Letters of John Calvin, Volume II

Now, Monseigneur, agreeably to the protestation which I made above, I shall make no further excuse, neither of the tiresomeness of my letter, nor on account of my having thus freely laid open to you what I had so much at heart. For I feel assured that my affection is well known to you, while in your wisdom, and as you are well versed in the Holy Scriptures, you perceive from what fountain I have drawn all that is herein contained. Wherefore, I do not fear to have been troublesome or importunate to you, in making manifest, according as I could, the hearty desire I have that the name of God may always be more and more glorified by you, which is my daily supplication; beseeching him that he would please to increase his grace in you, to confirm you by his Spirit in a true unconquerable constancy, upholding you against all enemies, having yourself with your whole household under his holy protection, enabling you successfully to administer the charge which is committed to you, that so the King may have whereof to praise this gracious God for having had such a governor in his childhood, both for his person and for his kingdom.

Whereupon I shall make an end, Monseigneur, very humbly commending me to your kind favour.

[Fr. Copy. – Library of Geneva. Vol. 107.]

CCXXX. – To Farel

Election of new magistrates at Geneva – troubles in France – letter from BucerGeneva, 27th November 1548.

You ought not to impute to my negligence your not having received a letter from me since you set sail from this place; for I have found no one setting out in your direction. It is not quite safe, moreover, in these times, for a letter to be carried about by a variety of hands. In the next place, I hardly know what to write to you, because there is nothing that is not fitted to cause you much more annoyance than satisfaction. The prefect Molard is here, with whom are joined as assessors the eldest son of Balthazar and a certain Rigot of that faction. You see, therefore, that there will be no danger this year to the wicked from the severity of the judges. We wait, however, to see in what channel their licence will break forth. On the same day our comic friend Cæsar again donned the socks.210 Being now rendered somewhat more ferocious, he boasts among his stage-players after his own Thrasonic fashion. Finally, there appears to be no hope of speedy amendment, whatever we may essay. Nor is it to be doubted that they are labouring to effect a great revolution in the republic at the next assembly of syndics; but the Lord in heaven is vigilant.

The commotions at Bourdeaux are settled, or they are at least lulled for a season.211 For examples of extreme cruelty have been exhibited, which may in a short time boil forth in greater tempests. The people of Saintonge keep themselves concealed in the isles. Bucer lately wrote to me that Antiochus was looking forward to a day of purification. As far as I can gather from his letter, the council have no heart for that.212 I also received a letter from Bullinger yesterday. When I reply you will know all. Should our council by chance permit what has been adduced against the Interim of the sons of Cæsar213 to be printed here, I shall send you a copy by the first messenger I can find. But as Trolliet maintains among his own friends that there is no need of so many books and sermons, I am afraid lest his authority prove so powerful as to force us to seek a press elsewhere. Adieu, brother and most sincere friend, along with your colleagues Fatin, Michel, Thomas, and the rest of the co-presbyters. May the Lord continue to guide you all by his Holy Spirit. You will salute your whole family in my name and in that of my wife. All my city colleagues salute you. The others conduct themselves piously and uprightly, with the two exceptions of Philip and Ludovic Siliniac. James Bernard had lately a quarrel with a grandson of Wendelin, because he allied the latter too closely with us. His brother left this for another place three days ago. In haste, yours,

John Calvin.

[Lat. orig. autogr. – Library of Geneva. Vol. 106.]

CCXXXI. – To John Sturm. 214

Evidences of faith and Christian steadfastness, amid the dangers that threaten the Church[Geneva, December 1548.]

If the rumour that has suddenly been spread among us be true, it behoves us to hold ourselves ready for the clash of arms. Would that the world were wise, for in that case it would long ago have been accustomed to cultivate peace under the favour of God. But since a good part of it takes too much pleasure in a war with God, it is but just that all those who refuse peaceably to submit themselves to the Author of Peace, should perish wretchedly in their mutual tumults. We ought at least to take this consolation in the midst of evils, that those stormy troubles bring some cessation of hostilities to the Church of God. The power of Antiochus will be ruined; our Pharaoh, being conquered, will turn his violent assaults elsewhere, and relax perchance somewhat of his severity at home. New friends also will be able to effect some mitigation. I refrain from exhorting you to use your efforts in the particular quarter to which I refer, because I am persuaded that there is already sufficient willingness. As to the rest, whether a final dispersion be imminent, or, what is more pleasing to forecast, whether the Lord has resolved to gather together, by means of earthly commotions, into his heavenly kingdom, all those who are now scattered and wandering wretchedly abroad, we shall have cherished a friendship in good faith, the bond of which is inviolable…215

[Lat. orig. autogr. – Library of Geneva. Vol. 107a.]

