TO STURM AND HOTMAN.
f84TREACHEROUS POLICY OF THE GUISES — NEW APPEAL ADDRESSED TO THE GERMAN PRINCES —
PETITION TO THE KING.
GENEVA, 4th June, 1560.
Although for a season we have been almost paralyzed by sorrow, nevertheless the unhappy condition of our brethren compels our grief to break oat into action, both because the most urgent necessity stimulates us, and an opportunity not to be despised seems to present itself. The party of the Guises have been struck with a certain degree of
consternation, which may wring from them at least some relaxation of their rigor and cruelty; and it is probable that the defeat which the Spaniard has lately suffered in a naval engagement, has produced such an effect on their minds that they will bridle in for some time their wonted ferocity,
Meanwhile whatever concessions have been made to the godly, we cannot but see have been yielded with a fraudulent and insidious intention, that their enemies, having first secured a state of greater tranquillity, may ere long crush them when off their guard with much greater facility. Certainly nothing can be more fluctuating than their conduct in its inconstancy.
Witness their virulence, which, however carefully they disguise it, always betrays itself by numerous symptoms.
It is for that reason that we have need of an external remedy, and we hope to be able to obtain it by your co-operation, provided only you make a slight effort. But it would not only be superfluous but absurd to urge you too vehemently to do us this service, for we are by no means unacquainted with your pious solicitude for the welfare of our brethren, and with the ardor of your zeal. Now this is the point in question — that the German princes by a solemn embassy should partly supplicate, partly exhort the king, that as the best means of appeasing disturbances he should resolve
not to strike terror with fire and sword, but to purge the church of its corruption’s and settle it on a better foundation. For it is quite impossible that without some sufficient reformation so many thousands of men will ever hold their peace. But that you may have a clearer conception of what we desire, we have thought proper to write out on a separate sheet the very formula of our petition. Moreover while you shall be engaged in this undertaking, we will make it our business by all the means in our power to rouse the King of Navarre to claim the regency of the kingdom that had been wrested out of his hands, f85 nor will he want a pretext for his demand, for it is notorious that the kingdom is in jeopardy from these commotions, and is every day on the brink of ruin from the perfidy or supineness of the Guises, nor can their arrogance and avarice be any longer endured without involving everything in destruction.
Certainly unless I am deceived, the king’s council, when they shall feel themselves reduced to such straits, will be roused from their lethargy to consult for the public safety. Above all, the queen mother must be goaded on by the sharpest stimulants to act along with us, for unless by force it will never be possible to detach her from the party of the Guises.
Nevertheless, she will adhere to whatever she is persuaded will be for the advantage of herself and her children. Other details you will learn from the messengers, who, when you shall have made their acquaintance, will stand in need of no recommendation; and for the cause itself we know that as a matter of course it brings its own recommendation along with it in your eyes no less than in ours.
Farewell, then, most accomplished and highly esteemed sirs. May the Lord sustain you by his power, govern you by his Spirit, and bestow on you every blessing. — Yours,
John Calvin.
What follows is in the handwriting of Theodore Beza:
This seems a fitting moment for the most illustrious princes to send an embassy to the king, for though the faction of the Guises are still possessed by the same obstinacy, and there are but small hopes of their being brought to equity, yet as the fear with which they have been struck has troubled their reason, so it will compel them to put on at least some
should make ever so small a concession, and abate somewhat of their rigor towards their adversaries, the pure religion would in a very brief space of time acquire such a strength as it would not be in the power of all its enemies afterwards to diminish. If the most illustrious princes then have ever taken an interest in the welfare of the French, who profess a zeal for true piety, now an opportunity is offered them by Divine providence, of making use of their authority for the succor of these afflicted men. To procrastinate on the contrary and attempt no remedy, would be highly dangerous, because as often as the Guises see a certain calm re-established, they again commence to give vent to their rage with the same license as before. Besides, unless our friends be spurred to action anew, whatever the council of the king has promised will end in nothing. There is a necessity for us then to ply our task sedulously, lest the evil should gain such ground as no longer to admit of a remedy. Now the following summary of our petition, if it meet with the approbation of the most illustrious princes, will be highly useful.
First of all, then, it would be desirable that they should declare their extreme satisfaction and offer their congratulations to the king, because he has decided upon convoking a council for the purpose of removing the abuses and corruption’s with which it is notorious that all the sincere worshippers of God are so much scandalized, that they would rather a thousand times suffer death than pine away for ever amid such
pollution’s; for that this is the only means by which all troubles can be quieted, the issue of which will be disastrous unless his majesty provide a remedy before it be too late.
In the next place, the deputation might proceed to expose theft the most illustrious princes exhort the king and his council not to desist from so just and advantageous a purpose, though in thus exhorting them they refrain from offering their services, inasmuch as they are an object of suspicion to the Popish priesthood; that nevertheless they most ardently desire to confederate to the extent of their ability in the furtherance of this cause, and that in any matter in which the king may deem their good offices of any utility to him, he may confidently count on them.
In the third place, the deputies may state that they have undertaken this journey chiefly for two reasons — to consult first for the security and tranquillity of the king and for the public welfare; that the illustrious princes are of opinion that this object cannot be secured otherwise than by the abolition of superstitions, which exasperate the minds of all good men to such a degree that they hold their own lives cheap in comparison with the legitimate worship of God, and should deem themselves traitors did they even manifest a semblance of assent to what their conscience repudiates; that the second object of their mission is to represent that persons should not be treated with rigor who worship God in purity, and keep themselves apart from the defilements of Popery; on the contrary, if they are obedient to the king, as their duty requires, and stir up no
troubles, but confine themselves in their private capacity to the
observance of the faith, which they have embraced, that they should be tolerated till a reformation of the universal church by fitting remedies be provided for.
If the king as well as his council shall deign to take into consideration this representation, that then the most illustrious princes are already disposed and will most cordially hold them, selves prepared to lend him their aid;
but if, on the contrary, he deal harshly with his subjects, and refuse all just reforms, that they cannot but fear the most unhappy results; and for that reason, as well as for the good-will and profound respect which they entertain for the king and kingdom of France, they not only advise but beg and implore, that he will not neglect so excellent an opportunity of
establishing peace on a firm basis, in continuing to struggle against necessity.
[Lat. Minute. — Library of Geneva. Volume 107 a.]