[323] 'Solis radiantis splendor cæterorum siderum lumen obscurat.'—Bezæ Icones.
[324] Calvin, Dédicace de l'Épître aux Romains.
[325] 'Sese hebraicis litteris dedit.'—Beza, Vita Calvini.
[326] 'Jam mihi a nescio quo sermo injectus.'—Calvin to Libertet.
[327] 'Tantum abest ut tuo judicio offensus fuerim.'—Ibid.
[328] 'Neque enim ea est mea morositas.'—Ibid.
[329] It would seem that the only copy extant is that in the library of Neuchâtel.
CHAPTER XIV.
INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
(Winter 1534.)
CALVIN had not been long in Basle when dreadful news arrived which deeply agitated the inhabitants of that reformed city, and especially Calvin himself. It was reported that in consequence of some controversial placards which had been posted up in Paris, and throughout France, the king's anger had broken all bounds, that the evangelicals were persecuted, that the Châtelet directed the inquisition ... and that the burning piles were preparing. Cop, Du Tillet, Calvin, and other refugees conversed about these mournful events. Du Tillet blamed the violent language of the placards; Calvin seems to have kept silence on this point—at least in his famous epistle to Francis I. he does not disavow the placards, which it would have been wise to do, if he had decidedly blamed them. Days and weeks went by in the midst of continual uneasiness; the air seemed big with storms, and terrible explosions from time to time startled every compassionate heart.