CCXXXII. – To Madame de Cany. 216

Exhortation to a courageous and honest profession of the truthThis 8th January 1549.

Madame, – I would not have taken the liberty to write to you, if a man, whom I ought to trust among all others, had not emboldened me to do so, by assuring me that my letter would be agreeable to you. That is, Monsieur de Normandie, who, feeling himself obliged to you for the kindness you had shewn him, had a special desire to do you service, so far as he had the means, and besides, has such a care of your salvation as he ought to have who knows that you have loved him, as partaker of a common Christian faith. On this account he has induced me to write to you, thinking that not only you might take pleasure in my letters, but that they might perhaps be profitable for you, as well for your consolation in present extremity, as to exhort you to perseverance so needful in the midst of such manifold temptations. And would to God I might have more ample opportunity of compliance with his request. But seeing that it is his pleasure that we should be separated by so great a distance, which does not permit more frequent communication between us, I beseech you, Madame, to take what I do write as a testimony of the earnest desire which I have to promote your salvation. If, because of the confession you have made of your Christianity, murmurs and threatenings rise up against you, you must bear in mind to what we are called, which is, that notwithstanding all sorts of contradiction on the part of the world, we must render to the Son of God the homage which belongs to him. These indeed should be to you as so many warnings to prepare yourself for greater things, for neither great nor small ought to seek exemption from suffering in the cause of our Sovereign King, in which his honour is as much involved as our salvation. Above all, since himself has begun by shewing us the way, who among us shall dare to refuse to follow him? Where is the greatness, or the elevation, that can bestow greater privilege upon us than on himself? And more than that, if we can appreciate the honour he confers upon us in making use of our service to maintain his so precious truth, we shall hold it to be a peculiar advantage, rather than be annoyed on account of it. True it is, that the human understanding cannot apprehend that; but, seeing that the infallible wisdom of God pronounces, that those who are persecuted for the testimony of the Gospel are most happy, at all hazards we must needs acquiesce in that judgment. And indeed, who are we that we should maintain the cause of God? Where is our sufficiency for it, seeing that we are altogether inclined to falsehood? How should we be witnesses for his truth, unless by his own special gracious permission? On the other hand, seeing that we deserve on account of our sins to suffer all shame of face and ignominy, every sort of misery and torment, yea were it even a hundred thousand deaths, if that were possible, have we aught to complain of, ought we not rather to rejoice, when, forgetting our faults, he wills that we should suffer for his name? Therefore, inasmuch as we are so froward and carnal that we cannot reach such elevation, let us beg of this gracious God that he would please to imprint in our hearts that which naturally we find so strange. Furthermore, let us take to ourselves the example of the Apostles, who counted the reproach of the world as a great honour, and even gloried in it. In short, let us never think that we have fully received the truth, if we do not prefer, above all worldly triumphs, to fight under the banner of our Lord Jesus, that is to say, to bear his cross.

