Letters of John Calvin, Volume II

357

This letter, without a date, appears to us to belong to the last months of the year 1551. Lelio Socin was living at that time at Wittemberg. – M'Crie, Hist. of the Ref. in Italy, p. 430.

358

The magistrates of Geneva, after having received the advice of the leading Swiss Churches, – which were unanimous alike in their recognition of the doctrine of election, and in soliciting indulgence for Bolsec, – proceeded with the trial of the prisoner, who, having refused to retract his opinions, was solemnly banished on the 23d December 1551, for having persisted in an obstinate despisal of the judgment of the Churches to which he had promised submission. – (Registers of the Council, Dec. 1551. Spon and Picot, Histoire de Genève.) Calvin did not wish the sentence to be more severe, although he counted on the Swiss Churches taking a more energetic course, and in the ardour of his zeal for what he regarded as sound doctrine, looked upon all hesitation and all weakness as a cowardly abandonment of the truth.

359

In their reply to the ministers of Geneva concerning Bolsec, the ministers of Berne freely pleaded the cause of toleration: – "We do not believe," said they, "that it is necessary to treat those who err with too much severity, lest while wishing to defend, with too great zeal, the purity of dogmas, we swerve from the law of Jesus Christ, that is, from charity… Jesus Christ loved the truth, but he loved souls also; not only those who advanced without declension, but also those who went astray. And it is the latter of which the Good Shepherd, in the Gospel parable, takes the greatest care."… More explicit than the theologians of Zurich and of Bâle on the doctrine which formed the ground of the debate, the ministers of Berne gave a deliverance against the doctrine of predestination: – "To come," said they, "to the subject of dispute with Bolsec, you are not ignorant how much vexation it has caused very many good men, of whom we cannot have a bad opinion, who reading in the Scriptures those passages which exalt the grace of God to all men, have not sufficient discernment rightly to understand the true mysteries of Divine election, attach themselves to the proclamation of grace and of universal benevolence, and think that we cannot make God condemn, harden, and blind any man, without being guilty of the insupportable blasphemy of making God himself the author both of man's blindness and of his perdition, and by consequence of all sin." – See this letter, and those of the Churches of Zurich and Bâle, in the Collection of Professor Alph. Turretin, entitled, Nubes Testium, and in Ruchat, tom. v. p. 461, et seq.

360

This minister was banished shortly after beyond the territory of the Seigneurs of Berne on account of this expression.

361

Farel was a genuine orator. All his contemporaries speak with admiration of his eloquent discourses, of his beautiful exhortations, and of his prayers, so fervent, that no one could hear them without being charmed. But it appears that his discourses were all extempore; none of them have been preserved, but they had a few of the defects of improvisation. Their fault was prolixity. Calvin, in his preface to the Psalms, paid, among other things, a brilliant tribute to the eloquence of his friend, and to those thunders of the word (tonitrua) by which he had been enchained at Geneva.

362

In Calvin's own hand.

363

Without date. The end is wanting. We believe that this letter refers to the first month of the year 1552.

364

Who is the personage to whom these words refer, stamped at once by the inflexible spirit of the time and the stern rigour of the Reformer? The historian can only offer conjectures: can it be Jerome Bolsec? But a regular sentence had banished him from Geneva, and Calvin himself does not appear to have called for a more severe judgment against this innovator whom resentment had transformed into a vile pamphleteer. "That fellow, Jerome, is driven out into perpetual exile by a public sentence. Certain revilers have spread abroad the falsehood, that we earnestly desired a much severer punishment, and foolishly, it is believed." – (Calvin to Bullinger, in the month of January 1552.) In that age of inexorable severity against unsound doctrine, Servetus only appeared at Geneva to expire at the stake, and Gentili only escaped the scaffold for a time, by the voluntary retraction of his opinions. To name Gentili, Servetus, Bolsec, is to recall the principal victims of Calvinistic intolerance in the sixteenth century, but not to solve the mystery which attaches to the personage designated in the letter of Calvin to Madame de Cany.

