantly pursued him, and that he never again wished to be present at a fine spectacle." – Histoire des Martyrs, p. 189, Bèze, tom. i. p. 79.

249

George de Wurtemberg, Count of Montbeliard, dispossessed of his estates by Charles V. He had obtained from the Seigneury of Berne permission to reside at Arau.

250

See letter p. 208.

251

See the preceding letter. The negotiations entered into with the Church of Zurich, and already near a close, were prosecuted equally at Berne; but they were encountered there by insurmountable difficulties, arising from the hesitation of the ministers and the policy of the Seigneury. Calvin did not shrink from any concessions which, without causing injury to the integrity of the doctrine, might rally their spirits to union and peace. – Hospinian, tom. ii. p. 370.

252

In the month of July 1549, the fury of the persecutions was redoubled at Paris and in the provinces, and places of execution were so multiplied everywhere, as if the King had wished, by additional severity, to remove from memory the Edict which he had restored on account of the Vaudeis of Provençe. – Bèze, Hist. Eccl., tom. i. p. 70, et suiv. Notwithstanding all this violence, says Bèze, the churches increased and gathered strength in many places.

253

Among the number of professors burnt on occasion of the public entrance of the King into Paris, there is found Florent Venot, of Sedano in Brie, – allowed to stand for six weeks in a pit at Chatelet, called the Hippocras' Cup, where it was impossible either to remain lying or standing – and whose firmness overcame the cruelty of the executioners. "You think," he said to them, "by long torment, to weaken the force of the spirit, but you waste your time, and God will enable me to bless his holy name even till my death." Compelled, by a refinement of cruelty, to be a spectator of the torment of his brethren burnt at Paris, he exhorted them by look and gesture before he ascended the pile prepared for him in the Place Maubert. – Hist. des Martyrs, p. 186.

254

The preceding letter.

255

Francis Spira, a jurisconsult of Padua, having abjured the Protestant faith through fear of the tortures of the Inquisition, died a short while afterwards in a state of fearful mental anxiety. Paolo Vergerio, an aged Bishop of Pola in Istria, who was led to give up his bishopric that he might live in the free profession of the doctrines of the gospel, among the Grisons, visited Spira on his deathbed, and endeavoured in vain to console this unhappy penitent. Tho history of Spira, written by Vergerio, and translated from the Italian into Latin by Celio Secondo Curione, was published in 1550, with a preface by Calvin. – (Miscellanea Groningana, tom. iii. p. 109.) We have not met with this edition, which is become extremely rare.

256

We find Calvin's opinion of Vergerio at greater length, in a letter to Farel of July 1550.

257

Endowed, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, with a powerful and impetuous eloquence which charmed multitudes, and which, with the strong faith with which he was animated, could alone explain his splendid success as a missionary, Farel was abler with the tongue than with the pen, and his various writings, called forth by circumstances, are in general defective. We find in them a few ideas, cast forth at hazard, without plan, in strange disorder, and with a superabundance of explanation, in a diffuse and obscure style. It is not uninteresting to know the judgment which Calvin pronounced upon the works of his friend, and to find in this judgment even a new testimony to the brotherly candour which presided at all times over the intercourse of the two Reformers. – See on the writings of Farel, Senebier, Hist. Litt. tom. i. pp. 148, 149; Sayous, Etudes sur les Ecrivains de la Réformation, tom. i., 1st sketch; and Haag, France Protestante, Art. Farel.

258

See Note 1, p. 223.

259

The only work of Farel's mentioned at this date by Senebier, is the following: Le Glaice de la Parole Véritable contre le Bouclier de Défense, duquel un Cordelier s'est voulu servir, in 12mo, Geneva, 1550. It is a vehement reply to a Cordelier who had adopted the sentiments of that spiritual mysticism which leads to a denial of all morality. It presents, besides, the ordinary defects of the works of Farel – confusion and prolixity.

