LETTER 11.
unhappiness to undertake to defend that on this subject which you could by no means approve. I know, indeed, that from your great moderation, you allow many things to others, which you would not permit to yourself.
We must, however, inquire, what is lawful for us! lest we loosen where the Lord binds. I do not ask you to agree with me; that would be too great effrontery; or to depart, on my account, from the free and plain exposition of your opinion. All I ask is, that you would not neglect the perusal of the books. Indeed, I wish that we so entirely agreed, that there should not be even the appearance of a disagreement in a single word. It is your duty to precede me, rather than have any regard to what might meet my
approbation. You see how familiarly I address you, nor am I at all anxious lest it should exceed the limits of friendship; for I well understand how much freedom is permitted me, from your singular good will towards me. I apprehend there will be somewhat more difficulty in treating with Luther.
As far as I learn from reports, and the letters of some of my friends, the mind of that man, being as yet scarcely pacified, will be fretted by the most trifling cause. On this account, the letter which I have written to him the messenger will show to you; so that, after perusing it, you can regulate the whole business according to your own prudence. You will provide, therefore, that nothing is attempted rashly, and without due consideration, that may have an unfavorable termination; which I am confident you will faithfully accomplish, by your uncommon address.
I have not been able as yet fully to ascertain what controversies are agitated among you in Germany, nor what has been their issue; excepting that an atrocious libel has been published, which, like a fire-brand, will enkindle fresh flames, unless the Lord, on the other hand, restrain their minds, already, as you know, beyond measure heated. But for what, and why are these controversies excited? When consider how ill-timed these intestine controversies are, I am almost lifeless with grief. A merchant of Nuremberg, passing through this city, lately showed me an apology of Osiander, which greatly mortified me for his sake. For what purpose could it answer, to abuse the Zuinglians, with foul language, at every third line; to treat with so much inhumanity Zuinglius himself; and not, indeed, even to spare that holy servant of God, Oecolampadius, whose meekness I wish he would half imitate? Osiander would, in that case, be far higher in my estimation. I do not, by any means, ask him to suffer in silence his
reputation to be traduced with impunity. I only wish he would abstain from reproaching those men, whose memory ought to be honored by every pious person. While I am displeased with the petulance of the writer, by whose mournful duties he complains that he has been defamed; I lament his want of moderation, discernment, and discretion. How great is the pleasure which we are affording to the papists, as if we were devoting our labors to their cause! But I shall unreasonably increase your sorrow, by the recital of evils which you cannot remedy. Let us mourn then, since it becomes us to be afflicted with the troubles of the church; but let us still sustain ourselves with this hope, that although we are oppressed and tossed by these mighty waters, we shall not be overwhelmed.
All the brethren in France have their minds much elevated in the strong expectation of a council. There is no doubt but that the king himself, at least in the beginning, had a desire and determination to convoke one. For cardinal Tournon, on his return from the emperor, persuaded Francis that Charles had the same intention. At the same time, he advised the king, in the name of the emperor, to send for two or three of you to meet him;
hoping that by flattery, or by some other means, he might extort from you separately, what he could not obtain from you in a council. The emperor promised that he would pursue the same course. This was their object, that you being bound by previous declarations to them, would be less able to vindicate the cause, when you should come to serious disputation in the assembly. Having despaired of conquering us, by an open and correct management of the cause, they see no shorter and surer method of succeeding, than by keeping the princes in fear of punishment; that they may hold their liberty, as if conquered and bound, in subserviency to their purposes. As this advice pleased the king, Castellanus refused to allow the French divines to dispute with you, unless they should be first well instructed and prepared. You were men accustomed to this kind of battle, and could not be so easily overcome. They must take care lest the king be betrayed through the ignorance of his divines, and expose his whole kingdom to ridicule. The ambition of the king gave the preference to this advice. Twelve were elected to dispute at Meum, on the various
centroverted points, and were ordered to refer their decisions to the king.
They promised, under oath, to keep the transactions in silence. But I certainly knows though they be silent, that they aim entirely at
suppressing the truth; and however they dissemble, as though they were seeking some kind of reformation, it is unquestionably a fact, that they are agitating this one point alone: How the light of the true doctrine may be buried, and their own tyranny established. I am persuaded that the advice of cardinal Tournon was providentially frustrated; lest some of our
brethren, unguarded and unsuspecting, should be ensnared. You remember that the same artifices were made use of against you by Belial. But if we turn unto the Lord, all their assaults and machinations will be vain.
Farewell, most excellent man and respected friend. May the Lord be always present with you, and long preserve you in health for his church.
Yours,
JOHN CALVIN. January 18, 1545.