365

Theodore Beza, then professor of Greek literature in the Academy of Lausanne. Born the 24th June 1519, at Véselay in Burgundy, he had left Paris after a brilliant and dissipated youth, and retired to Geneva the 24th October 1548, giving up the possession of the rich benefices which he held of his uncle, the Abbé of Froidmont. Of this number was the priory of Londjumeau, which became the matter of a tedious lawsuit between Beza and the new titular, M. de Sunistan, the protégé of the Duchesse d'Etampes.

366

Anne de Pisseleu, Duchesse d'Etampes. She was a sister of Madame de Cany.

367

Laurent de Normandie. See note 1, p. 311.

368

Despite Calvin's disagreements with the magistrates of Berne and the Helvetic Churches, he did not hesitate to undertake a journey to them in the month of March 1552, which the seriousness of the circumstances demanded, in order to plead the cause, among the Cantons, of the French Protestants, who were then in a most deplorable condition. "This year," says Ruchat, "the King of France carried his persecution of the Reformers, even to the death, so to speak: and those faithful subjects, who wished only to be allowed to serve God in liberty of conscience, were subjected to the violence of his officers, who acted like so many unchained furies. The flames were kindled, the wheel and the gallows were erected at all the tribunals. The Protestant States of the empire, and the four Reformed Cantons, wore active in their intercessions with the King, by means of special ambassadors, in behalf of these poor persecuted ones; but all their prayers were useless." (Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 479.) The King, on advising the Cantons to abstain from any further approaches to him, declared that he wished to be allowed to remain his own master, and to act as he pleased, and for them to refrain in future, lest those cities continued this business at their own peril; … that they were at liberty to govern their own cities as they thought proper; that, for his own part, he wished, without let or hindrance, to do the same in his own kingdom, because he intended by all means to purge it of those seditious men. – (Bullinger to Calvin, tom. ix. p. 68.) This last epithet was a calumny. Yet he continued, nevertheless, to persecute the faithful of France as seditious and as rebels, because they desired to serve and to worship God according to his word.

369

See note 1, Vol. i. p. 439.

370

Doubtless the writing published by Calvin and his colleagues, entitled, "Congrégation faite en l'Eglise de Genève sur la Matière de l'élection éternelle." Geneva, 1552, 8vo.

371

The Marquis de Vico, a Neapolitan nobleman, retired to Geneva. He was admitted an inhabitant of the city, "after having promised to submit to the laws of the magistrates, and to live in the profession of the Reformed religion." – Registers of Council, 15th June 1551.

372

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England, took an important part in the Reformation of his country during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. He laboured assiduously with the Reformers of the Continent, who esteemed his learning and honoured his character, to establish a bond of union between the foreign churches and his own; and if he did not live to see his efforts crowned with success, he at least left behind him an example worthy of imitation. What is most notable in these endeavours is to be found in Cranmer's Letters to the leading theologians of Switzerland and Germany, reproduced in the Collections of his Works published by the Parker Society. They are likewise to be found in the Collection of Zurich Letters, 1st series, vol. i. p. 21-26, from which we borrow the following letter to Calvin, which furnishes us with the date of the Reformer's reply to the Prelate: – "As nothing tends more injuriously to the separation of the Churches than heresies and disputes respecting the doctrines of religion, so nothing tends more effectually to unite the Churches of God, and more powerfully to defend the fold of Christ, than the pure teaching of the Gospel and harmony of doctrine. Wherefore I have often wished, and still continue to do so, that learned and godly men, who are eminent for erudition and judgment, might meet together, and, comparing their respective opinions, might handle all the heads of ecclesiastical doctrine, and hand down to posterity, under the weight of their authority some work not only upon the subjects themselves, but upon the forms of expressing them. Our adversaries are now holding their councils at Trent, for the establishment of their errors; and shall we neglect to call together a godly synod, for the refutation of error, and for restoring and propagating the truth? They are, as I am informed, making decrees respecting the worship of the host; wherefore we ought to leave no stone unturned, not only that we may guard others against this idolatry, but also that we may ourselves come to an agreement upon the doctrine of this sacrament. It cannot escape your prudence how exceedingly the Church of God has been injured by dissensions and varieties of opinion respecting the sacrament of unity; and though they are now in some measure removed, yet I could wish for an agreement in this doctrine, not only as regards the subject itself, but also with respect to the words and forms of expression. You have now my wish, about which I have also written to Masters Philip [Melanchthon] and Bullinger; and I pray you to deliberate among yourselves as to the means by which this synod can be assembled with the greatest convenience. Farewell. – Your very dear brother in Christ,