260

Laurent de Normandie, a Picard gentleman, and Procurator-general at Noyon, had retired to Geneva some months previously, at the request of Calvin, his countryman and friend. – Registers of the Council, 2d May 1549. "Laurent de Normandie retires to this place for the sake of religion, and presses the Council to receive him as an inhabitant, which is granted him."

261

See the preceding letter.

262

This is the first time the name of Beza is found mentioned in the correspondence of Calvin. Born on the 24th of June 1519, at Vezelay, in Burgundy, he had left Paris after a brilliant and dissipated youth, to retire to Geneva. – Registers of the Council, 3d May 1549. "Eight French gentlemen, among whom is Theodore Beza, arrive here and obtain permission to remain." Beza was a short time afterwards, made Professor of Greek in the Academy of Lausanne, from which place he wrote to Bullinger: – "The Lord has shewn me this, in the first place, for which may I be able to make my boast in him continually, – that I must prefer the cross to my country, and to all changes of fortune. In the next place, I have received the friendship of Calvin, Viret, Musculus, and Haller; kind Heaven, the friendship of such men! When I think that these are my friends, so far from feeling any inconvenience from exile, I may adopt the saying of Themistocles, – 'Perieram nisi periissem.'" – MSS. of Archives of Zurich, Gest. vi. p. 139.

263

"To John Haller, Pastor of the Bernese Church."

264

See note 2, p. 224.

265

The ministers of the Pays de Vaud were accustomed to meet weekly to consult about religious matters, and for mutual exhortation. This custom displeased the Seigneurs of Berne, who abolished it by an edict dated 2d September 1549, under pretext that those assemblies, instead of producing edification, engendered disputes, divisions, and disorders. The College of Lausanne protested in vain, through Viret, against this measure, which obtained the approbation of the leading ministers of Berne, notwithstanding the strong representations addressed by Calvin to Haller and Musculus. – Ruchat, tom. v. p. 382, et suiv.

266

Deposed from the ministry, and appointed Principal of the College of Lausanne, Zebedee ranked among the most violent adversaries of Viret and of Calvin. Numerous testimonies to his animosity against the Reformation will be found in the sequel.

267

Pope Paul III. died on the 20th November 1549, of grief and rage, on hearing of the treachery of his grandson Octave Farnese, who, to obtain the restitution of Parma, joined the cause of the Emperor against his grandfather. – De Thou, b. vi.; Robertson, b. x.

268

The title: – To the father of Mademoiselle de Saint-Lorrans. Sans date (1549?) This gentleman retired in the following year to Geneva.

269

On the back, in the hand writing of Calvin: "To Monsieur the Protector of England. – Sent."

270

During his disgrace, which was regarded as a public calamity by the friends of the Reformation in England and throughout Europe, the Duke of Somerset had sought consolation in reading and in pious meditations. He translated into English a work on Patience, to which he added a preface containing the expression of the most elevated sentiments. He received also exhortations from Peter Martyr, and shewed himself no less constant in his attachment to the Gospel, than resigned to the loss of fortune and credit. – See Burnet, History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 184; vol. iii. p. 209, fol. London.

271

The young King Edward VI. Instructed by the most able masters, this prince gave early proof of a strong mind and of a lively piety. When scarcely fourteen years of age, he set forth in a discourse, of which a fragment has been preserved, the plan of the Reformation in England. He drew up with much care a journal of events which happened during his reign. He composed, besides, a collection of passages of the Old Testament condemning idolatry and image-worship. This collection, written in French, was dedicated by the young King to the Duke of Somerset, his uncle. – Burnet, History of the Reformation, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225.

272

The letter to the Protector, of January 1550.

273

See Note 3, pp. 240-1.

274

The Reformer having attacked the Interim in one of his writings, was accused of Pelagianism by a German theologian, perhaps Flacius Illyricus. He replied to this accusation in a publication entitled, Appendix Libelli de vera Ecclesiæ reformandæ ratione, in qua refutat Censuram quamdam typographi ignoti de parvalorum Sanctificatione et muliebri Baptismo. Geneva, 1550.

