Chapter 18

[183]Dated, on the back of the letter, in a foreign hand.[184]Doubtless these were John de Budé, Sieur de Vérace, and Louis, Sieur de la Motte, his brother.[185]He refers to the promise of a visit to M. de Falais. Calvin went in fact to Bâle the 2d of February following. We read under that date, in the Council Registers of the state of Geneva:—"Calvin went to Bâle. The Council offers him things requisite for the voyage. 26th February,—Calvin on his return from Bâle."[186]The Apologyof M. de Falais.[187]Renée of France, Duchess of Ferrara. See, in this collection, the letters of Calvin to that princess.[188]In the journey which he had recently made to Bâle, Calvin had decided M. de Falais to come and fix himself definitively at Geneva.[189]Veigy, near Geneva. M. de Falais made there the purchase of a domain which he occupied during several years.[190]See letter to Bullinger of 19th September 1547, p. 143. The observations of Calvin on the treatise on theSacramentsbeing badly received, as it appears, by the minister of the Church of Zurich, had led, on the part of the latter, to a temporary coldness, of which Calvin complained in a letter, characterized alike by the noblest independence and the most Christian affection.[191]On the back, in the handwriting of M. de Falais:—Received the 12th April 1548.[192]M. de Falais could not establish himself at Geneva, without losing the right of a burgess, which he had acquired at Bâle.[193]The Emperor, and the new king of France, Henry II. Faithful to the policy of Francis I., a persecutor of the Reformation in his own States, the latter was about to conclude a secret treaty with the Protestant princes of Germany.[194]While persecution decimated the Reformed Churches of France, and the proclamation of theInterimdispersed those of Germany, the Swiss Churches were a prey to the most grievous dissensions, and appeared further removed than ever from that era of unity and peace which Calvin never ceased to invoke for them.[195]"Calvin informs the Council of certain disputes between the Seigneury and the ministers of Berne, which have gone so far that three of the ministers of said city have been deposed, besides Peter Viret of Lausanne; requests that leave may be given him to go to Berne to defend Viret, which was granted him; the Seigneury, besides, undertaking to defray the expenses of the journey."—Registers of Council, May 7, 1548.[196]By his second wife, Sebastienne de la Harpe, Viret had three daughters, designated in his will as Marie, Marthe, and Jeanne.—(MS. of the Arch. of Geneva.)[197]See letter of 9th May preceding. The relations between the Vaudois ministers and the Seigneury of Berne, became daily more complicated. A Synod assembled at Lausanne, having ventured formally to propound ten propositions contrary to the celebrated disputation of Berne, and to manifest an inclination in favour of ecclesiastical discipline, with the concurrence of two Bernese ministers, Beat Gerung and Simon Sulcer,—these two clergymen were arbitrarily deposed by the Seigneury, under the pretext of "the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the Church."—Ruchat, tom. v. pp. 357, 358.[198]Jodocus, minister of the Church of Berne.[199]See the letters, pp. 143, 160. In a new message to Bullinger, Calvin strove to dissipate the still lingering prejudices entertained by the Zurich theologians against those of Geneva and of Strasbourg, regarding the Sacraments; and he proposed the basis of that union, long-desired, which was consummated the following year between Zurich and Geneva. The Church of Berne, now deeply imbued with Lutheran views, refused its adhesion.[200]Ministers of the Church of Berne.[201]M. de Falais was on the point of leaving Bâle to settle at Geneva. He arrived, doubtless, in that town the end of July 1548. We read, in a letter of Calvin to Viret of the 20th August 1548: "Dominus Falesius uxor et soror vos salutant;—the wife and sister of M. de Falais salute you."—Vol. 106 of theLibrary of Geneva. The correspondence of Calvin with this Seigneur, thenceforward interrupted, was only resumed occasionally, and in 1552, ceased entirely.[202]The contract of marriage of Mademoiselle Wilergy.[203]M de Montmor. See the note, p. 141.[204]Messengers of the Emperor were then scouring the Cantons with a view to detach them from the French alliance, which was nevertheless renewed, 9th June 1549.[205]The minister Toussain, pastor of the church of Montbeliard, at that time dispersed by the imperial army.[206]See the letter to M. de Falais of 17th July 1548, and the relative note.[207]We have reproduced (Vol. i. p. 449,) a letter of Calvin to Viret, containing a severe judgment of the Reformer upon the magistrates of Geneva. Stolen from Viret by a faithless servant, and given to the Seigneury by Trolliet, this letter excited real commotions, the traces of which are to be found in the Registers of Council."Calvin justifies himself in council with regard to a certain letter he had written, in which it was alleged he blamed the Seigneury of this city. He also complains of the calumnies directed against him by Trolliet."—24th September.On the 15th October following, Farel appears in Council, "and prays them to entertain a constant regard for Calvin; that he observes with grief they do not show to that servant of God the deference that is due to him ... praying the Council to take order therein."—28th October. "Farel testifies anew that too little regard is had for the character and merits of Calvin; that he has no equal in learning; that it was not necessary to take such offence at what he might have said, as he had censured with great freedom the greatest men, such as Luther, Melanchthon, and many others."Resolved, to thank the said Farel, and to remit to him the original of the foresaid letter, in order that it might be restored to Viret."[208]Perhaps to Charles de Jonvillers, who became some years afterwards the secretary and friend of the Reformer. It was in fact in 1549, and in consequence of the advice of Calvin, that this Seigneur left Chartres, his country, to go to Geneva, which received him as inhabitant in 1550, and as burgess in 1556.[209]Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, Duke of Somerset, Regent of England, under the minority of Edward VI. It was under his administration that the Reformation was victoriously established in England. Supported by Parliament, he suppressed the troubles which arose in some parts of the kingdom after the death of Henry VIII., confirmed the king's supremacy, abolished the worship of images, private masses, and restored the communion in both kinds. He held a correspondence with Calvin, who dedicated to him, June 24, 1548, his Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy; and by advice of the Reformer, he offered an asylum to the exiles, Bucer, Fagi, Ochino, and Peter Martyr,—banished for the sake of their religion from the Continent. Beloved by the people, hated by the nobles, he made himself unpopular by his want of success in the war which he kept up against the Scots and in France; was overthrown by a conspiracy of the nobility, imprisoned in the Tower of London, (October 1549,) and only recovered his liberty the year following, to perish in 1552 on the scaffold, victim of the ambition of Warwick, Earl of Northumberland, his relative.