Letters of John Calvin, Volume II. Calvin Jean

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ 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

"Quid enim audeat, qui tyranno se implicuit?" The town of Strasbourg had submitted itself to the emperor. The terms of that submission bore, that it shall renounce the League of Smalkald, and shall contribute, with the other states, to the execution of the sentence pronounced against the Landgrave and the Elector.

113

Sebastian Castellio, who had then retired to Bâle.

114

Antoine Perrenot, Bishop of Arras, Cardinal de Granvelle, the celebrated minister of Charles V. and of Philip II. He was born at Ornans, near Besançon in 1517, and died in 1586 at Madrid.

115

Allusion to Valeran Poulain. It appears from the next letter in this Series, pp. 104-106, that Valeran sought, in spite of the opposition of M. de Falais, the hand of Mademoiselle de Willergy, a relation of this Seigneur, likewise sought by M. de Paré. – See Note 1, p. 98.

116

Enclosed in a letter to M. de Falais, with the words, – Copy of a letter written to Valeran.

117

Invested with the right of censure and ecclesiastical excommunication, the Consistory daily beheld its authority assailed and disowned by numerous adversaries, who accused it of encroaching upon the power of the magistrates. "The ministers complain that they are accused of exceeding the authority accorded them by the edicts, and request permission to put into force the right of excommunication, in order to bring offenders to their duty. Resolved to hand over to the Consistory rebellious and obstinate offenders, and to leave the others unmolested." – Registers of Council, 21st and 29th May 1547.

118

"Arrival at Geneva of the minister Viret, a very excellent man." – Registers, April 1547.

119

Doubtless Michel Morel.

120

Is this an allusion to the gradually declining influence of Amy Perrin?

121

To the excellent servant of Christ our Lord, Doctor Wolfgang Musculus, most reverend pastor of the Church of Augsbourg, brother, and fellow-minister.

122

Named pastor of the Italian church at Augsbourg in October 1545, Ochino fled from that city on the approach of the imperial army, in the early part of the year 1547. – Schelhorn Ergoetzlichkeiten, vol. iii. pp. 1141, 1142.

123

Wolfgang Musculus did not cease to proclaim the Gospel in Augsbourg until the church in which he preached had been closed by order of the emperor, and his congregation dispersed. He was himself obliged to take his departure the year following, (26th June 1548.) – Melch. Ad., p. 381.

124

See ante, vol. i., pp. 312, 313, note. Calvin called on him for his aid with the magistrates of that town for having a promise of marriage cancelled between Mademoiselle de Wilergy and Valeran. – Bibl. de Genève, vol. 106.

125

To the most erudite Doctor Francis Dryander, and very dear friend.

126

Valeran Poulain. See pp. 104, 110.

127

The Emperor Charles the Fifth had just gained a decisive victory at Mühlberg (24th April 1547) over the Protestant princes.

128

That is to say, at Bâle. The French church of that town was founded after the massacre De la Saint Barthelemy, at the request of a great number of refugees, among whom we find the children of the Admiral de Coligny. – MSS. of the archives of the French Church of Bâle.

129

The bearer of this letter was the captain-general, Amy Perrin, then on his way to Bâle. He had been charged with a secret mission to the new king of France, Henry II., and was imprisoned after his return to Geneva, because of unfaithfulness in the fulfilment of his commission.

130

A pretender to the hand of Mademoiselle de Wilergy.

131

Valeran Poulain. See note 1, p. 113.

132

Nicolas Zerkinden, senator of Berne, prefect of the town of Nyon.

133

The establishment of discipline in the churches of the Pays de Vaud.

134

An ordinance had recently interdicted the use of slashed breeches at Geneva. The reason which Calvin gives for this prohibition may be seen in a subsequent letter to the faithful of France, (24th July 1547.)

135

John de Budé, Sieur de Vérace. See note 1, p. 90.

136

Amy Perrin.

137

See the notice concerning the family of Budé, p. 90. We believe, contrary to the opinion of M. Galiffe, Notices Généalogiques, tom. iii. p. 83, that this letter is addressed to Louis or to Francis Budé, and not to John de Budé, Sieur de Vérace, their brother. This latter had already made a journey to Geneva, and he was known to the Reformer, who had introduced him in very kind terms to M. de Falais. – Letter of 4th June 1547, p. 118. It is not then to the Sieur de Vérace, that the first words of Calvin's letter can apply, but to one of his brothers: "Although I am personally unknown to you, I do not on that account hesitate to write you privately, in the hope that my letter will be welcome," &c. The family of Budé were then preparing to leave France. Two years afterwards, they settled at Geneva, as appears from their registration in the list of the inhabitants, 27th June 1549, and the following passage of a letter from Viret to Calvin, 12th June of the same year: "I rejoice that the Budé have arrived, along with their mother." – MSS. of the Library of Geneva.

138

"Complaint of Calvin against the wife of Amy Perrin, who insulted the minister Abel in full Consistory." – Registers of Council, 24th June.

139

The import of this note, written in the Savoyard language, and affixed to the pulpit of the ministers, was, "that people did not wish to have so many masters; that they (the ministers) had now gone far enough in their course of censure; that the renegade monks like them had done nothing more than afflict all the world in this way; that if they persisted in their course, people would be reduced to such a condition that they would curse the hour in which they emerged from the rule of monachism; and that they (the СКАЧАТЬ