certaine time But when he came thither and was receiued of singuler affection by those poore people which acknowleged their fault hauing a great desire to heare their faithful Pastor they helde him there continually wherunto in the ende the Lordes of Strasbourgh consented vpō condition that he should be alwayes a Bourgeois of their towne They would also that he should haue had alwayes the reuenue of a Prebend which was appointed vnto him for hys scipende of his reading But as he was a man clearely voide of all greedinesse of the goodes of thys worlde so coulde they neuer bring to passe that hee woulde receiue so much as the value of one Denier thereof And in this sorte he was againe established at Geneua the yeare .1541 the .13 of September where forthwith hee framed an order of Ecclesiasticall Discipline which hath alwayes since continued there firmely albeit Satan and hys adherentes haue employed all theire forces to abolishe it Now hee that woulde here declare particulerly all the trauayles paines that thys excellent personage hath endured since by the space of .23 yeares as well within as without hee shoulde haue matter sufficient to fil a great volume For if euer there were towne furiously assayled by Satan and valiantly defended during that tyme it was Geneua the honor belongeth onely to God but it ought and may lawfullye be said that Caluin hath bene the instrumēt of hys vertue power If there be questiō of vigilance Satan his could neuer take him vnprouided but either he hath warned that flocke before hande or else preserued it in the place If wee shal speake of integritie he is yet vnborne that hath sene him cōmit any fault in his office or to yelde be it neuer so little for any man liuing or to haue varied in doctrine or life nor neuer misreported man If we shall speake of labour paine I beleue that his like is not to be founde beside that he preached cōtinually euery daye in the weeke and most commonly and as often as he was able hee preached twice euery Sonday hee did reade diuinitie three times in a weeke hee made declaration in the Consistorie or as it were a whole lesson euery Friday in conference of the Scripture which we call Cōgregation did continue this order thorowly wtout interruption vntill his death in dede neuer did fayle so much as once except it were by extreme sicknesse Further who is able to recite his trauailes ordinarie and extraordinary I knowe not if any man of our tyme hath had more to heare to aunswere and to write nor matters of greater importaunce The onely multitude and number of hys bookes and writings are sufficient to astonishe any man that shall se them but much more those that shall reade them And that which maketh hys labours more wonderfull is that hee had a bodye so weake of nature and so lowe brought with watchings and ouermuch sobrietie yea and being subiect to so many diseases that all men that had sene him would haue thought that he coulde not haue lyued at all And notwithstanding this hee neuer left of day nor night his trauaile in the workes of the Lorde he coulde not endure to heare the requestes and exhortations of hys friendes which they daylye made vnto him to the ende that he shoulde take some rest I wyll alledge onely two examples The yeare .1559 beyng assayled and maruellously greued with a feuer quartane he did notwithstanding in the chiefest of hys sicknesse set forth the laste edition of his Christian Institution and did translate it thorowe oute into Frenche Likewise in his last sicknesses which were the stone the goute the Hemorrhodes a Phthysike feuer shortnesse of wynd beside his ordinarie disease of the Miegrame be did him self translate wholly that great volume of his Commentaries vpon the foure laste Bookes of Moyses examined the translation of the fyrst made this booke vpō Iosue and did peruse the greatest part of the translation and annotations of the Newe Testament in sor◠that he neuer ceased from writing but only eyght dayes before his death hys voice beginning to fayle him Beside hys innumerable paines and his charges in all the mischiefes and perilles wherein this poore Citie hath bene assayled within by many mutinous and desperate Citizens tormented without a hundred thousand wayes threatned by the greatest Kings and Princes of Christendome bicause it was alwayes a refuge and defence for all the poore children of God afflicted in Fraunce Italie Spayne Englande and else where it was so that Caluin bare alwaye the greatest burden to be short he myght well saye with S. Paule who is he that is troubled I do not sorrowe And it was not without cause that euery mā had his refuge to him for God had adorned him with so wyse and good councell that neuer man repented him of the following of it but I haue knowē many fal into great and extreme inconueniences which would not beleue him Thys hath bene founde so by many experiences and proofes namely in the seditions that happened the yeare .48 54. and .55 to breake and disorder the discipline of the Church where he thrust himself naked in among the swordes drawne and with hys presence wordes he so frayed the most desperate mutines of them that they were enforced to prayse God The lyke was in the conspiracie Catilinarie which was the verye yere .55 to haue murdred all the French by the Captaine of the towne named Amied Perrin