[644] 'Veram Christi in cœna præsentiam exprimi.'—Buceri Cons.
[645] 'Plurimi in manifesta turpitudine vivunt.'—Corp. Ref. ii. p. 764.
[646] Schmidt, Zeitschrift für Hist. Theolog. 1850, p. 35.
[647] 'Ut Christus ecclesiam suam ... redigat in concordiam piam et perpetuam.'—Corp. Ref.
[648] 'Hos articulos Francisco regi non displicuisse multa sunt quæ suadent.'—Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. renov. iv. p. 124.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE APPARITION AT ORLEANS.
(Summer 1534.)
=THE PROVOST'S WIFE.=
CALVIN, as it will be remembered, had studied and evangelised at Orleans, and his teaching had left deep traces, particularly among the students and with certain ladies of quality. The wife of the city provost seems to have been one of the souls converted by the ministry of the young reformer. The narrative he has devoted to her, the full details into which he enters, show the interest he took in her conversion.[649] This woman, who occupied a distinguished rank in the city, had found peace for her soul in faith in Christ; she had believed in the promises of the Word which Calvin had explained; she had felt keenly the nothingness of Roman pomps and superstitions; the grace of God was sufficient for her; and caring little for outward adorning, she strove after that which is not corruptible, the ornament of the women who trusted in God. 'She is a Lutheran,' said some; 'she belongs to those who have listened to the teaching of Luther's disciples.' Her husband the provost, a person of influence, a great landowner, an esteemed magistrate, a man of upright, prompt, and energetic character, was touched by the purity of his wife's conduct, and, without being converted to the Gospel, had become disgusted with the Roman superstitions, and despised the monks.
The provostess (to adopt the language of the manuscripts) fell ill, sent for a lawyer, and dictated her will to him. Lying on a bed of sickness, which she was never to leave again, full of a living faith in Christ, she felt certain of going to her Saviour, and experienced an insurmountable repugnance to the performance over her grave of any of the superstitious ceremonies for which devout women have ordinarily such a strong liking. Accordingly, while the notary, pen in hand, was waiting the dictation of her last will, she said: 'I forbid all bell-ringing and chanting at my funeral, and no monks or priests shall be present with their tapers. I desire to be buried without pomp and without torches.' The lawyer was rather surprised, but he wrote down the words; and her husband, who remained near her and knew her faith, promised that her wishes should be kept sacred. When she died, the mortal remains of this pious woman were laid in the tomb of her father and grandfather, with no other accompaniment than the tears of all who had known her, and the prayers of the children of God who formed the little evangelical flock of Orleans.