275

The pontifical chair, rendered vacant in the month of November 1549, by the death of Paul III., was occupied in the month of February of the following year by the Cardinal del Monte, who took the name of Julius III. The irregularities of his past life, and the disgraceful accusations which rested on his character, rendered him very unfit to be a reformer of the Church.

276

On the back: "To the very Illustrious M. Francis Dryander, a Spaniard, at Baslo, with M. Myconius."

277

"To Nicolas Colladon, a man distinguished for piety and learning."

278

In allusion to the various members of the Colladon family, who were contemplating a removal to Geneva.

279

Anne Colladon, the sister of Nicolas, was on the point of being married to Laurent de Normandie. See Note 1, p. 217.

280

Three years after the death of Gruet, beheaded for the crime of rebellion and of blasphemy, (see the note p. 226,) there was discovered in a garret of his house a writing in his own hand, of twenty-six pages, which was brought to the magistrates of Geneva. These latter submitted the document to Calvin, who drew up his opinion in the Memorial which we here reproduce, as an undeniable evidence of the religious doctrines and the morals professed by some of the chiefs of the Libertin party.

281

The proclamation of the Interim plunged Germany into a state of extraordinary confusion. Some towns were so bold as to present remonstrances to the Emperor, and protested against an arbitrary edict, which reprobated alike the partisans of the ancient worship and those of the new. But their voice was not heard, and the greater number of the towns submitted. There were even theologians compliant enough to legitimize this submission. Of this number was Melanchthon, who, by his virtues and his knowledge, deserved the first rank among the Reformed doctors, but who, deprived now of the manly exhortations of Luther, and led away by an excessive love of peace, and by the natural weakness of his character, was making concessions which cannot be justified. Led by his example, and seduced by the artifices of the Elector Maurice, the Assembly of Leipsic declared that in matters purely indifferent we ought to obey the orders of our lawful superiors, – a dangerous principle, which applied to ceremonies, and led to the revival of the grossest and most pernicious errors of the Romish Church. Melanchthon himself wrote a great number of the letters of [Greek: Adiáphoros]Αδιάφορος [indifferent], in support of this doctrine, and his weakness drew down upon him the most violent reproaches from the zealous Lutherans, who accused him of being an accomplice of the enemies of the Gospel. – Sleidan, book xxii.; Robertson, book x. Moved by this sad news, Calvin did not hesitate to blame Melanchthon in a letter addressed to him, in which respect and affection are joined to a just severity.

282

The town of Magdeburg, then besieged by the army of the Elector Maurice, persisted in rejecting the Interim, and the theologians of that Church flooded Germany with pamphlets, in which Melanchthon was not spared. The Burghers of Magdeburg, put under the ban of the empire, sustained a long siege, and did not submit till the following year. – Sleidan, book xxii.

283

In a reply to Flacius Illyricus, who maintained that, rather than tolerate the restoration of the Popish ceremonies, he would plunder and destroy the Churches and stir up the people, – "vastitatem faciendam in templis, et metu seditionum terrendos principes." Melanchthon advocated immovable steadfastness in doctrine, submission in everything else. – "In ceremoniis tolerandam aliquam servitutem, quæ tamen sit sine impietate." – Melch. Adam. Vita Melanchthonis, p. 344. But was it possible to submit to the Church of Rome without deserting sound doctrine?

284

This letter is without date. We discover the date, however, in a letter of Calvin's to Valentin Pacaeus, a doctor of Leipsic, of 18th June 1550, where we meet with these words: – "I make no mention of M. Philip, as I am writing specially to himself." – Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 54.

285

See note 2, p. 175. M. de Falais lived during the summer in a country-seat, situated at Veigy, a small village of Savoy, a few leagues from Geneva.