Even so, Madame, consider, I beseech you, if hitherto you have taken pains to serve and honour so good a master, how you can strive more earnestly than ever to arm yourself against opposition, to take courage against all difficulties in order to surmount them; for, since the worldly often manifest invincible constancy in the pursuit of their vanities, patiently enduring so many labours, troubles, and dangers, it would be too shameful were we to grow weary in the midst of the way of salvation; albeit that this is by no means all that is required of us, that we shew ourselves steadfast in the midst of persecutions; for, even if there were no enemies to make open war upon us, we find enough of aversion and indisposedness in ourselves and all around, to hinder us in making our calling sure, which all those who have a true zeal to devote themselves to God, experience more fully than any one could tell them. Inasmuch, then, as I hold you to be of the number, I entreat you to exercise yourself continually in the doctrine of renouncing the world yet more and more, in order to come nearer to our Lord Jesus, who has once for all purchased us to separate us unto himself. I mean the world, such as we carry it within ourselves, before we are made again after his likeness. And seeing that our whole nature, inasmuch as by the corruption of the plague it has been depraved, is enmity against God, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be duly established, until all which is ours has been beaten down; and not only the open vices which are condemned of men, but also even our own reason and wisdom. I am aware that I do not speak to you of any new thing, and that by the grace of God you have long ago begun to follow in the way of the holy heavenly calling. But the study of holiness is one of which we must avail ourselves even to the end. And as I have ample cause to praise God for the graces he has bestowed on you, and whereby he magnifies himself in you, by making his own glory to shine forth therein; in also looking to the frailty which we all feel, I think it no superfluous trouble to exhort you to follow on, as indeed you do. And even as it is becoming in Christians to submit in all humility to receive the admonitions which are addressed to them in the name of God, even that the most learned should gladly submit to be taught, I hope that you will receive the whole with a benign and kindly heart. Believe me, when I hear that God has wrought so powerfully in you, and that he has vouchsafed you such commendable qualities, I am incited all the more to desire that he would increase his work in you, until he has quite finished it; and this it is that has constrained me more freely to declare to you my desire and affection.

In conclusion, Madame, having humbly commended me to your kind favour, I entreat our good Lord to have you in his holy protection, to guide you by his Holy Spirit in all strength and prudence, to vouchsafe you grace to promote his honour, until he gather us all unto himself.

Your servant and humble brother,

Charles D'Espeville.

[Fr. Copy, Library of Geneva. Vol. 107.]

CCXXXIII. – To Mademoiselle de…

Exhortations to steadfastness in the faith – acknowledgment of liberalityThe 12th of January 1549.

Mademoiselle my Sister, – I am very glad that your letter has afforded an occasion for my writing to you, so that without further excuse access and freedom have been given me, were it for nought else than to declare the affection I have for you. Therein, that is in your letter, I can perceive evident and clear signs of spiritual vitality; and I have not a doubt but the heart speaks therein quite as much, or rather more than the mouth. Besides, you shew convincingly that you have no longer mere passing convictions, such as many people have now-a-days, but that you have been touched to the quick, and moved with the desire of dedicating yourself wholly to God and to his will. It is very true, as you say, that while clinging from worldly fear to the superstitions which in the world reign paramount, you are still very far from that perfection whereto our gracious God doth call us. But yet it is to have made some progress even to acknowledge our sins, and to be displeased with them. You must now advance farther, and condemning your own weakness, set yourself in earnest about getting rid of it; and if you cannot succeed all at once in compassing your wish, yet nevertheless you must persevere in seeking the remedy for it, until you have been completely cured. To do this, you will find it to be of advantage to call yourself to account day by day, and while acknowledging your faults, to groan within yourself, and mourn over them before God, so that your displeasure against whatsoever is evil may become more intense, until you are quite confirmed and resolved to renounce it as you ought, even as indeed I feel assured you labour hard to do. And it is not in vain that you beg of me to join my prayers with yours, to seek with importunity to God that he would be pleased to have compassion upon you, and to deliver you from this unhappy captivity. Let us continue then with one accord to put up this request, and he will at length make manifest that you have not altogether lost your time. True, sometimes he lets us grow faint, and before declaring effectually that he has heard our prayers, he seems to keep at a distance, as much to sharpen our desire, as to make trial of our patience; and, therefore, you need not reckon that hitherto your prayers to him have been in vain, but much rather take encouragement, and strive even more and more, knowing that if perseverance be required throughout our whole life, it is specially desired in prayer. And, besides, you must also take care in real earnest to fan the flame which God has already begun to kindle within you; for all the gracious affections he breathes into us, are just so many sparks which we must not extinguish, or allow to go out by our heedlessness. Since, then, God has already opened your eyes so far, that you admit we ought to be his peculiar ones, and dedicated to him in righteousness, so as to glorify him as well in our bodies as in our souls; seeing also that he has touched your heart, so that you have some feeling of our unhappiness in alienation from him, unquestionably you must not now go to sleep or trifle away at your ease, but even as we stir fire when it does not burn as it ought to do, it is quite right that you be upstirred yet more and more, until the longing desire to devote yourself wholly to him and to his righteousness, overcomes all hindrances either from the flesh or from the world. I see, or at least take into view, the very great difficulties you have where you are; but since these considerations do not excuse you in the sight of God, when the question is of obedience to his word, and also in a thing of so great importance as the rendering unto him the glory which is due, and the making confession of your Christianity, – if I desire your salvation as I ought, as God is my witness that I do, it is my duty to awaken you, so far as I possibly can, not that I can teach you any new thing, but that on my part I may assist you in making a right use of that knowledge which God has vouchsafed you; to wit, how reasonable it is that his honour be preferred to our life, and also that we endeavour to put away all those subterfuges, which our flesh suggests to us, for turning aside from the path which he points out. That we may do so, we must learn a habit of forgetting ourselves, for the allurements of the world are no less dangerous than open war. The most humble have their share. You, on the other hand, owing to the high condition wherein God has set you, have a larger portion. But you must consider that this is a discipline God sends you, in order that you may all the better manifest the strength and vigour of the savour of our heavenly life, when you shall have surmounted those great obstacles, following out in spite of them your heavenly calling. However, Mademoiselle, when you feel your own infirmity so great, that in the midst of dangers you are unable to give glory to God, do not neglect the remedy, which is to betake yourself to the cross, where you may be joined to the flock, and hear the voice of the Shepherd; whatever may happen, shun to be as a sheep straying in the wilderness. When you are in such a disposition, there is no doubt that God will have compassion upon you, that himself will provide when you shall see no means of doing so; for it is thus that he withdraws his own not only from the mouths of wolves, but from the very depths of hell.

