Letters of John Calvin, Volume II. Calvin Jean

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СКАЧАТЬ nothing but with their advice, you would, assuredly, never have set about what you did. Do you suppose that your cause will meet with their approval? I mentioned in a former letter, regarding the younger [lady] to whom you aspired, what I thought was censurable in her. In seeking after this one, you seem to have forgotten what you wrote to the other on your departure. Even although nothing else had stood in the way, you ought to have absolutely abstained from the mention of marriage until she had reached her destination. But if what she herself testifies be true, the engagement was brought about through the influence of the worst inducements. Accordingly I shall not believe that the marriage is, as you say, from the Lord, until you prove that she says what is untrue, when she affirms that you had beforehand engrossed her mind with numerous calumnies. Albeit, she strongly asserts that she gave you no credence, and that no engagement was formed between you, but that she always expressly stipulated to be allowed to do everything in accordance with the advice of Monsieur de Falais. She says, however, that you affirmed that his will was quite well known to you, that the only difficulty would be with his wife, as she still regarded with admiration the fumes of nobility. These were not the tokens of God; but you prohibit me from believing them. I can do nothing less, however, than hear both sides. When I reflect on the whole circumstances, certain particulars appear with which, I confess, I am displeased. You remind me that illustrious men are sometimes guilty of grave offences. It is on other grounds, however, that I love and reverence M. de Falais, than on account of the mock greatness on which alone most of the nobility pride themselves. In the next place, I have, as yet, heard nothing from him but reasonable complaints. Moreover, I have looked more to the matter itself than to the persons. I wish that you had never involved yourself in those troubles; but since it has so happened, it remains for me to desire to see you relieved from them in a short space, which I trust is now accomplished.

      With regard to the estate which I am said to have purchased with so many thousands, I should indeed be silly if I spent many words in rebutting falsehoods so gross. There is no one here, or in the whole vicinity, who is not aware that I do not possess a foot of land. Moreover, my acquaintances well know that I never had money sufficient to purchase an acre, unless when I am paid what enables me to meet the expenditure of the quarter. I have surely not reached the point alleged, as I am still using in my house another's furniture; for neither the table at which we eat, nor the bed on which we sleep, is my own. Whence, then, those reports? I know not, unless it be that godless men so malign me, in order to fix a brand on the Gospel. They will never, however, prevent me from being truly rich, because I am abundantly satisfied with my slender means; and while my poverty is a burden to no one, it is nevertheless an alleviation to some.

      Adieu, and believe that I am friendly disposed towards you. I wish there may sometimes occur occasion for correspondence, &c.

      [Lat. copy. – Library of Geneva. Vol. 194.]

       CXC. – To Viret. 117

Weakness of the Genevese magistracy – Expectation of Viret's arrival in GenevaGeneva, 27th March 1547.

      I am in doubt with regard to your coming to us.118 Roset, as far as I hear, exceeded due bounds in explaining to you the necessity for it, although he is not the only one who errs in this respect; for the whole council is in a state of groundless agitation. I see no one of the whole number in whom I can put confidence. I certainly observe no one here who can be said to be judicious. They show no boldness in a good and praiseworthy cause. So childish are they all, that they are frightened by the silly shake of a head, while a man of no consequence displays his insanity. I do not defend my cause under the form of a public one, carried on in my absence. If I desist from prosecuting it, the whole consistory will of necessity go to ruin. Moreover, they so conduct themselves as to extort daily clamours in the course of their sermons; otherwise the entreaties of Roset would not have particularly influenced me. Just now, our brother has made known to me from Saint André, that our comic actor Cæsar, and certain of his faction, have been making diligent inquiry as to whether you were coming hither immediately. I observe, therefore, that there is a strong desire for you on the part of some, that others expect you because they are aware that you have been summoned. With no one belonging to the council have I any communication that can be relied on, Michel119 alone excepted; but he is neither very sharp-sighted, nor is he even admitted to the more private deliberations. John Parvi makes a magnificent offer of his services, but he is not the thing. Besides these, no one has come near me. Certain guesses, not lightly formed, have made me suspicious of Corna. I indeed love the man, but he does not permit me to confide in him. In the first place, he is timid; in the next, he is distrustful; and, finally, he adores that shadow, or ghost if you will.120 Those who are desirous that the matter should be arranged without disturbance, hope that you would prove a suitable pacificator. The party composing the faction itself is anxious for you, with the view of being somewhat relieved from its difficulties by your mediation. We desire and solicit you, I myself in particular, that you may see, judge, and do whatever in your opinion shall be for the interest of the Church. But observe its wretched condition. Farel lately learned that he had been unfortunate in turning to me for assistance, because nothing could be done unless he were separated from me. Nothing assuredly would be more agreeable to me, than if all matters here were brought to a happy issue by your interference, even though I were banished to the Garamantes. But this mode of procedure will be as little satisfactory to you as to myself. I mention this plan as that prescribed by the most moderate, as they wish to be thought. But if you could be here by Tuesday next, and remain until Monday, you might have my opinion of this complicated matter; you would, in that case, I presume, conduct public worship. Should it be necessary for you to return sooner, I do not advise you to subject yourself to so much trouble for no purpose. If the arrangements of your church do not permit you to come in such good time, I have nothing to say; but if I were in your place, I know what I would do; I do not, however, wish you to be guided by my judgment. Adieu, therefore, brother and dearest friend, along with your wife and brothers, all of whom you will greet in my name. Des Gallars sends his warm thanks to you through me, and he expresses the same to me, on the ground that I am the cause of your undertaking the journey. – Yours,

John Calvin.

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

       CXCI. – To Wolfgang Musculus. 121

Anxiety regarding the Churches of Germany – advice to MusculusGeneva, 21st April 1547.

      If I were to follow out the subject in this letter, as time and the present condition of things demand, I see that there would be no end to it. There are, besides, other reasons that prevent me from entering on this forest so full of thorns. I was unwilling, however, to send away this youth wholly empty, who had come in my way, without at least testifying to you, in the present calamitous state of your church, and as becomes the friendly relations subsisting between us, that I ever bear you in mind. Indeed, when the earliest rumours reached this, you were among the first, of those whose danger caused me agony, to occur to my mind; and when the ungovernable violence of my grief had hurried me to Zurich, as soon as I fell in with Bernardino,122 who had arrived about half an hour before I met him, I began at once, forgetful alike of salutation and everything else, to make inquiries after you. I confess, however, that I was solicitous about your safety, in proportion to the strength of the fear I had, lest you should abandon the Church in such a time of need, as usually happens when matters are desperate and past recovery; or rather lest, being as it were deserted by your flock, you should betake yourself elsewhere;123 for it is difficult, amid so great darkness, to discern what is most expedient. Now, howsoever severe the trial may have been, I yet rejoice that the Lord has caused the spirit of prudence and counsel to spring up in you and your fellow-ministers, and has sustained your minds with the spirit of fortitude, СКАЧАТЬ