Letters of John Calvin, Volume II

39

Vitus lent useful aid to Luther in the revision of his different writings, and rendered a real service to the Church by collecting and offering to the public the Commentaries of Luther on the Prophet Micah, and the first eleven chapters of Genesis. – Melch. Adam, Vitæ Theol. Germ.

40

The Conference opened by the Emperor at Ratisbon, and to which Bucer had been summoned, was a mere feint to divert men's minds, and to transfer the decision of the points at issue to the Council of Trent.

41

Viret, yielding to the entreaties of Calvin, went to Geneva towards the end of March, and there received the most honourable marks of public affection. We read in the Registers of Council, of date the 2d April 1546, – "Grand reception given to Farel and Viret, who had just arrived at Geneva."

42

On the back, in the handwriting of M. de Falais, – Received the 16th of April 1546.

43

A new diet had been assembled at Ratisbon, for the pacification of the religious troubles of Germany. That assembly opened in the month of June 1546, in presence of the Emperor, and like those which had preceded, concluded without any result whatsoever.

44

The Protestants of this town, feebly supported by the league of Smalkald, and intimidated by the presence of the imperial legate, devoted to the Roman Catholic clergy, had already lost the rights which had been guarantied to them by the accord of 1543, and so found themselves deprived of the exercise of public worship and of the pastorate. – (See a letter of Myconius to Calvin, 13th November 1543. Calv. Epist. et Responsa, Amst. p. 26.)

45

In the year 1546, the Palatinate witnessed the accomplishment of a great religious revolution. The Elector, Frederic II., yielding to the wish of his subjects, proclaimed the establishment of the Reformation, and the abolition of the old worship in his states. The chief instrument of that revolution was the minister Paul Fagius, the disciple of Capito. – Sleidan, Comment. lib. xvi. p. 266. De Thou, lib. ii. c. 3.

46

The French Church of Strasbourg, of which Calvin had been pastor during his exile from Geneva.

47

Introduced by Calvin to Myconius, Ochino made but a very short stay at Bâle, where those writings made their appearance which have been such a blot upon his memory. In 1545 he went to Augsbourg, where he became minister to the congregation of Italian refugees until the epoch of the Interim, which was the cause of his betaking himself to England. His leanings toward heterodoxy were veiled from the eyes of every one, except perhaps the clear-sighted discernment of Calvin, who valued his abilities, without having an entire confidence in the solidity of his doctrines. The ever-recurring changes of his unsettled life led him, at a later period, to class himself with the sect of the anti-Trinitarians. His discourses, so much admired by Cardinal Bembo, and the Emperor Charles V. himself, are less remarkable for their purity of doctrine than for the warmth of feeling and the poetical flash of the style. They have been printed under the following title: Prediche di Messer Bernardino Ochino, 1543, and reprinted on several occasions; but we are not aware of any translation, whether Latin or French. See Schelhorn, Ergötzlichkeiten, tom. iii. pp. 2022, 2161, 2166, and pp. 2174-2179.

48

The sisters of M. de Falais.

49

Juan Diaz, originally of Cuença, in Spain, studied letters at the University of Paris, and was distinguished, amid the scholars of his nation, "by superior learning, adorned with pure morals, great mildness, prudence, and benignity." Initiated in the knowledge of the Gospel, he left Paris and visited Geneva, Bâle, Strasbourg, where he acquired the friendship of Bucer, whom he accompanied into Germany. The Jesuit, Malvenda, a stout defender of Popish idolatry, having made vain efforts to lead him back to the Romish Church, the adversaries of Juan Diaz planned a most detestable conspiracy against his life, and, on the 27th of March, he was assassinated by order of Alphonso Diaz, his own brother, who had come from Rome in order to the accomplishment of this execrable outrage, the instigator of which remained unpunished. – See the record of this odious fratricide in Sleidan, and Histoire des Martyrs, pp. 162, 168; and Letter CLXIII.

50

Calvin had this year a child by his wife, Idelette de Bure, which died in the birth.

51

At the request of M. de Falais, Calvin had prepared an apology for his Lordship, which was to be presented to the Emperor at the Diet of Ratisbon. This memorial, drawn up at first in French, then translated into Latin, and along with a profession of faith, containing valuable details for the history of M. de Falais, has the following title: – Apology of the very Illustrious Lord James of Burgundy, of Falaise, and of Breda, wherein he has wiped away the accusations wherewith he has been branded in the sight of the Imperial Majesty, and sets forth the Confession of his Faith. This morceau has been published by the Amsterdam editor at the end of the letters of Calvin to M. de Falais.

52

M. de Falais had five brothers. Those alone of whom mention is made in the letters of Calvin, are John, Seigneur de Fromont, and Peter, Pronotary apostolic, who had embraced the Reformation.