and his conspirators which coniuration carying with it a maruellous number of daūgers and trauayles in the ende the Lords of hys great grace by the wysedome of hys seruaunt brought it to that passe that it is now at to wyt to the greatest quietnesse and felicitie that euer this Citie did knowe As touching his ordinary life dyet euery man cā witnesse that it was so temperate that ther was neuer excesse in it no more was there of nigardise but a commendable meane sauing that he had alwayes to small regarde to his health being cōtented for the space of many yeares with one repast in .xxiiij. houres and neuer receiuing any thing betwene his meales in such sort that all that euer the Phisitians could persuade him vnto in the point was that about half a yere before his last sicknesse he did take at times about noone a litle wine and would soupe of an egge the causes were the weakenesse of his stomack and the Miegrame for the which he saide hee coulde neuer find any remedy but a cōtinual dyet in suche sort as I haue knowen him oftentimes to eate no meate in two dayes Being of so smal a dyet he slept very little for the more parte he was cōstrained to warme him vpon his bedde whereon also hee hath made the greatest number of his bookes being continually happily occupyed in spirite This is the order that this excellent seruant of God did continuallye obserue forgetting himself to serue
togither present these famous mē Theodore de Beza Raymond Chauuet Michel Cop. Lois Enoch Nicolas Coladon Iaques de Bordes Ministers of the worde of God in this Church and that famous man Henry Scringer professor of Artes al Burgeoses of Geneua in the presence of whom he declared that hee had caused me to wryte by him and after his pronunciation the sayd Testamente in the very forme and woordes aboue written praying me to reade it in his presence and in the presence of them that were ther required and desiced to the same effect which I did all aloud word by word after the reading whereof hee declared that such was his wil and last dispositiō willing to haue the same obserued and for the better auctorizing hereof did desire and request the aboue named to subscribe the same with me which was also done the day and yeare aboue written in Geneua in the streat called the Chanons streat and in his dwelling house In witnesse wherof and for proofe of the same as reason is I haue written in the forme aforesayd this present Testamente to make him ready for whom so euer the execution thereof shall belong vnto vnder the common seale of our very honorable Lords and Superiors mine accustomed Signe manuell So is it signed P. Cheuelat Seing that the shortnesse of his wind did encrease more and more he desired my Lordes the foure Sindiques and the whole little ordinary Counsell as they are called to come and see hym togither and when they were come hee made to them an excellente declaration of the singular graces that they had receiued of God and of the greate and extreme daungers from the which they had bene preserued which he could well declare to them frō poynt to poynt as he that knew the whole better than any man and did put them in minde of diuers necessary thinges concerning God touching the gouernment of their charge to be short hee did the office of a true seruant and Prophet of God protesting the sinceritie of the doctrine that hee had taught them assuring them agaynst the tempests that were at hand if they would cōtinue on frō good to better And then he desired them in generall in particuler to pardon all his offences which none euer found so grieuous as hee did he tooke them al by the hande I know not whether there mought haue happened to these Lordes a more dolefull spectacle or sight which they al dyd esteeme good cause why concerning his charge as the mouth of the Lord in their affection as their owne father seing that he had knowen and framed a great peece of theire youth The Fryday the .20 of Aprill all the brethren Ministers bothe of the towne and countrey beeing aduertised at his requeste came togither to his chamber to whome he gaue a great and long exhortation wherof the substance and effect was that they shuld perseuer in the well doing of they re duetye after hys Deathe and that they shoulde not faynt seing GOD would both mayntayn the towne and his Church albeit they were threatned in many behalfes and also that they should suffer no malice or displeasure to raigne among them but charitie by all meanes possible and that they should be of perfect accord among themselues that they shoulde acknowledge howe greatelye they were bound to that Churche into the which God had called them and that there ought nothing to turn them back for those which haue tasted the truth and wyll leaue it may finde excuses vnder the ground but God wil not be mocked To this he added a recitall of hys entrie and comming to thys Churche and of his conuersation therein saying that when he came thither the Gospell was there preached but thynges were farre out of order that the greatest fruit that the Gospel had brought forth was the breaking downe of the Idolles but there were there many wicked people he was enforced to receiue many iniuries but God did alwayes strengthen him to go thorow with it albeit that of his owne nature he was fearfull and hee repeated twice or thrice these