[210]Deprived, the preceding year, of his office of councillor and captain-general, Amy Perrin had contrived, by the force of intrigue, to recover his former dignities.[211]The city of Bourdeaux having risen in revolt against the authority of the king on the ground of fresh taxation, the Constable Montmorency, being commissioned to suppress the disturbances, acted with relentless severity, and signalized his entry into the capital of Guienne by frightful executions.—De Thou, Lib. v.[212]Bucer wrote to Calvin:—"Earnestly entreat the Lord for this republic that it may learn to put away its own will and obey him."—Calv.Opera, Lib. ix. p. 46. But the magistrates had already resolved to make their submission, which involved the suppression of the Gospel in that unhappy city.[213]Is the reference to the partisans of the Imperial Alliance?[214]Without date. This letter appears to have been written at the moment when Strasbourg, menaced by the victorious army of Charles V., was disposed, in spite of the counsel of Bucer, to accept theInterim, and avoid by a voluntary submission the punishment inflicted on the leagued cities of Germany.—(December 1548.)John Sturm, a learned humanist and able politician, born at Sleida in 1507, passed through a brilliant course of study at the University of Louvain. Famous from his youth for learning and eloquence, he was nominated in 1529 Professor of Belles Lettres in the College of France, founded by Francis I., and became in 1537 Rector of the celebrated Academy of Strasbourg. Connected thenceforward with the German and Swiss Reformers, he occupied an important place in the religious negotiations of the age, maintained a correspondence with the principal European sovereigns, and died in 1583.Calvin and Sturm were known to each other, and associated together during the sojourn of the French Reformer at Strasbourg. From this period date the relations they maintained during many years, numerous precious memorials of which are to be found in the correspondence of Calvin. See on the subject of Sturm the curious and learned work entitled:—La vie et les travaux de Jean Sturm, Premier Recteur de l'Académie de Strasbourg, par C. Schmidt. 1 vol. in 8vo, 1855.[215]Conclusion wanting in the original manuscript.[216]Peronne de Pisseleu, wife of Michel de Barbançon, Seigneur de Cany, one of the personages of most importance in Picardy. This lady, instructed in the Reformed faith by Laurent de Normandie, lieutenant of the king at Noyon, and the friend of Calvin, had for a long time to endure the severity of her husband, who afterwards came at a later period to be a partaker of like faith.—Bèze, Hist. Eccl., tom. ii. p. 244.; De Thou, lib. xxv. Madame de Cany, sister of the Duchess d'Etampes, favourite of the late king, had possessed an unbounded influence at court, which she always used for generous purposes. Her ordinary residence was the Château de Varanues, situated on the Oise, near to Noyon.[217]The donations which a pious liberality daily multiplied at Geneva, gave rise to the foundations known by the name of French, German, and ItalianBourses. The names of Margaret de Valois, and the Duchess of Ferrara, shine in the first rank upon the list of foreign contributors.—Bolsec,Life of Calvin, c. xi.[218]To the Faithful Servants of Christ, the Ministers of the Church of Montbeliard, dearest Brethren and Fellow-Ministers.George of Wurtemberg, Count of Montbeliard, having fallen under the disgrace of the Emperor, at the end of the war of Smalkald, in which he had taken part in the ranks of the Protestant princes, was stript of his Principality in 1548, and withdrew to the Canton of Berne.—Ruchat, vol. v. p. 368. At the termination of that revolution, the Churches of the Pays de Montbeliard were dispersed, and their ministers, among whom was to be remarked Pierre Toussain, were banished, and sought an asylum in the different Reformed Cantons of Switzerland, until the period of the restoration, both political and religious, that replaced them some years afterwards in their native country.[219]The year 1549 is remarkable for the tendencies to union manifested by many of the Swiss Churches, and for their happy issue! Several persons, says Ruchat, zealous for religion, imagined that the clergy of Zurich and Geneva did not hold the same doctrine on the Supper, on the ground of some slight difference in the expressions they made use of; and this divergence caused them pain. Accordingly, as they held Bullinger and Calvin in great esteem, and desired to be able to profit equally by writings published by theologians of both churches, they deemed it necessary to institute conferences with a view to union; and Calvin, ever full of zeal for the interests of the Church, did not hesitate to subscribe to this petition.—Hospinien, tom. ii. p. 367; Ruchat, tom. v. p. 369.[220]Valeran Poulain, brother-in-law of Hooper, whose sister he espoused at Zurich. He became this same year minister of the congregation cf Foreign Protestants at Glastonbury, near London. We shall find him afterwards minister of the Church of Frankfort.[221]John Hooper, formerly chaplain to the Duke of Somerset, withdrew to Zurich during the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII. He was at this time disposed to return to England.[222]Ambroise Blaurer, formerly minister of the Reformed Church of Constance, at this time minister of the Church of Bienne.[223]This undated fragment should, we think, be referred to the month of February 1549; that is, to the period at which Bucer, compelled to leave Strasbourg, by the establishment of the Interim in that town, was making preparations for his departure for England. In one of his letters to Calvin we discover the following passage:—"We are only hindered by the tears and sighs of the pious—of whom there are still a great many here—from leaving this place before we get orders. For, if the Lord will, we wish rather to seal than to break up our ministry. You see how our affairs stand, and how much we need the assistance of your prayers, both in our own behalf and on that of this very unfortunate Church."