53

Alphonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Guasto, governor of the Milanese, and one of the ablest generals of Charles the Fifth. He died in 1546.

54

The Emperor, in 1544, had undertaken a disastrous expedition against the town of Argiers. The military movements which were then going forward in Italy, were intended to cover his real projects of attack against the Protestant princes of Germany.

55

See the following letter.

56

The Ecclesiastical Ordinances, digested by Calvin and adopted by the councils of the republic, daily encountered the keenest opposition in the heart of a party which reckoned at its head men belonging to the most distinguished families among the Genevese. The Consistory and Councils together took care that the laws were rigidly enforced, and checked improprieties without respect of persons. The Captain-General, Amy Perrin, the Syndic Corna, and several other persons, having, contrary to the prohibitions, danced in a private house, "It is ordained," as is contained in the Registers of 12th April 1546, "that they all be imprisoned;" and with regard to the wife of Amy Perrin, who spoke insolently to the Consistory, that she also be imprisoned, and be required to find security. Perrin, to avoid undergoing the punishment pronounced against him, had recourse to the pretext of a journey to Lyons; but he was incarcerated on his return. The Syndic Corna acknowledged his fault, and, after a deposition of some days, he was reinstated in his office. The minister, Henry de la Mare, was deposed, for having been present at the ball, and taken the side of the dance and dancers against the Consistory. See Registers of Council, April 1546.

57

At the head of the opposition to the ministers were observed the different members of the family of Francis Favre, a dissolute old man, and father-in-law of Amy Perrin. Francisca, his daughter, wife of the latter, made herself remarkable by the violence of her invectives against the Consistory. "They remonstrated with her, and made no more account of herself and her father than of the lowest in the city. Being again interrogated whether she would name the dancers, twice replied, that she would rather submit to punishment, and be dragged before all the justices, than appear before the Consistory." – Notes Extracted from the Registers of the Consistory of Geneva, by the late Syndic Cramer, 4te, 1853.

58

"That the father-in-law of Amy Perrin, who has committed adultery, be also imprisoned, and put upon his trial." – Registers of Council. Ibid.

59

See the whole of this narrative in the Histoire des Martyrs, from the tract of Claude de Senarclens: Vera Historia de Morte Joannis Diazii Hispani. 1546.

60

Letter without date, of which the original French is lost. It is here reproduced from the Latin translation inserted in the collection of the published Latin letters of Calvin, with restoration of date, April 1546.

61

Menaced by a common peril, and having equally to resist the pretensions of Charles V. to universal rule, the King of France and the Protestant Princes of Germany had resumed negotiations, that must seemingly issue in a lasting treaty. This treaty of alliance was for long the object of the prayers and the hopes of Calvin, who reckoned upon extracting from it advantageous results to the French Protestants, and an implicit toleration for churches until then subjected to the most violent persecutions. He pressed Farel and Viret, one or other, to repair to Germany, to hasten the progress of negotiations and determine the conditions of the alliance.

62

Is this Uzés a small town of Languedoc, now comprised in the department of Gard? Beza and the historian of the martyrs furnish us with no information on this point.

63

Desirous of rendering assistance to Calvin during his illness and recovery, the Seigneurs of Geneva decided upon allowing him an attendant at the public expense. – Registers of Council, 4th March 1546.

64

Viret was on the point of repairing to Berne, in order to discuss certain matters relative to the ordinances of the Reformation in the Pays de Vaud. – Ruchat, vol. v. p. 298.

65

After the disgrace of the Chancellor Poyet, this high office was filled by François Olivier, Seigneur of Louville, President of the Parliament of Paris. He resigned in 1550, and again became Chancellor in 1559, in order to give his sanction to the lamentable executions of Amboise, which he survived only for a short time.

66

On the back, in the handwriting of M. de Falais: "Received the 22d July." This note, taken in connection with the beginning of the next letter to M. de Falais, settles the date of the present one.

67

M. de Falais was at the time dangerously ill.

68

Certain persons having obtained from the magistrate permission to act in public a Morality, entitled, The Acts of the Apostles, which had received the approbation of the ministers; one of them, named Michael Cop, less conciliatory than his colleagues, preached a very violent discourse in the church of St. Peter, and said that the women who should mount the theatre to act that farce, would be shameless creatures. These words stirred up a great tumult in the city, and Calvin required to put forth all his influence to quiet the agitation, and to preserve the life of his imprudent colleague.

69

The minister, Abel Poupin, exerted his interest with the actors to appease the tumult excited by his colleague.

70

It is seen by this instance, that Calvin was not so stern as to proscribe public games and amusements that harmonized with decency. "He himself made no scruple in engaging in play with the seigneurs of Geneva; but that was the innocent game of the key, which consists in being able to push the keys the nearest possible to the edge of a table." – Morus, quoted Hist. de la Suisse, vol. xi. p. 356.