373

Alluding to the unfortunate controversies raised by Osiander in Germany on the doctrine of Justification.

374

See the eloquent appeal addressed to Bullinger, ante, pp. 329, 341. The latter had written to Calvin, giving him an account of the fruitless efforts of the Cantons with Henry II., and of the haughty response of that monarch: "He lives who delivered his people from Egypt; he lives who brought back the captivity from Babylon; he lives who defended his Church against Cæsars, kings, and profligate princes. Verily we must needs pass through many afflictions into the kingdom of God. But woe to those who touch the apple of God's eye." – Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 68.

375

See the following Letter.

376

In the month of April 1552, five young Frenchmen, instructed at the school of theology of Lausanne, and devoted to the functions of the ministry, made arrangements for returning to their own country. These were Martial Alba of Montauban, Peter Ecrivain of Gascony, Charles Favre of Blanzac in Angoumois, Peter Navihères of Limousin, and Bernard Seguin of La Reole. After having spent some days at Geneva, they set out for Lyons, and met on the way at the Bourg de Colognes, nigh to L'Ecluse, a stranger, who offered himself as their fellow-traveller. They consented without harbouring any suspicion. Arrived at Lyons, they parted with their travelling companion, who pressed them to visit him at his dwelling of Ainay. They went thither without any distrust, were arrested and led away to the prisons of that jurisdiction. Such was the origin of a long and doleful process, which held the Churches of France and Switzerland for a long time in suspense, and during which, the blood-thirsty cruelty of the judges was only equalled by the constancy of the victims. On the first rumour of the arrest of the five students, the Church of Geneva took the matter up, and lavished upon the captives, by the voice of Calvin, the most lively testimonies of their sympathy.

377

Calvin wrote this letter to King Edward VI., when dedicating to him the following little work: Four Sermons of Master John Calvin, treating of matters very profitable for our time, with a Brief Exposition of Psalm lxxxvii. Geneva, 1552, in 8vo, inserted in the Recueil des Opuscules, p. 824. These four sermons have been translated at different times into English. In the first, Calvin exhorts the faithful to flee from idolatry; in the second, he encourages them to suffer everything for Jesus Christ; in the third, he shews how highly believers ought to prize the privilege of being in the Church of God, where they are at liberty to worship him purely; in the last, he shews that this liberty cannot be purchased at too high a price.

378

An error in the original; we must read 87th.

379

For a facsimile of the original of this passage, see Vol. I.

380

This letter bears no date, but it refers to the subject set forth in a preceding letter of Calvin's to Cranmer, p. 345, and we have no hesitation in assigning it a place in the course of the same year, – perhaps in July 1552.

381

A letter without address, but evidently, as the date and the contents prove, relating to the trial of the five students of Lausanne. – (See the letter of the 10th of June, and the note at p. 355.) The personage to whom Calvin writes, is doubtless John Liner, a rich merchant of Saint Gall, settled at Lyons, who often visited the scholars in their dungeon, undertook several journeys on their behalf, and was unsparing, during the whole course of the suit, in tokens of most lively affection. – (Histoire des Martyrs, liv. iv. pp. 230, 231.) John Liner afterwards retired to his own country, where he lived to a very advanced age, and corresponded with Charles de Jonvillers, the secretary of Calvin, a correspondence which has been preserved to our days in the library of Saint Gall. Note, p. 363.

382

To the brethren of … without any further indication. The name of the Polish nobleman, John A Lasco, moderator of the Congregation of Foreign Protestants at London, informs us to what Church this letter was addressed.