—Calv. Opera, b. ix. p. 233.Sadly disappointed in the dream of his whole life—the union of the Reformed Churches of Germany and Switzerland—forgotten by parties who could not forgive his moderation in an age of hatred and intolerance, Bucer carried with him into exile the respect and affection of Calvin, who in a letter, of which we have here only a mere fragment, addressed to him the highest consolations of Christian philosophy.[224]While Calvin was engaged in active negotiations with the ministers of Zurich for the adoption of a common formula regarding the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, he addressed to the ministers of the Church of Berne a statement of what the Church of Geneva held on that important question, in the hope of leading that Church into the proposed union. But the Bernese clergy, placed in a position of absolute dependence on the seigneury, could not adopt any formula without its authority; and the seigneurs, jealous of their influence, regarded with a distrustful eye any communication with the ministers of Geneva. The approaches of Calvin, also, were not well received, and the noble desire of the Reformer for the union of the Helvetian churches, realized at a later period by Bullinger, met with no response.—Ruchat, tom. v. pp. 578, 579.[225]A peculiar interest attaches to this and the following letter, written under a load of great domestic affliction. Early in April 1549, Calvin lost the worthy partner of his life, Idelette de Bure, whose frail and delicate health gave way under the pressure of a protracted illness, and whose last hours are known to us by the touching picture given of them by the Reformer. The consolations of friendship, and the consideration of the important duties he had to discharge, supported Calvin in this affliction, and the self-control which he manifested during the first days of his bereavement, excited the admiration of his friends. Viret wrote him on this occasion as follows: "Wonderfully and incredibly have I been refreshed, not by empty rumours alone, but especially by numerous messengers who have informed me how you, with a heart so broken and lacerated, have attended to all your duties even better than hitherto ... and that, above all, at a time when grief so fresh, and on that account all the more severe, might have prostrated your mind. Go on then as you have begun ... and I pray God most earnestly that you may be enabled to do so, and that you may receive daily greater comfort and be strengthened more and more."—Letter of 10th April 1549.Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 53[226]Idelette de Bure had, by her first marriage with Jean Storder, several children known to us only by the pious solicitude of their mother on her deathbed.[227]We read in Viret's letter to Calvin already referred to,—"My wife salutes you most courteously; she has been grieved in no ordinary way by the death of her very dear sister, and she and I feel it to be a loss to us all." Idelette de Bure kept up with Viret's wife a pious epistolary correspondence, which has unfortunately not been preserved.[228]The minister Francis Bourgouin.[229]See the letter and the note at p. 201.[230]Laurent de Normandie, sprung from a noble family of Picardy, fellow-countryman and friend of Calvin, discharged the functions of master of requests and of lieutenant of the King at Noyon, before retiring to Geneva. Received inhabitant of the town, the 2d May 1547, burgess, the 25th April 1555, he lived there in intimacy with Calvin, who dedicated to him in 1550 hisTraité des Scandales. He had married for his first wife Anne de la Vacquerie, of a noble family, which has merged in that of the Dukes of Saint Simon, and illustrious under the reign of Louis XI., by the first president Jacques de la Vacquerie. A short time after his arrival at Geneva he lost his wife, whose edifying death is the subject of Calvin's letter to Madame de Cany, and he married a second time (14th September 1550) Anne Colladon.—Galiffe,Notices Généalogiques sur les Familles de Genève, tom. ii. p. 527.[231]Eloi de la Vacquerie.[232]Accused of having wished to seduce a servant, Ferron was deposed from the ministry on the 5th September 1548.—Registers of the Council.[233]In a letter from Calvin to Farel, written on the same day as that to Viret, we meet with a passage regarding Amy Perrin:—"Cæsar, our comedian, in his last mission, exasperated them [the Bernese] exceedingly, and I fear he has commenced a serious tragedy among us."—MSS. of Geneva, vol. 106. Charged with a mission to Berne, he had returned to Geneva more insolent and more intractable than ever.[234]The learned lawyer, Francis Hotman, recently engaged in the evangelical cause, had quitted France, his native country, at the advice of Calvin, to retire to Geneva. He became, during the same year, Professor of Law at the Academy of Lausanne.—SeeLa France Protestante, Art. Hotman.[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.—SeeLa France Protestanteof 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."Anne Seymour, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Somerset, Protector of England, was distinguished alike for her illustrious descent, genius, and piety. She married in 1550 the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Northumberland, and thus apparently sealed the reconciliation of her father with the ambitious head of that illustrious house. We read in a letter, from Martin Micronius to Bullinger, of 4th June 1550:—"On the third of this month was celebrated a marriage between the daughter of the Duke of Somerset and the son of the Earl of Warwick, at which the King himself was present. This event, I hope, will wonderfully unite and conciliate the friendship of those noblemen."—Zurich Letters, 1st series, tom. ii. p. 569.[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 inL'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 tola 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.After the long conferences, in which Farel and Fabri took part in the name of the Church of Neuchatel, and after a correspondence of many months, the theologians of Zurich and Geneva came to an agreement on the doctrine of the sacrament of the Supper, and drew up a common formula, which may be seen in Hospinian.—Hist. Sacr., tom. ii. pp. 369, 370. It is very likely, says Ruchat, that this definite formula was the work of Calvin. We recognize his genius in it at least, and we find in it the same ideas and expressions met with in his Liturgy on the Holy Supper.—Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 378. Tho adoption of this formula was the first step towards the union of the Swiss churches, sanctioned two years after the death of Calvin (1566), by the adoption of the famousHelvetic Confession.[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, calledthe 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 thePlace 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.