wordes I assure you that of mine own nature I am timorous fearfull Also he put them in remembrauuce that when he came from Strausbourgh hyther hee entred into thys vocatiō as by constraynt and seing no great likelyhoode of anye fruite to come nor yet knowing what God woulde worke in that behalfe and in deede that he had passed many harde things but continuing on styll in tyme hee sawe the blessing of God vpon his labour he would then that euery mā should waxe strong in hys vocation and kepe good order and that they should haue good regard to the people to holde them in continuall obedience of the true doctrine and that they had alwayes among them Godly men albeit that it coulde not bee auoyded but that there muste bee euill persones and rebelles among thē also that this should shew vs very faulty in the sight of God if the things being come to so good passe shoulde afterwarde fall into decay by our negligence As touching the reste hee protested that hee had euer bene of one true affection wyth the company of his brethren and desired thē to pardon hym if that at any time they had sene in him any frowardnesse during his sicknesse and gaue them great thankes as often tymes hee vsed for that they dyd supply hys place in preaching In the end hee toke them by the hand one after another whiche was wyth so greate sorrowe and bytternesse of heart to euery of them that I can not call it to minde wythoute greate and extreme sorrowfulnesse The second of Maij hauing receyued letters from M. William Farell Minister at Neufchastell of whome heeretofore hath bene made mention and vnderstanding that hee was minded to visit him being of the age of foure Score yeare and more hee wrote to hym in this sorte Be it vvell vvyth you my very good and deare Brother and seing that it pleaseth GOD that you shall remaine after mee vvell maye you lyue hauing alvvayes in minde our Vnitie the fruite vvhereof attendeth vpon vs in Heauen according to the profit therof that the Church of GOD hath enioyed I vvyll in no vvyse that you trauayle to see mee for I dravve my breath vvyth great payne and doe continuallye looke vvhen my breath shal fayle me It is sufficient that I liue and dye to CHRIST vvhich is a gayne to his both in life and death I cōmend you agayne to God vvyth all the Brethren in those partes From Geneua this second of Maij .1564 By vvholly yours Iohn Caluin From that time forth his sicknesse euen to hys death was nothing else but a continual Prayer notwythstanding that hee was alwayes in paynes hauing often tymes in his mouth these woordes of the Psalme .39 Tacui Domine quia fecisti I held my peace O Lorde bycause it is thou that hast done it Other times he would
the same yeare he caused to imprint at Basil his first instructiō as an Apologie dedicated to Fraūces the first Frenche King of that name in the behalfe of the poore faithfull that were persecuted whom they did most falsely name Anabaptistes to excuse them towarde the Princes Protestantes of the persecutions that they then vsed against them He passed also into Italie where he saw my Lady the Duchesse of Ferrare yet at this day liuing thankes be to God who when shee had seene heard him forthwith iudged of him as hee was and euer after vntyl his death did loue and honor him as an excellent Organe of the Lorde In hys returne from Italie the which he had but seene he passe in a happie time thorow this towne of Geneua which not long before had receiued the Gospell by the preaching of M. William Farell and dyd meane nothing lesse than to tarry there but to passe thorow it and to go to Basil or else to Strasbourgh But the Lord being euen then willing to prepare away to his so great goodnesse as his pleasure was to bestowe vpon his Church by the meane of him did put in the heart of the sayde Farel to staye him which thing was very harde for him to doe in such sort that after many requestes desyres he was fayne to vse adiurations Thē he was cōtented to stay not to preach but to reade Diuinitie and this came to passe in the yeare .1536 in the beginning of September When hee was in this sort declared Doctor in thys Churche by lawfull election and auctoritie hee then framed a briefe forme of Confession and Discipline to giue some shape to thys new erected Churche Hee made also a Cathechisme which may be wel called one of his excellēt works and hath yelded maruellous fruite beyng so well framed that it was afterwarde turned out of Frenche into Hebrue to winne the Iewes into Greeke Latin for the scholes also into Italian Dutch Englishe Scotish and Flēmishe also Spanishe for all these nations These prosperous beginnings dyd greatly mislike Satan his who failed not as it was an easy matter to doe in the first change of the estate of Religiō to set himself against the proceding of the Gospel Albeit that it was receiued with an oth by all those of this town Maister Caluin on the other side as he was in deede of a noble minde withstoode firmely constantly with Maister Farel the seditious persons hauing also on his side an other good mā named Conrant a Minister also of this Church being blinde of his bodily eyes but could wel see with the eyes of his spirite whom also the said Caluin had brought frō Basil where he did remaine bicause of the great persecutions that were in Fraunce The ende was such that the Lord