383

A Lasco had composed a work entitled, The whole Form and Manner of the Ecclesiastical Ministry in the Church of the Strangers, set up at London by the very faithful Prince, Edward VI.

384

On the back, in the handwriting of Calvin: "The case against Trolliet."

385

"Since we are all corrupt and contaminate by vice, it cannot be but God must hate us, and that not with tyrannical cruelty, but with reasonable equity… That all the children of Adam come forward to contend and dispute against their Creator, because by his eternal Providence, they were devoted, before they were born, to perpetual calamity. When, on the contrary, God brings them to know themselves, how can they murmur at that? If they have all been taken out of a corrupt mass, it is no way marvellous that they are liable to condemnation. Let them not therefore accuse God of iniquity, because by his eternal decree they are ordained to condemnation, to which their very nature makes them amenable." – Institution of the Christian Religion, edit, of 1554, p. 461.

386

"The first man fell, because God thought it fit. Now, as to why he thought it fit, we know nothing. Yet it is certain, that he has not thus decided, unless because he saw that it would advance the glory of his name… Man then falls, according as it has been ordained of God, but he falls by his own vice." – Ibid. edit, of 1551, p. 463.

387

This is the book: De Æterna Dei Prædestinatione et Providentia. Genève, 1550, in 8vo; translated into French the same year.

388

This is the famous book of the Common Places (Loci Theologici), translated into French under the care of Calvin: The Summe of Theology, or Common Places of Melanchthon, translated from the Latin, by John Calvin. With a Preface. 1546, in 8vo.

389

It is not uninteresting to compare this estimate formed by Calvin of Melanchthon, with the remarkable one contained in the preface to the Common Places: – "I perceive that the author, being a person of profound knowledge, has not chosen to enter into subtile disputations, nor to treat these matters with that high degree of skill which it would have been so easy for him to employ. But he has brought himself down as much as he could, having only regard to edification. It is, certes, the style and fashion which we should observe, did not our adversaries constrain us by their cavils to turn aside from this course… The same about predestination, because he sees now-a-days so many flighty spirits who are but too much given to curiosity, and who go beyond bounds in this matter. Wishing to provide against this danger, he has proposed to touch only on what was needful to be known, leaving all else buried out of sight, rather than by disclosing all he could, to give the reins to much perplexing and confused disputation, from whence arises no good fruit. I confess that the whole of what God has been pleased to reveal to us in Scripture ought not to be suppressed, whatsoever happens; but he who seeks to give profitable instruction to his readers, may very well be excused for dwelling upon what he knows to be most essential, passing lightly over or leaving out of sight that which he does not expect to be equally profitable."

390

Here is the sentence pronounced on this occasion by the Seigneurs of Geneva: —

391

While Calvin was eloquently pleading among others the cause of the persecuted faithful of France, he was struggling with an ever-increasing energy for the suppression of scandals, and the formation of a new people at Geneva. His efforts, however, seemed powerless before the enormity of the evil, and the furious resistance of that party, which history has justly branded with the name of Libertine. The cabal of the factious gathered strength from day to day, and disorders were committed with impunity. The task of reforming the public morals, courageously undertaken by the ministers, was almost absolutely fruitless. Ashamed of such excesses, but incapable of suppressing them, the Great Council increased the severity of its edicts, but had not the power to impose them upon the multitude who were banded together against the foreigners. The French were a particular object of fury to the factions. They beat them in the streets, and subjected them to all sorts of outrages. Most absurd accusations were circulated against them, and were believed by the multitude. The presence of Farel and Viret in Geneva could not quiet these troubles; and it was in vain that these courageous ministers presented themselves before the councils, "to commend to them the care of religion and morals." – Chronique of Roset, c. v. pp. 42, 44; Ruchat, c. v. pp. 489, 490.

392

Probably Amy Perrin.

393

Placed by his character and talents at the head of the Vaudois clergy, Viret had to maintain a ceaseless struggle against the encroachments and ecclesiastical tyranny of the Seigneurs of Berne. – See Ruchat, c. v. p. 488.