71

Allusion to a sister of M. de Falais.

72

The project of marriage, developed in the two preceding letters, not having been realized, Viret turned his attention in another direction; and a passage in his will, preserved in the Archives of Geneva, informs us that he espoused, in his second marriage, Elizabeth Laharpe, daughter of a French refugee of Lausanne. This marriage was celebrated in October or November 1546, and the nuptial benediction was pronounced by Calvin himself, who, in a subsequent letter, (of the 3d December,) makes allusion to the journey which he had accomplished, in order to be present at the nuptials of his friend.

73

At the request of Calvin, Farel had written a letter to Amy Perrin, in order to calm his resentment, and lead him back to the good path. The message of Farel, like that of Calvin himself, was without effect, and the quarrel between the Reformer and his old friend, now his adversary, became daily more confirmed and violent.

74

A term frequently employed by Calvin to designate Perrin, with the adjunct of a derisive epithet, – Cæsar our comedian.

75

See note 1, vol. i. p. 343. It appears, from this passage, that Froment was not at that time settled in Geneva. He was called thither a short time afterwards to assist Francis Bonivard in digesting the Chronicles of the city.

76

The Commentaries on the four Epistles of St. Paul to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, and the Colossians, were not published until 1548, by the bookseller Girard, of Geneva. Is there a previous edition of the Commentary on the Galatians? We are not aware of any.

77

This, one of the most remarkable of the works of Calvin, appeared only in 1550.

78

This apparent reconciliation was without satisfactory result. Perrin could not tolerate, nor Calvin sacrifice, the right of censure vested in the Consistory, and which the excesses of the Libertins daily rendered more necessary. "Complaints to the Council by M. Calvin regarding the dissoluteness of the youth, there being nothing more common in the city than acts of debauchery and licentiousness." – Registers of Council, 11th October 1546.

79

M. de Falais had sent Calvin a theological work by a certain Denis de la Roche, requesting his opinion of it.

80

Allusion to the death of one of the sisters of M. de Falais, which they had not ventured to communicate to him.

81

The Commentary on the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, dedicated to M. de Falais.

82

The confiscation of the property of M. de Falais had been pronounced by the Court of Malines. That decree had been submitted to the confirmation of the Emperor.

83

The sentence which put the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse to the ban of the Empire, 20th July 1546, was the signal for war in Germany. The Imperial army, and that of the Protestant Princes, observed one another for several months, on the banks of the Danube, without the one being able to obtain any decisive advantage over the other. But the troops of Charles the Fifth were decimated by want and sickness while there was an overabundance in the camp of the confederates.

84

Maximilian d'Egmont, Count de Buren, a valiant and adventurous captain. He brought a powerful reinforcement to Charles the Fifth from the Netherlands, and he executed that difficult operation with the most happy success.

85

For Peter Viret. See preceding letters to M. de Falais, pp. 63 and 74.

86

Calvin lost his wife, Idelette de Bure, in the beginning of April 1549, and never married again. His Latin correspondence contains two beautiful and touching letters to Viret and to Farel (7th and 11th April) on that sad event. They will be found reprinted in this collection.

87

Valeran Poulain, of Lille, who was at a later period minister of the French Church at Frankfort.

88

The Emperor Charles V. See note 2, p. 78.

89

Maurice of Saxony, cousin of the Elector John Frederic, and son-in-law of the Landgrave of Hesse, unworthily betraying the cause of the Confederates, concluded a secret treaty with the emperor, to whom he took the oath of fidelity, and who guarantied to him in return the spoils of his father-in-law.

90

Nicolas des Gallars, of Paris, (M. de Saules,) the friend and secretary of Calvin, and one of the most distinguished ministers of Geneva. He was sent as pastor to the Church at Paris in 1557, reappointed in 1560 to the French Church of London, assisted the following year at the conference at Poissy, was named minister of the Church of Orleans, and became, in 1571, preacher to the Queen of Navarre. We have several of his works mentioned by Senebier, Hist. Litt., tom. i. p. 341.

91

Helène de Falais. She had married Adrien de L'Isle, Seigneur de Trénoy.

92

This diversion, dictated to the King of France by sound politics, was not effected, and Francis I. remained a peaceable spectator of events, whose necessary tendency was to secure, by the defeat of the Protestant party in Germany, the ascendency of Charles V. in Europe.

93

The ministers of Berne were divided by incessant disputes on the subject of the Supper. Sulzer and certain of his colleagues inclined to the Lutheran view, which Erasme Ritter combated; and by an abuse of power, that was not uncommon at that period, the Seigneury of Berne claimed to determine by itself the sense of the controverted dogma, the settlement of which ought to have been remitted to a Synod. – Ruchat, tom. v. pp. 225, 226.