[183]Dated, on the back of the letter, in a foreign hand.

[184]Doubtless these were John de Budé, Sieur de Vérace, and Louis, Sieur de la Motte, his brother.

[185]He refers to the promise of a visit to M. de Falais. Calvin went in fact to Bâle the 2d of February following. We read under that date, in the Council Registers of the state of Geneva:—"Calvin went to Bâle. The Council offers him things requisite for the voyage. 26th February,—Calvin on his return from Bâle."

[186]The Apologyof M. de Falais.

[187]Renée of France, Duchess of Ferrara. See, in this collection, the letters of Calvin to that princess.

[188]In the journey which he had recently made to Bâle, Calvin had decided M. de Falais to come and fix himself definitively at Geneva.

[189]Veigy, near Geneva. M. de Falais made there the purchase of a domain which he occupied during several years.

[190]See letter to Bullinger of 19th September 1547, p. 143. The observations of Calvin on the treatise on theSacramentsbeing badly received, as it appears, by the minister of the Church of Zurich, had led, on the part of the latter, to a temporary coldness, of which Calvin complained in a letter, characterized alike by the noblest independence and the most Christian affection.

[191]On the back, in the handwriting of M. de Falais:—Received the 12th April 1548.

[192]M. de Falais could not establish himself at Geneva, without losing the right of a burgess, which he had acquired at Bâle.

[193]The Emperor, and the new king of France, Henry II. Faithful to the policy of Francis I., a persecutor of the Reformation in his own States, the latter was about to conclude a secret treaty with the Protestant princes of Germany.

[194]While persecution decimated the Reformed Churches of France, and the proclamation of theInterimdispersed those of Germany, the Swiss Churches were a prey to the most grievous dissensions, and appeared further removed than ever from that era of unity and peace which Calvin never ceased to invoke for them.

[195]"Calvin informs the Council of certain disputes between the Seigneury and the ministers of Berne, which have gone so far that three of the ministers of said city have been deposed, besides Peter Viret of Lausanne; requests that leave may be given him to go to Berne to defend Viret, which was granted him; the Seigneury, besides, undertaking to defray the expenses of the journey."—Registers of Council, May 7, 1548.