being minded euen at once to take his seruant out frō the presse to purge this Towne of certain seditious persōs which did abuse the name of the Gospel to plāt his name else where last of al to frame his seruāt by certain experiēce of things which did afterward stand him in great steade it was ordeined the greater part of the Coūsel not being the best that the forenamed should depart the town wtin .24 houres bicause that they wold not minister the Supper of the Lord in a Citie that was thē so troubled and stirred Whē thys was declared to the said Caluin his aunswere was that if hee had serued mē he should haue bene ill recōpenced but he serued him who in steade of euil recompēcing his seruāts did alwayes giue thē more than they deserued And he might iustly so say for he had folowed the example of S. Paule in seruing of the Church vpon his own charges cost He then departed to the great griefe of all the good first to Basil then to Strasbourgh wher being receiued as a treasure by those excellent mē M. Martin Bucer Capito Hedio and others who at the present did shyne as precious Pearles in the Church of God hee there erected a French Church therin did establish Ecclesiastical discipline in such sort as the Almaignes could neuer yet attaine vnto for their Churche euen to this very daye he did also reade Diuinitie with great admiration of euery man then he began to write vpon S. Paule dedicating his Cōmentarie vpon the Epistle to the Romaines to M. Simon Grinee who was accompted to be the best learned of the Almaigne nation was his great friende he had also this grace among others that hee brought to the faith a great number of Anabaptists which were sent vnto hym out of all partes and among others one named Iohn Stordeur of Liege who within short tyme after dying of the Plague at Strasbourgh he tooke his widow to wyfe whose name was Idelleto de Bure a verye graue and honest woman with whome hee liued afterwarde verye quietly vntyll our Lorde tooke hir away to himself the yeare .1548 without hauing had any childe at the same very time there were holden in Almaigne certaine imperiall assembles or diets for the matter of Religion at Woormes and at Ratisbone in the which Caluin was chosē for one of the chiefe by the aduise of all the Diuines of Almaigne where he did so behaue himselfe that his renoume became great euen among the very enimies and Phillip Melancthon among others did euen then receiue him into singuler friendship which did alwayes laste afterwarde and did then call him ordinarilye the Diuine in token of singuler honor In the meane time the Lord did execute his iudgements at Geneua punishing certaine which beyng in the place of Syndique .1538 were the cause of the banishement of Caluin and Farel in such sort as one of them beyng gyltie of a sedition thinking to saue himself thorow a window did all burst himselfe an other of them hauing committed a murder was by order of iustice beheaded the other twaine being cōuinced of certain vntrouth against the state of the towne fledde awaye and were condemned in their absence When the towne was purged of this froth they began then to bewayle Caluin he was desyred thither againe by sundry Ambassades frō Geneua and by the intercession of the Lordes of Zuriche to the Lords of Strasbourgh who made great difficultie On the other side Caluin seing how he profited in Strasbourgh would in no wyse cōsent therunto albeit to declare the good wyll that he bare to the towne the yeare .1539 a whole yeare after hys banishment hee maintained the cause therof or rather of the truth of God against the Cardinal Sadolet in a large and learned Epistle which is printed among the reast of hys workes In th ende he was threatened with the iudgements of God if he did not obey to that vocation in such sorte that to the great sorrowe of the Lordes of Strasbourgh and especially of Maister Bucer and his companions he was licenced to be at Geneua for a
sharpnesse of spirite to discouer where the difficultie of matters did lye and then also a meruellous dexteritie and aptnesse to make his aunswers without the losing of any one worde as all they wil confesse yea the very enimies of the Gospell which would attentiuely reade his workes I haue also omitted one Monstre which hee lykewise did defeate albeit that in that behalfe I fought on hys side it is one named Sebastian Castalion who bicause hee had some knowledge in the tongues and had also a certaine aptnesse in the Latin tongue he was here receiued to gouerne the schoole But this spirite being so naturally enclined to please himselfe did so diue hym in his vanitie that in the ende he drowned himselfe therein bicause we coulde neuer winne so much of him as to cause him to take the paines to reade the Cōmentaries and other workes to resolue him That was the cause why he did openlye condemne the song called Canticum Canticorum in Latin as a filthye and wanton Booke which when it was layde to hys charge he vomited out openly a thousande iniuries against the Pastors of this Church Wherupon being commaunded by the Magistrate to auouch his sayings and being conuinced of manifest malice and euill speaking by iustice he was appointed to depart the town after that he had acknowleged his fault being then in the ende retired to Basil hee continued there vntill the time of the trouble