94

The senator, Nicolas de Zerkinden, friend of Calvin and prefect of Nyon.

95

The Roman Catholic and Reformed Cantons, solicited, the former by the emperor, the latter by the Protestant princes, to take part in the struggles of which Germany was the theatre, had both observed a strict neutrality. But the Seigneury of Berne having received information that military movements were taking place in Franche-Comté, then under the rule of the Spaniards, summoned ten thousand men to arms, and occupied the passes of the Jura. That measure, which arose out of the pressure of circumstances, would perhaps have brought about a division among the confederates, and serious complications from without, if the treachery of the Elector Maurice had not hastened on the course of events in Germany. – John de Müller, Hist. de la Confédération Suisse, continuation of M. Vulliemin, tom. xi. p. 292.

96

A word effaced in the original.

97

The original letter is without address. But it is generally believed that it was addressed by Calvin to the widow of the celebrated William Budé, great-grandson of the secretary to King Charles V., and one of the most learned personages of the period of the revival of letters. William Budé having declared in his will that he wished to be buried without ceremony, this circumstance led to the supposition that he had died in the faith of the Reformed. His widow not being able to make free profession of her faith at Paris, was about to settle at Geneva, on the solicitation of Calvin, (June 1549.) She was accompanied by her daughter and three of her sons, Louis, Francis, and John de Budé, who held a distinguished rank in the republic. The best known of the three brothers is John de Budé, Sieur de Vérace, the particular friend of Calvin and of Théodore de Bèze. He was received an inhabitant of Geneva the 27th June 1549, burgess the 2d May 1555, member of both Councils in 1559, fulfilled several important missions to the Protestant princes of Germany, and died in 1589, after having rendered distinguished services to his new country, and thereby added fresh lustre to his family, whose descendants still live at Geneva. – Galiffe, Notices Généalogiques des Familles Genèvoises, tom. iii. p. 83, et seq.

98

On the back, in another handwriting, – "Of 46. I think that this letter must be to Madame Budé."

99

Catharine de Budé married, in 1550, William de Trie, Seigneur de Varennes, a gentleman of the Lyonnais, a refugee at Geneva on account of religion.

100

John Francis Nœguely, one of the most illustrious magistrates, and one of the most able captains of the republic of Berne, in the sixteenth century. In 1536 he commanded the Bernese army, which conquered the Pays de Vaud from the Duke of Savoy; discharged the functions of Avoyer from 1540 to 1568, and died at a very advanced age.

101

In a note, by an unknown hand, "Philippe Buissonnier de Bresse."

102

Several ministers of the Pays de Vaud, and particularly Zebedee, later pastor of Nyon, Lange, pastor of Bursins, delivered from the pulpit the most virulent declamations against the doctrines of the Reformer.

103

On the news of the dangers that menaced the churches of Germany, an important mission had been confided to the Reformer. "Calvin is despatched by the Seigneury to Zurich, to obtain certain information of the condition of the war between the Emperor and the Protestant princes." – Registers of Council, 23d January 1547. "Calvin having returned, reports that the war between the Emperor and the Protestants is more enkindled than ever, and that the Swiss, apprehensive of that prince turning his arms against them, are putting themselves in a state of defence." – Ibid., 23d January 1547.

104

Situated at the extremity of the Confederation, without forming part of it, and sharing the faith of the Reformed Cantons, Constance, the first city open to the attacks of the Emperor upon the banks of the Rhine, invoked the aid of the Cantons, whose rigorous neutrality left it exposed without defence to its adversaries. – Histoire de la Confédération Suisse, tom. xi. p. 296.

105

Ulrich, Duke of Wurtemberg, although among the first to submit to the Emperor, was compelled to sue for pardon on his knees, and to pay a ransom of 300,000 crowns. – Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., book viii.

106

The present Quai des Bergues.

107

Calvin at that time inhabited the house of the Sieur de Fréneville, situated in the Rue des Chanoines, near St. Peter's Church, and corresponding to the house in the same street which is now No. 122. – See the Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire de Genève, vol. ix. p. 391.

108

He sought in marriage a relation of M. de Falais.

109

The Emperor Charles the Fifth, – conqueror, without a combat, of the army of the confederate princes: thanks to the treason of Maurice of Saxony, this prince, although suffering severely from the gout, was at this very time receiving the submission of the confederate towns of Suabia and of the Palatinate, from which he exacted enormous penalties.

110

The King, Francis I. He died the following month, the 31st March 1547.

111

On the back – To Monseigneur, Monsieur de Fallez, at Basle, near to the Cauf-Hauss. – M. de Falais was in fact about to quit Strasbourg, then threatened by the imperial army, to fix his residence in Switzerland.

112