394

Minister of the French Church of Strasbourg.

395

Quatre Sermons traictans des matières fort utiles pour nostre temps. 1552, 8vo. Opuscules, p. 824.

396

Beza published this year a new edition of his Tragedy of Abraham under the following title: – Le Sacrifice d'Abraham, Tragédie Française, séparée en trois Pauses à la façon des Actes de Comédies, avec des Chœurs, un Prologue et un Epilogue. 1552, 8vo.

397

Ambroise Blaurer, of a noble family of Constance, entered in early youth a convent, which he soon left to become a preacher of reform, for which he had contracted a taste from reading the writings of Luther. Present at the Controversy of Berne with Zwingle, Œeolampadius, Bucer, and Capito, he beheld his preaching attended with the most gratifying success, and saw the Gospel victoriously established in his native town, where he exercised his valuable ministry until the war of Smalkald. Having at that time refused submission to the Interim, he left Constance, and retired first to Winterthur, near Zurich, and afterwards to Bienne, whilst his unfortunate city, fallen into the hands of the Imperialists, saw itself deprived at once of the Gospel and of liberty. Esteemed by Calvin, Blaurer witnessed his influence at Zurich and at Berne solicited more than once by the Reformer of Geneva. He died in 1567. – See Beza, Icones, and Melch. Adam, Theolog. Germ., p. 413.

398

In a letter to an unknown personage, (Opera, tom. ix. p. 238,) Calvin mentions this same event, adding to it a curious detail taken from the letter of an eye-witness: "Among other things, he informed me of a circumstance which I am unwilling to withhold from you – that a striking spectacle presented itself to him in the destruction of our city, viz., that my father's house stood entire after all the others had been reduced to ashes." Farther on he adds, – "I have no doubt but that God wishes to make this a testimony against all those of our city who, eight or ten days before, had burnt in effigy Monsieur de Normandie."

399

Commentarius in Evangelium Johannis. Geneva, 1553. Fol. Robert Estienne.

400

See Letter, p. 270. Doubly afflicted by the wars which were desolating Germany, and by the disorders which were rending the Church, Melanchthon had maintained a long silence, which was only broken on the 1st October 1552, by a touching letter to Calvin: – "Reverend sir and very dear brother, – I should have written you frequently, had I been able to secure trustworthy letter-carriers. I should have preferred a conversation with you on many questions of very serious interest, inasmuch as I set a very high value on your judgment, and am conscious that the integrity and candour of your mind is unexceptionable. I am at present living as if in a wasps' nest. But perhaps I shall ere long put off this mortal life for a brighter companionship in heaven." Full of affection and respect for Melanchthon, whose character he venerated, while he freely blamed him for his weakness and indecision, Calvin made known, in turn, to the German Reformer, the struggles of all sorts which he had to undergo at Geneva, and with which the name of Melanchthon himself is found mixed up, owing to the astute intrigues of the Libertines, who had an interest in involving these two great men in mutual opposition.

401

The same fact is related in a letter of Calvin to Dryander in the following terms: "After that monk let loose against us from the service of M. de Falais had been condemned, a plot having been clandestinely hatched, a noisy fellow was found who, not only at table in private families, but up and down the taverns, kept constantly bawling, that we made God the author of sin, and otherwise traduced our ministry in the most insulting manner possible. When I saw that these evenomed words were spread about everywhere, by means of which profligate men were intriguing, by no means covertly, to overthrow the whole kingdom of Christ in this city, I mildly admonished the people to be on their guard against them. I also pointed out to the Senate how dangerous dilatory measures were in such dissensions. Those who had suborned him to molest me, by their intrigues so protracted the cause, that I was kept in suspense upwards of three months. For among the judges there were several who favoured the adverse party. But among many injuries, there was nothing I felt more keenly and bitterly than that this affair forced me into a hateful contest with M. Philip, with whom, however, I broke in such a manner that I never spoke of so great a man except in honourable terms." – Library of Geneva. Vol. 107, a.