Geneva is a republic, and this, perhaps, may also have told against our narrative. Some persons have fancied that when the author spoke of liberty, he meant liberty in the republican form alone, and that may have displeased them. But that is a mistake; the author has always had in view that constitutional liberty which includes all modern liberties, and not any particular form of it. He even believes that the monarchical form is the most favourable to the liberties of a great nation. It has been his lot to see side by side, a republic without liberty and a monarchy in which all were free.
The coldness, however, of some readers for the annals of a little people, proceeds in the main from another cause. There are in reality two histories: one which is external and makes much noise, but whose consequences are not lasting; the other, which is internal, has but a mean appearance, like the seed when it germinates; and which nevertheless bears most precious fruit. Now what pleases the general public is a narrative in which great armies manœuvre; while, on the other hand, what touches the author is the movement of the soul, of strong characters, enthusiastic outbursts, the low estate of humble and tranquil hearts, holy affections, life-giving principles, the faith which gains victories, and the Divine life which regenerates nations—in a word, the moral world. The material world, physical and appreciable forces, parks of artillery and glittering squadrons, possess but a secondary interest in his eyes. Numerous cannons (it is true) give more smoke; but to those external powers, which destroy life, he prefers the internal powers which elevate the soul, warm it for truth, for liberty, and for God, and cause it to be born again to life everlasting. If these internal forces are developed in the midst of a little people, they possess all the more attraction for him.
If humble heroes are not popular, shall I therefore leave their noble actions in obscurity? Shall I limit myself henceforward to bringing princes and kings on the stage, with statesmen, cardinals, armies, treaties, and empires? No: I cannot do so. I shall have to speak, indeed, of Francis I. and Charles V., of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII., and other great personages; but I shall still remain faithful to little people and little things. It is indeed a petty city whose struggles I am relating; but it is the city that for two centuries made head against Rome, until she had resigned the task entrusted to her into the hands of more powerful nations—England, Germany, and America. Let the liberals despise her who at this very time most enjoy the fruits of her severe struggles.... Be it so.... As for me, I have not the courage to follow them. I call to mind the refugees she has entertained ... the asylum they found there, and which their children still enjoy ... and I desire to pay my debt. Oh! if she would only understand that she cannot exist with honour in the future, unless, while loving liberty, she loves the Gospel more than everything else.
Let me say a few words more on the principles which have guided me in composing this history. What it is necessary for us to study above all things is, in my opinion, the beginnings. The formation of beings, the origin of the successive phases of humanity, possess in my eyes an importance and interest far surpassing the exhibition of what these things have afterwards become. The creative epoch of Christianity, in which we contemplate Christ and His apostles, is to me far more admirable than those which succeeded it. Similarly the Reformation, which is the creation of the evangelical world in modern times, has greater attractions for me than the Protestantism which comes after. I take a pleasure in watching life in its commencement. When the work is done, its summa momenta are over. In the first lines of the first volume of my first work, I said that I should follow this rule. I shall not be reproached for remaining faithful to it.
An objection has been raised that this history is too full of details. I might reply that it is not good to leave facts in vagueness; that they must be analysed and described. The surrounding circumstances can alone give an accurate knowledge of events, and impress on them the stamp of reality. The author may here quote an authority which no one will dispute. He remembers, that being in Paris at M. Guizot's, just as the first volume of the History of the Reformation appeared—about thirty years ago—that illustrious writer said to him: 'Give us details, the rest we know.' We do not think that many of our readers will fancy they know more than he does.
Another conviction also exercises some influence on the character of my narrative. It seems to me that the study of the unknown has a peculiar charm. Geneva and its struggles for liberty and the Gospel, are a terra incognita, except to its citizens and a few men of letters. When historians describe ancient or modern times—for example, the Revolution of the Netherlands, of England, or of France,—they can only say a little better what others have already said before them. Perhaps there is some advantage in exploring a virgin soil—in adding new facts to that treasury which ought to be the wisdom of nations. The author is not, however, blind to the truth there may have been in some of the criticisms upon his work—and while following the principles he has laid down, he will endeavour to profit by them.
He had hoped to publish the third and fourth volumes together this year. Having been forced to pass the winter of 1862-63 at Nice, with injunctions to abstain from work, he publishes one only now; but the next, God willing, will not be long delayed.
On returning from Nice, the author passed through Piedmont, partly to be present at a synod in the Waldensian valleys, which reminded him of the one described in this volume; and partly to make researches among the General Archives of the kingdom at Turin. The valuable collections there contained were liberally thrown open to him, and he was able to select and transcribe some precious documents hitherto unknown, of which, as will be seen, he made immediate use. While thanking the various persons who have been useful to him in his researches, the author desires also to express his acknowledgments to the translator of this work, Dr. H. White, who has spared no pains in conveying to the English reader a faithful and animated copy of the original. The translation has been carefully revised by the author with great care, line by line and word by word, and some changes, not in the French edition, have been introduced.
Will this work obtain a success similar to that which attended the former one? That treated of the Reformation in Germany, with Luther as its hero; this treats especially of the Reform in Western Europe, with Calvin as its head. The scene of the latter being nearer home, ought to have more interest for British readers; or shall a new-born passion for Germany and the Germans make them look with indifference on all that does not directly concern the country of Luther?... France, Holland, England, Scotland, Switzerland should possess some attraction for them. The history, hitherto almost unknown, of the Reformation of Geneva is not only attractive in itself, it is also of importance with regard to England. Geneva is the representative of a Christian system, of a great doctrine,—that of the supreme authority of Holy Scripture, and of the pure Gospel. The final triumph of this doctrine is of the greatest consequence for the English churches. A well-known British theologian of our day has said: 'Two systems of doctrine are now, and probably for the last time, in conflict—the Catholic and the Genevan.'[7]
May this work be of some little use in determining the issue!