[The following letter is on the same general subject with a part of the preceding; and is therefore here inserted in connection with that.]
LETTER 12
CALVIN TO MELANCTHON.
I wish that my sympathy in your grief, while it distresses me, might in some measure relieve you. If the fact is as the brethren of Zurich say, they certainly had a just cause for writing. With what rashness your Pericles (Osiander,) continues to thunder? Especially as his cause is only the worse for it. We all owe much to him, I confess; and I should be willing to have him possess, the chief magistracy, if he only knew how to govern himself.
We must, however, always take heed, in the church, how much deference we pay to men. The work is done, when any one has more power than all the rest; especially, if this one has nothing to check him in making all possible experiments. In the present deranged state of things, we perceive how difficult it is to quiet the disturbances. If we all, however, exercise that disposition which ought to guide us, some remedy perhaps might be found. We are certainly transmitting to posterity a pernicious example, by consenting to abandon our liberty, rather than to disquiet the mind of one man with some trifling mortification. His passions are vehement, and he is subject to violent paroxysms. He also boasts of this vehemency, in
proportion as we all indulge him, and suffer every thing from him. If this example of insolent domination manifests itself, at the very opening of the reformation of the church, what will shortly take place, when things shall have fallen into a still worse condition? Let us weep, therefore, for the calamity of the church; let us not suppress our grief in our own breasts;
but venture at length to give our lamentations a free circulation. What if you were, by the permission of God, reduced to the extreme necessity of having extorted from you, a fuller confession concerning this subject? I acknowledge, indeed, that what you teach is perfectly true; and that, by your mild manner of teaching, you have endeavored hitherto to recall others from contention; and I commend your prudence and moderation.
But while you avoid this subject, (consubstantiation,) as some dangerous rock, lest you incur the displeasure of some, you leave many in suspense and perplexity, who require of you something more decisive, in which
they may acquiesce. It is, however, a dishonor to us, as I remember to have said to you before, that we do not consignare, ratify, at least with ink, that doctrine, which so many pious persons have delivered to us, testatam, sealed with their own blood. Perhaps God will now open to you the way for a full and firm explanation of your mind, on this subject; that those who depend on your authority, whom you know to be very many, may no longer remain in doubt. I do not say this so much to awaken as to console you. For unless I hoped that something of this kind would arise from this turbulent and overbearing insurrection, I should be affected with a grief much more severe. However, we must quietly wait for such a termination as the Lord will please to grant. In the mean time, let us preserve our course with unyielding resolution.
I give you many thanks for your answer, and also for the singular kindness with which you have treated Claudius, as he informs me. From your kind and generous reception of my friends, I am enabled to form an opinion of your disposition towards me. I give sincere thanks to God, that on the chief heads of that question, (as stated in the preceding letter,) concerning which we were consulted, our opinions have so entirely agreed. For although there is a very small difference about some particulars, yet as to the substance of he matter, we perfectly coincide.
JOHN CALVIN. June 28, 1445.
LETTER 13
J. CALVIN TO THE PROTECTOR OF ENGLAND.
Although God has endowed you, most noble Lord, for your station, with the fortitude, prudence and other virtues, which the magnitude of the office demands; yet as you acknowledge me to be a servant of his Son, whom you account yourself to prefer before all things else, I have
persuaded myself that you would receive it kindly, that I should write to you in his name. I propose to myself nothing more, than that you should continue to advance his glory, by pursuing the work you have begun, until you have brought his kingdom to the most desirable state, of which it is capable on earth. In perusing this letter you will perceive, that I have produced nothing of my own, but have transcribed from the Scriptures whatever you have here for your benefit. When I consider the singular greatness to which you are raised, I am fully sensible, with how much difficulty, my littleness will find access to you. But as you do not despise the doctrine of that Master to whom I am devoted, and as you consider it a distinguished privilege to be in the number of his disciples, I need not apologize in many words, believing that you are sufficiently prepared to receive whatever manifestly comes from him. We certainly have reason to thank God our Father, that he has been pleased to use your labor, in so great a work, as that of restoring his pure and sincere worship in the kingdom of England; in causing that the doctrine of salvation, chiefly by your means, should be publicly and faithfully announced to all, who will deign to open their ears; in strengthening you, with so great resolution and constancy, to persevere undismayed, through so many difficulties and insults; and that he has hitherto assisted you with his powerful hand, followed with his blessing and prospered your counsels and labors. These are so many arguments with the pious for glorifying his holy name. But seeing that the adversary is perpetually exciting fresh opposition, and that the matter itself is of the most peculiar and difficult undertaking, to allure men, who are by nature addicted to falsehood, to a peaceable submission to the truth of God; and also that there are other causes which delay the