[196]By his second wife, Sebastienne de la Harpe, Viret had three daughters, designated in his will as Marie, Marthe, and Jeanne.—(MS. of the Arch. of Geneva.)

[197]See letter of 9th May preceding. The relations between the Vaudois ministers and the Seigneury of Berne, became daily more complicated. A Synod assembled at Lausanne, having ventured formally to propound ten propositions contrary to the celebrated disputation of Berne, and to manifest an inclination in favour of ecclesiastical discipline, with the concurrence of two Bernese ministers, Beat Gerung and Simon Sulcer,—these two clergymen were arbitrarily deposed by the Seigneury, under the pretext of "the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the Church."—Ruchat, tom. v. pp. 357, 358.

[198]Jodocus, minister of the Church of Berne.

[199]See the letters, pp. 143, 160. In a new message to Bullinger, Calvin strove to dissipate the still lingering prejudices entertained by the Zurich theologians against those of Geneva and of Strasbourg, regarding the Sacraments; and he proposed the basis of that union, long-desired, which was consummated the following year between Zurich and Geneva. The Church of Berne, now deeply imbued with Lutheran views, refused its adhesion.

[200]Ministers of the Church of Berne.

[201]M. de Falais was on the point of leaving Bâle to settle at Geneva. He arrived, doubtless, in that town the end of July 1548. We read, in a letter of Calvin to Viret of the 20th August 1548: "Dominus Falesius uxor et soror vos salutant;—the wife and sister of M. de Falais salute you."—Vol. 106 of theLibrary of Geneva. The correspondence of Calvin with this Seigneur, thenceforward interrupted, was only resumed occasionally, and in 1552, ceased entirely.

[202]The contract of marriage of Mademoiselle Wilergy.

[203]M de Montmor. See the note, p. 141.

[204]Messengers of the Emperor were then scouring the Cantons with a view to detach them from the French alliance, which was nevertheless renewed, 9th June 1549.

[205]The minister Toussain, pastor of the church of Montbeliard, at that time dispersed by the imperial army.

[206]See the letter to M. de Falais of 17th July 1548, and the relative note.

[207]We have reproduced (Vol. i. p. 449,) a letter of Calvin to Viret, containing a severe judgment of the Reformer upon the magistrates of Geneva. Stolen from Viret by a faithless servant, and given to the Seigneury by Trolliet, this letter excited real commotions, the traces of which are to be found in the Registers of Council."Calvin justifies himself in council with regard to a certain letter he had written, in which it was alleged he blamed the Seigneury of this city. He also complains of the calumnies directed against him by Trolliet."—24th September.On the 15th October following, Farel appears in Council, "and prays them to entertain a constant regard for Calvin; that he observes with grief they do not show to that servant of God the deference that is due to him ... praying the Council to take order therein."—28th October. "Farel testifies anew that too little regard is had for the character and merits of Calvin; that he has no equal in learning; that it was not necessary to take such offence at what he might have said, as he had censured with great freedom the greatest men, such as Luther, Melanchthon, and many others."Resolved, to thank the said Farel, and to remit to him the original of the foresaid letter, in order that it might be restored to Viret."

"Calvin justifies himself in council with regard to a certain letter he had written, in which it was alleged he blamed the Seigneury of this city. He also complains of the calumnies directed against him by Trolliet."—24th September.

On the 15th October following, Farel appears in Council, "and prays them to entertain a constant regard for Calvin; that he observes with grief they do not show to that servant of God the deference that is due to him ... praying the Council to take order therein."—28th October. "Farel testifies anew that too little regard is had for the character and merits of Calvin; that he has no equal in learning; that it was not necessary to take such offence at what he might have said, as he had censured with great freedom the greatest men, such as Luther, Melanchthon, and many others.

"Resolved, to thank the said Farel, and to remit to him the original of the foresaid letter, in order that it might be restored to Viret."

[208]Perhaps to Charles de Jonvillers, who became some years afterwards the secretary and friend of the Reformer. It was in fact in 1549, and in consequence of the advice of Calvin, that this Seigneur left Chartres, his country, to go to Geneva, which received him as inhabitant in 1550, and as burgess in 1556.

[209]Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, Duke of Somerset, Regent of England, under the minority of Edward VI. It was under his administration that the Reformation was victoriously established in England. Supported by Parliament, he suppressed the troubles which arose in some parts of the kingdom after the death of Henry VIII., confirmed the king's supremacy, abolished the worship of images, private masses, and restored the communion in both kinds. He held a correspondence with Calvin, who dedicated to him, June 24, 1548, his Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy; and by advice of the Reformer, he offered an asylum to the exiles, Bucer, Fagi, Ochino, and Peter Martyr,—banished for the sake of their religion from the Continent. Beloved by the people, hated by the nobles, he made himself unpopular by his want of success in the war which he kept up against the Scots and in France; was overthrown by a conspiracy of the nobility, imprisoned in the Tower of London, (October 1549,) and only recovered his liberty the year following, to perish in 1552 on the scaffold, victim of the ambition of Warwick, Earl of Northumberland, his relative.