286

On the opposite bank of the lake, where rises the delightful eminence of Chambesy, crowned at the present day with beautiful villas.

287

Paolo Vergerio, one of the missionaries of Reform in Swiss Italy. Born of an illustrious family of Istria, he had successively studied law and oratory, was made Bishop of Istria, and discharged the duties of Pope's legate in Germany. He became a convert to the Gospel through conversations with Melanchthon, abandoned his diocese, and retired among the Grisons. He died in 1565.

288

There is a beautiful letter from Bucer to Calvin, [Calvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 58,] dated from Cambridge, and containing curious details regarding the religious state of England. We find this passage in it relative to the young King Edward VI., – "Increase in prayer in behalf of the most serene King, who is making quite wonderful progress in pious and literary studies."

289

See the preceding letter.

290

We find no allusion to this fact in the Registers of the Council of that year. But Ruchat mentions, after Roset, the arrest of one Jean Baptiste Didaco, Receiver-General of Finance at Rouen, who, having been imprisoned at Geneva at the impeachment of one of his domestics, was released at the request of the King of France, and of the Bernese, after three months' imprisonment. – Ruchat, tom. v. pp. 311, 313.

291

The nature of this tax is not known; it was set on foot in the localities belonging to the ancient territory of the Chapter of Saint Victor, and shared between the jurisdiction of the two republics.

292

Commentarii in Iesaiam Prophetam. In fol. Geneva, 1550. A work dedicated to the King of England.

293

In omnes Pauli Epistolas atque etiam in Epistolam ad Hebraeos Commentarii. In fol. Geneva, 1550. With a preface by Theodore Beza.

294

The title: – To William Rabot, "Dictus a Salena" of Avignon.

295

The Treatise on Scandals, one of the most remarkable of Calvin's writings appeared this same year, with a beautiful dedication addressed by Calvin to Laurent de Normandie, his old and constant friend. It was published at first in Latin, under the following title: – De Scandalis quibus hodie plerique absterrentur, nonnulli etiam alienantur a pura Evangelii Doctrina. Geneva, 1550. This work was translated into French by Latern during the following year. It is to be found in tom. viii. of his Opera, and in the Recueil des Opuscules, p. 1145.

296

Henry II. of France, to gain the good-will of the cantons, pretended at that time to take a lively interest in the protection of Geneva, menaced by the Duke of Savoy and the Emperor of Germany. He even informed the magistrates of the republic regarding certain plots, real or imaginary, laid for its destruction. – Registers of the Council, 1549, 1550, passim.

297

The Emperor Charles V. published, at that time, his bloody edict against the Protestants, Lutherans, Zuinglians, and others, and seemed to be preparing himself for a general crusade against the Reformed Churches. – Sleidan, book xxii.

298

See note 3, p. 277.

299

This passage in the letter is addressed to Christopher Fabri, or Libertet, a colleague of Farel's at Neuchatel.

300

Calvin had stood godfather to one of the daughters of Libertet, whose wife he habitually called by the familiar name of my godmother.

301

Saddened by his exile, and tormented by a malady under which he sunk the year following, Bucer complained bitterly of being continually the object of an unjust suspicion to the theologians of Zurich, and of being neglected by his friends in Switzerland.

302

Two of the keenest adversaries of the Reformation in France.

303

See note 2, p. 283. Having left Strasbourg at the same time as Bucer and Fagius, John Utenhoven went to London, where he resided for many years before going to exercise the ministry in Poland. See his correspondence with Bullinger, (1549-1554,) Zurich Letters, first series, toms. i. and ii.

304

John Laski, (Joannes a Lasco,) a Polish nobleman devoted to the cause of the Reformation, who had preached successively in Poland, in Germany, and in England. In the reign of Edward VI. he rose to great favour in the latter country, and was appointed superintendent of the congregation of foreign Protestants in London. – Zurich Letters, first series, tom. i. p. 187.