I have received the ten crowns which you have sent for the support of the poor believers who have need of it.217 I have intrusted them to a discreet hand, to make distribution according to your intention. May the Lord vouchsafe acceptance of this alms at your hands, as a sacrifice of a sweet savour, and cause you one day to rejoice in the spiritual benefits which he has imparted to those you are thus helping in their earthly poverty.

And now, Mademoiselle, having commended me humbly to your kind favour, with prayer to our good Lord to uphold you in his protection, to govern you always by his Spirit, and to assist you in every way and evermore, I shall conclude for the present. My wife also desires to be humbly commended to your kind favour.

Your servant and humble brother,

Charles D'Espeville.

[Fr. copy. – Library of Geneva. Vol. 108.]

CCXXXIV. – To the Ministers of the Church of Montbeliard. 218

Exhortations to discharge to the end their ministerial duties[Geneva, 16th January 1549.]

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. – Very dear brethren, deserving of my hearty reverence, what we so long feared has at length come to pass, for Satan has, by the aid of his ministers, overturned among you also the order of the Church as established by God. Yet your letter was consolatory – so far as there could be any consolation in so very sad a state of things – for we learned from it that you were all faithful to the last in the discharge of your duty. In denouncing, as you say you did, those seducers who were making themselves busy in defiling the purity of sound doctrine, you acted with a decision worthy of the ministers of Christ. You now give a bright example of the sincerity of your faith, in preferring even exile to perfidious dissimulation. For when he who had hitherto given a hospitable reception within his dominions to the Church of Christ, and had granted you full permission to preach Christ, now deprives you of the office of teachers, there is no use in pushing the matter farther, as we think, especially when there is no hope of making progress, and when the sheep, over which Christ had made you pastors, no longer desire your services. As he is a traitor who voluntarily yields up and deserts his post, so it is our duty, when forced, not to offer resistance, unless perhaps we should be expressly called upon by the Church to undergo the extremity; for it is a hundred times better to die, than for those who were prepared to follow Christ to make vain their vows. But your case is far different; for so long as you were pastors, you were faithful and assiduous in your attention to your flocks. Now when there is no use in desiring to persevere, and when the sheep themselves, to whom your faith was pledged, do not consider it profitable for you to proceed farther, you are certainly free from all further obligation. It remains, therefore, for you to commend to Christ the charges committed to you, that he alone by his Spirit may give guidance when you have no longer any opportunity of carrying on your labours. Henceforward we may imagine what your sorrow must be, seeing that nothing presents itself to you but exile and poverty. But your greatest affliction will be caused by the misery of the Church, for whose interests you have evinced greater regard than for your own. And we indeed are equally affected – as we ought to be – by your public and private misfortunes. Would that we could extend a helping hand to you! For the rest, we exhort you to hold on to the end in this your testimony of Christian sincerity. Your lot, however hard, will be more blessed than if you maintained a name and a place where the Son of God was exiled. Yet we shall soon see him so reigning in heaven, as to make his power appear also on the earth. Meanwhile, it becomes us to be ready for the warfare, since it is not yet the hour of triumph. Adieu, best and most upright brethren. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, may he comfort and support you in your devoted steadfastness.