[210]Deprived, the preceding year, of his office of councillor and captain-general, Amy Perrin had contrived, by the force of intrigue, to recover his former dignities.

[211]The city of Bourdeaux having risen in revolt against the authority of the king on the ground of fresh taxation, the Constable Montmorency, being commissioned to suppress the disturbances, acted with relentless severity, and signalized his entry into the capital of Guienne by frightful executions.—De Thou, Lib. v.

[212]Bucer wrote to Calvin:—"Earnestly entreat the Lord for this republic that it may learn to put away its own will and obey him."—Calv.Opera, Lib. ix. p. 46. But the magistrates had already resolved to make their submission, which involved the suppression of the Gospel in that unhappy city.

[213]Is the reference to the partisans of the Imperial Alliance?

[214]Without date. This letter appears to have been written at the moment when Strasbourg, menaced by the victorious army of Charles V., was disposed, in spite of the counsel of Bucer, to accept theInterim, and avoid by a voluntary submission the punishment inflicted on the leagued cities of Germany.—(December 1548.)John Sturm, a learned humanist and able politician, born at Sleida in 1507, passed through a brilliant course of study at the University of Louvain. Famous from his youth for learning and eloquence, he was nominated in 1529 Professor of Belles Lettres in the College of France, founded by Francis I., and became in 1537 Rector of the celebrated Academy of Strasbourg. Connected thenceforward with the German and Swiss Reformers, he occupied an important place in the religious negotiations of the age, maintained a correspondence with the principal European sovereigns, and died in 1583.Calvin and Sturm were known to each other, and associated together during the sojourn of the French Reformer at Strasbourg. From this period date the relations they maintained during many years, numerous precious memorials of which are to be found in the correspondence of Calvin. See on the subject of Sturm the curious and learned work entitled:—La vie et les travaux de Jean Sturm, Premier Recteur de l'Académie de Strasbourg, par C. Schmidt. 1 vol. in 8vo, 1855.

John Sturm, a learned humanist and able politician, born at Sleida in 1507, passed through a brilliant course of study at the University of Louvain. Famous from his youth for learning and eloquence, he was nominated in 1529 Professor of Belles Lettres in the College of France, founded by Francis I., and became in 1537 Rector of the celebrated Academy of Strasbourg. Connected thenceforward with the German and Swiss Reformers, he occupied an important place in the religious negotiations of the age, maintained a correspondence with the principal European sovereigns, and died in 1583.

Calvin and Sturm were known to each other, and associated together during the sojourn of the French Reformer at Strasbourg. From this period date the relations they maintained during many years, numerous precious memorials of which are to be found in the correspondence of Calvin. See on the subject of Sturm the curious and learned work entitled:—La vie et les travaux de Jean Sturm, Premier Recteur de l'Académie de Strasbourg, par C. Schmidt. 1 vol. in 8vo, 1855.

[215]Conclusion wanting in the original manuscript.

[216]Peronne de Pisseleu, wife of Michel de Barbançon, Seigneur de Cany, one of the personages of most importance in Picardy. This lady, instructed in the Reformed faith by Laurent de Normandie, lieutenant of the king at Noyon, and the friend of Calvin, had for a long time to endure the severity of her husband, who afterwards came at a later period to be a partaker of like faith.—Bèze, Hist. Eccl., tom. ii. p. 244.; De Thou, lib. xxv. Madame de Cany, sister of the Duchess d'Etampes, favourite of the late king, had possessed an unbounded influence at court, which she always used for generous purposes. Her ordinary residence was the Château de Varanues, situated on the Oise, near to Noyon.

[217]The donations which a pious liberality daily multiplied at Geneva, gave rise to the foundations known by the name of French, German, and ItalianBourses. The names of Margaret de Valois, and the Duchess of Ferrara, shine in the first rank upon the list of foreign contributors.—Bolsec,Life of Calvin, c. xi.

[218]To the Faithful Servants of Christ, the Ministers of the Church of Montbeliard, dearest Brethren and Fellow-Ministers.George of Wurtemberg, Count of Montbeliard, having fallen under the disgrace of the Emperor, at the end of the war of Smalkald, in which he had taken part in the ranks of the Protestant princes, was stript of his Principality in 1548, and withdrew to the Canton of Berne.—Ruchat, vol. v. p. 368. At the termination of that revolution, the Churches of the Pays de Montbeliard were dispersed, and their ministers, among whom was to be remarked Pierre Toussain, were banished, and sought an asylum in the different Reformed Cantons of Switzerland, until the period of the restoration, both political and religious, that replaced them some years afterwards in their native country.