that was stirred vp by Hierosme Bolsec vpon Predestination the same man which helde alwayes of the perfection of the Anabaptistes but it was secretelye and among his owne sect otherwyse making no difficultie at all to shape hymself like to euery man and beyng also greatlye prouoked by the death of Seruet he discouered hymself openly first in a booke which he caused to be imprinted in Latin and in French vnder a false and counterfeyt name of Martin Bellie to whose errors and blasphemies I haue aunswered Hee also made an other treatise which he calleth in Latin Theologia Germanica vnder the name of Theophile and in Frenche an other treatise of the olde and newe man In the ende he did turne or rather ouerthrowe and confounde the whole Bible in Latin and Frenche with so vile a shamelesnesse ignoraunce that it is maruell that anye man coulde delight therein were it not that newe things are alwayes agreable to Ambitious spirites whereof there is at this daye as great plenty as euer there was He did set before his translation an Epistle dedicated to the late good king Edwarde of Englande whereby vnder colour of preaching Charitie he ouerthroweth the auctoritie of the Scriptures as darke or vnperfect to the ende to sende vs to perticuler reuelations to wit to the dreames of the first abuser deceiuer that would declare and shew himselfe Hee did also make certaine notes vpon the ninth chapiter of the Epistle to the Romaines wherby he doth opēly maintain Pelaglanisme doth not acknowledge any decree and ordinaūce of God but only in those things that are good of their own nature forging in God a permission cōtrarye to hys wyll falsely laying to our charge that we make God the Auctor of sinne All this did not any thing moue the faithfull seruant of God bicause that such calumnies errors had bene already aunswered a thousand times vnto the time that hee himselfe made a certaine collection in Latin of certaine Articles and arguments which some men saide were taken oute of the Bookes of M. Iohn Caluin adding thereunto certaine replications this booke was sent closely to Paris there to bee imprinted but God prouided for it and caused the firste copye to come to my hands in such sort that we our selues did cause them to be put in print here wyth such aunsweres as it did deserue hee after that he vnderstoode the whole matter knew not how to aunswere the Pastors and Ministers of Basil but sayde that he was not Auctor of those articles being shortly after called to aunswere vpon the doctrine of free wyll and of the prouidence of God in open disputacion at Basil hys doctrine was condemned And bicause that certaine yeares before he had bene receiued to the profession of the Greeke tongue by those that did not vnderstande of hys errors hee was commaunded not to deale neither by worde nor writing but with hys lecture which thing he promised and did verye euill obserue it cōtinuing alwaies as he mought in sowing of hys errors and disceiptes and of a verye malice that he had against mee who at that tyme was in Fraunce greatlye troubled to my great griefe in the ciuil warres or at the least beyng moued with some vnmeasurable ambition hee wrote a little booke intituled Counsell to desolate Fraunce without putting his name to it or naming the place wherin it was printed albeit it was a free towne in it doth he condemne all the French Churches of sedition and rebellion and giueth councell to euery one to beleue what he wyll and by that very meane opening the gate to all Heresies and false doctrines I did not vouchsafe to make aunswere to that worthy counsell which declared this man to be ouer beastly and ignorant in that whereof he did entreate very euill exercised in suche affaires but in the steade of it I did aunswere to many pointes wherof hee rebuketh mee mingling with them most villaine and intollerable errors vnder colour of defēding that which I did mislike in his Latin translation This myne aunswere being dedicate to the pastors of the Church of Basil was the cause that the same Castalion was called by the Churche and afterwarde by the Seignorie and was commaunded to make aunswere to that wherewith I charged him and did offer my selfe to proue by hys owne writings but within few dayes after death deliuered him from that trauaile I knowe well that thys long discourse shal be misliked of some men as though I spake as a man loded with passions and coulde not be content to suffer the dead to be at rest in their graue But I may well protest before God that I did neuer hate the man in hys lyfe time with whom also I neuer had to doe nether in good nor euill in perticuler much lesse that I woulde nowe hate and persecute the deade which are put ouer to the iudgement of the Lorde But it was needefull to make thys knowen to the ende that euery man myght beware of hys Bookes and disciples that hee hath left behind him Whilest these things were doing a certaine Disciple aduaunced himselfe to wit Fraūces Baldwin who could no more continue in one Religion than in one place but chaunged dwelling place condition in maner euery day Religion at the least three times in the ende hauing no more consciēce to loose he placed himself in a certain Religion like to that of Chanonnes Regulers the which being such in general as were the reast of al their troupe yet whē ther is a