Your brethren truly in the Lord, the Ministers of the Church of Geneva. – In the name of all,

John Calvin.

[Calvin's Lat. Corresp. – Opera, tom. ix. p. 50.]

CCXXXV. – To Henry Bullinger. 219

Hope of union with the theologians of Zurich – dedication of several writingsGeneva, 21st January 1549.

I at length received your former letter, which I thought had been destroyed, three days before the latter of the two reached me. For when the person who married the other sister220 sought Hooper's221 letter from his companion, observing another small packet, he immediately laid hands on it. His companion, either from modesty, or from some cause I know not what, did not dare to take it from him. I have read your annotations, from which I have discovered what you regard as wanting in my method of treating the subject. I have endeavoured briefly to satisfy you, because the matter itself did not demand a long discourse. I shall know how far I have succeeded in this, when I have received your reply. I may at least on good grounds wish to obtain this of you, viz., that you will not allow yourself to become entangled in baseless suspicions. For I observe that, owing to this cause, you are perplexed in regard to many points which present difficulty, simply because you put upon the majority of my statements a different construction from what you have any ground for doing. A pre-conceived opinion regarding me leads you to imagine and attribute to me what never occurred to my mind. Besides, while you are concerned to maintain your own opinions, whatever they may be, to the very last, you sometimes consider more what is in harmony with them, than what is the truth on the subject. If simplicity pleases you, I certainly take no delight in disguise and circumlocution. If you love a free declaration of the truth, I never had any mind to bend what I wrote, so as to receive its acceptance with men. If there be any who have flattered Luther and others, I am not of that number. Our most excellent Musculus knows, that even when wise men were in fear, I was always free [from apprehensions]. But had it not been for the obstacle of an unprofitable distrust, there would by this time have been no controversy between us, or none to speak of. Although, however, I differ from you in opinion, that does not imply the least severance of affection; just as I cultivate the friendship of Bucer, and yet am free to dissent occasionally from his views. You are accordingly too severe in saying in your letter that the matter can only go well, provided you understand that you are not regarded as our enemies. On what grounds you form that surmise, I know not. This indeed I know, that I both think and speak of you in a friendly spirit. This, moreover, is known to very many who have heard me speak. It may indeed be that I have found fault with you in private letters to my friends, or that I have not concealed my conviction, that what they censured was deserving of reprehension. There was always, however, such an admixture of praise, as qualified any bitterness, and afforded proof of good intentions. Others may form what opinion they choose, but I shall never have to repent of lack of integrity on my part. If Master Blaurer222 shall undertake Provence, which is offered to him, and Musculus accept the Professorship of Theology, I shall not only congratulate the Church of Berne, but hope that this will prove a bond of closer relationship between us. I beg you will inform me of your affairs, whenever an opportunity occurs. You would have had my Commentaries on the Five Epistles of Paul before this time, had I not thought that they were for sale with you. As messengers rarely go and come between this and your quarter, I was afraid that the carriage would cost more than the purchase of them. I now send you the Commentaries on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and the four [Epistles] immediately following. I have yet published nothing on the Epistle to Titus, and the two Epistles to the Thessalonians. I also send my reply, which is highly approved of by Brentius, whose opinion I do not mention to you in the way of boasting, but that you may therefrom form a conjecture as to how much more moderate he is in his doctrine of the Sacraments than he formerly was. Adieu, most illustrious sir, and dearest brother in the Lord. May the Lord Jesus always guide you and your colleagues, all of whom you will salute respectfully in my name. Ours in turn desire best greetings to you, of whom Des Gallars presents for your acceptance a small treatise he has composed. The best greeting to Master Musculus, and other pious brethren. – Yours,