[218]To the Faithful Servants of Christ, the Ministers of the Church of Montbeliard, dearest Brethren and Fellow-Ministers.

George of Wurtemberg, Count of Montbeliard, having fallen under the disgrace of the Emperor, at the end of the war of Smalkald, in which he had taken part in the ranks of the Protestant princes, was stript of his Principality in 1548, and withdrew to the Canton of Berne.—Ruchat, vol. v. p. 368. At the termination of that revolution, the Churches of the Pays de Montbeliard were dispersed, and their ministers, among whom was to be remarked Pierre Toussain, were banished, and sought an asylum in the different Reformed Cantons of Switzerland, until the period of the restoration, both political and religious, that replaced them some years afterwards in their native country.

[219]The year 1549 is remarkable for the tendencies to union manifested by many of the Swiss Churches, and for their happy issue! Several persons, says Ruchat, zealous for religion, imagined that the clergy of Zurich and Geneva did not hold the same doctrine on the Supper, on the ground of some slight difference in the expressions they made use of; and this divergence caused them pain. Accordingly, as they held Bullinger and Calvin in great esteem, and desired to be able to profit equally by writings published by theologians of both churches, they deemed it necessary to institute conferences with a view to union; and Calvin, ever full of zeal for the interests of the Church, did not hesitate to subscribe to this petition.—Hospinien, tom. ii. p. 367; Ruchat, tom. v. p. 369.

[220]Valeran Poulain, brother-in-law of Hooper, whose sister he espoused at Zurich. He became this same year minister of the congregation cf Foreign Protestants at Glastonbury, near London. We shall find him afterwards minister of the Church of Frankfort.

[221]John Hooper, formerly chaplain to the Duke of Somerset, withdrew to Zurich during the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII. He was at this time disposed to return to England.

[222]Ambroise Blaurer, formerly minister of the Reformed Church of Constance, at this time minister of the Church of Bienne.

[223]This undated fragment should, we think, be referred to the month of February 1549; that is, to the period at which Bucer, compelled to leave Strasbourg, by the establishment of the Interim in that town, was making preparations for his departure for England. In one of his letters to Calvin we discover the following passage:—"We are only hindered by the tears and sighs of the pious—of whom there are still a great many here—from leaving this place before we get orders. For, if the Lord will, we wish rather to seal than to break up our ministry. You see how our affairs stand, and how much we need the assistance of your prayers, both in our own behalf and on that of this very unfortunate Church."—Calv. Opera, b. ix. p. 233.Sadly disappointed in the dream of his whole life—the union of the Reformed Churches of Germany and Switzerland—forgotten by parties who could not forgive his moderation in an age of hatred and intolerance, Bucer carried with him into exile the respect and affection of Calvin, who in a letter, of which we have here only a mere fragment, addressed to him the highest consolations of Christian philosophy.

Sadly disappointed in the dream of his whole life—the union of the Reformed Churches of Germany and Switzerland—forgotten by parties who could not forgive his moderation in an age of hatred and intolerance, Bucer carried with him into exile the respect and affection of Calvin, who in a letter, of which we have here only a mere fragment, addressed to him the highest consolations of Christian philosophy.

[224]While Calvin was engaged in active negotiations with the ministers of Zurich for the adoption of a common formula regarding the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, he addressed to the ministers of the Church of Berne a statement of what the Church of Geneva held on that important question, in the hope of leading that Church into the proposed union. But the Bernese clergy, placed in a position of absolute dependence on the seigneury, could not adopt any formula without its authority; and the seigneurs, jealous of their influence, regarded with a distrustful eye any communication with the ministers of Geneva. The approaches of Calvin, also, were not well received, and the noble desire of the Reformer for the union of the Helvetian churches, realized at a later period by Bullinger, met with no response.—Ruchat, tom. v. pp. 578, 579.

[225]A peculiar interest attaches to this and the following letter, written under a load of great domestic affliction. Early in April 1549, Calvin lost the worthy partner of his life, Idelette de Bure, whose frail and delicate health gave way under the pressure of a protracted illness, and whose last hours are known to us by the touching picture given of them by the Reformer. The consolations of friendship, and the consideration of the important duties he had to discharge, supported Calvin in this affliction, and the self-control which he manifested during the first days of his bereavement, excited the admiration of his friends. Viret wrote him on this occasion as follows: "Wonderfully and incredibly have I been refreshed, not by empty rumours alone, but especially by numerous messengers who have informed me how you, with a heart so broken and lacerated, have attended to all your duties even better than hitherto ... and that, above all, at a time when grief so fresh, and on that account all the more severe, might have prostrated your mind. Go on then as you have begun ... and I pray God most earnestly that you may be enabled to do so, and that you may receive daily greater comfort and be strengthened more and more."—Letter of 10th April 1549.Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 53

[226]Idelette de Bure had, by her first marriage with Jean Storder, several children known to us only by the pious solicitude of their mother on her deathbed.

[227]We read in Viret's letter to Calvin already referred to,—"My wife salutes you most courteously; she has been grieved in no ordinary way by the death of her very dear sister, and she and I feel it to be a loss to us all." Idelette de Bure kept up with Viret's wife a pious epistolary correspondence, which has unfortunately not been preserved.

[228]The minister Francis Bourgouin.

[229]See the letter and the note at p. 201.

[230]Laurent de Normandie, sprung from a noble family of Picardy, fellow-countryman and friend of Calvin, discharged the functions of master of requests and of lieutenant of the King at Noyon, before retiring to Geneva. Received inhabitant of the town, the 2d May 1547, burgess, the 25th April 1555, he lived there in intimacy with Calvin, who dedicated to him in 1550 hisTraité des Scandales. He had married for his first wife Anne de la Vacquerie, of a noble family, which has merged in that of the Dukes of Saint Simon, and illustrious under the reign of Louis XI., by the first president Jacques de la Vacquerie. A short time after his arrival at Geneva he lost his wife, whose edifying death is the subject of Calvin's letter to Madame de Cany, and he married a second time (14th September 1550) Anne Colladon.—Galiffe,Notices Généalogiques sur les Familles de Genève, tom. ii. p. 527.

[231]Eloi de la Vacquerie.

[232]Accused of having wished to seduce a servant, Ferron was deposed from the ministry on the 5th September 1548.—Registers of the Council.

[233]In a letter from Calvin to Farel, written on the same day as that to Viret, we meet with a passage regarding Amy Perrin:—"Cæsar, our comedian, in his last mission, exasperated them [the Bernese] exceedingly, and I fear he has commenced a serious tragedy among us."—MSS. of Geneva, vol. 106. Charged with a mission to Berne, he had returned to Geneva more insolent and more intractable than ever.

[234]The learned lawyer, Francis Hotman, recently engaged in the evangelical cause, had quitted France, his native country, at the advice of Calvin, to retire to Geneva. He became, during the same year, Professor of Law at the Academy of Lausanne.—SeeLa France Protestante, Art. Hotman.

[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.—SeeLa France Protestanteof 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."Anne Seymour, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Somerset, Protector of England, was distinguished alike for her illustrious descent, genius, and piety. She married in 1550 the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Northumberland, and thus apparently sealed the reconciliation of her father with the ambitious head of that illustrious house. We read in a letter, from Martin Micronius to Bullinger, of 4th June 1550:—"On the third of this month was celebrated a marriage between the daughter of the Duke of Somerset and the son of the Earl of Warwick, at which the King himself was present. This event, I hope, will wonderfully unite and conciliate the friendship of those noblemen."—Zurich Letters, 1st series, tom. ii. p. 569.

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

Anne Seymour, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Somerset, Protector of England, was distinguished alike for her illustrious descent, genius, and piety. She married in 1550 the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Northumberland, and thus apparently sealed the reconciliation of her father with the ambitious head of that illustrious house. We read in a letter, from Martin Micronius to Bullinger, of 4th June 1550:—"On the third of this month was celebrated a marriage between the daughter of the Duke of Somerset and the son of the Earl of Warwick, at which the King himself was present. This event, I hope, will wonderfully unite and conciliate the friendship of those noblemen."—Zurich Letters, 1st series, tom. ii. p. 569.

[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 inL'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 tola 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.After the long conferences, in which Farel and Fabri took part in the name of the Church of Neuchatel, and after a correspondence of many months, the theologians of Zurich and Geneva came to an agreement on the doctrine of the sacrament of the Supper, and drew up a common formula, which may be seen in Hospinian.—Hist. Sacr., tom. ii. pp. 369, 370. It is very likely, says Ruchat, that this definite formula was the work of Calvin. We recognize his genius in it at least, and we find in it the same ideas and expressions met with in his Liturgy on the Holy Supper.—Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 378. Tho adoption of this formula was the first step towards the union of the Swiss churches, sanctioned two years after the death of Calvin (1566), by the adoption of the famousHelvetic Confession.

[250]See letter p. 208.

After the long conferences, in which Farel and Fabri took part in the name of the Church of Neuchatel, and after a correspondence of many months, the theologians of Zurich and Geneva came to an agreement on the doctrine of the sacrament of the Supper, and drew up a common formula, which may be seen in Hospinian.—Hist. Sacr., tom. ii. pp. 369, 370. It is very likely, says Ruchat, that this definite formula was the work of Calvin. We recognize his genius in it at least, and we find in it the same ideas and expressions met with in his Liturgy on the Holy Supper.—Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 378. Tho adoption of this formula was the first step towards the union of the Swiss churches, sanctioned two years after the death of Calvin (1566), by the adoption of the famousHelvetic Confession.

[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, calledthe 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 thePlace 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.

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