Embassy Of Dufour.
If the council did not come to a decision on the question which Calvin had decided, it was because, as it declared, it had other business in hand; and the most important of all was the recall of that great teacher who had displayed so much fairness and moderation. The council felt more and more that the powerful mind and the high authority of Calvin were indispensable in Geneva; and therefore again and again they pressed for his return. On September 20 the Little Council gave Perrin the commission of which we have spoken. On October 13 the Two Hundred decreed that a letter should be written to the Reformer, ‘begging him to consent to assist us.’ Michel Dubois was to be the bearer of the letter, and ‘was to make earnest appeals to the friends of the Reformer to persuade him to come.’ On the 19th the same council decided ‘that, for the promotion of the honor and glory of God, every thing possible must be done to get Master Calvin back.’ The next day the people assembled in General Council decreed that, ‘for the advancement and extension of the word of God, a deputation should be sent to Strasburg to fetch Master Calvin, who is very learned, to be evangelical minister in this town.’ On October 22 Louis Dufour, a member of the Two Hundred, was instructed to take the message of the councils to Strasburg; and on the 27th, twenty golden écus au soleil were voted to him for the purpose of fetching Master Calvin. They insisted upon it; they reiterated their determination; they decided the matter, and then decided it over again; they did not hesitate to repeat it again and again. The matter was of such importance that entreaties must be urgent. Dufour set out. Would he succeed? That was the question, and it was very doubtful.[[14]] When Calvin received the first message, previous to that of Dufour, he was so much excited and thrown into so great a perplexity that for two days he was hardly master of himself.[[15]] Remembering the distress of mind which he had suffered at Geneva, his whole soul shrank with horror from the thought of returning thither. Had not his conscience been put to the torture? Had not anxieties consumed him? ‘I dread that town,’ he exclaimed, ‘as a place fatal to me.[[16]] Who will blame me if I am unwilling to plunge again into that deadly gulf? Besides, can I believe that my ministry will be profitable there? The spirit which actuates most of the inhabitants is such as will be intolerable to me, and I shall be equally so to them.’ Then turning his thoughts in another direction he exclaimed—‘Nevertheless I desire so earnestly the good of the church of Geneva, that I would sooner risk my life a hundred times than betray it by desertion.[[17]] I am ready therefore to follow the advice of those whom I regard as sure and faithful guides.’ It was to Farel that Calvin thus poured out his heart. It was his advice that he sought, and there was no doubt what this advice would be.
Calvin At Worms.
The Reformer also consulted his Strasburg friends, and agreed with them that he could not abruptly quit the church of which he was then pastor; and, above all, that he must be present at the assembly of Worms, as he had already been present in the spring at that of Hagenau. He therefore wrote to the lords of Geneva: ‘It has been arranged by the gentlemen of the council of this town that I should go with some of my brethren to the assembly of Worms, in order to serve not one church alone, but all churches, among which yours is included. I do not, indeed, think myself so wise, so great, or so experienced that I can be of any great use there; but, since a matter of such high concern is at stake, and as it has been arranged not only by the council of this town, but also by others, that I should go there, I am obliged to obey. But I can call God to witness that I hold your church in such esteem that I would never be wanting to it in the time of its need in any thing which I could possibly undertake.’[[18]]
Calvin’s letter was written on the 23d of October; and Dufour brought him a letter from the council dated the day before. When the delegate reached Strasburg Calvin was already at Worms, where an important conference was about to be held between the Protestant and the Catholic theologians, for the purpose of endeavoring to come to an understanding with each other, in pursuance of the plan agreed upon at Hagenau. The Genevese messenger appeared before the senate of Strasburg, and made known to them the purpose of his journey. The senate replied that Calvin was absent, and that without his consent they could make no promise. Dufour then determined to follow the Reformer to the town which Luther, by his Christian heroism, had made illustrious. ‘I will ascertain exactly,’ he said, ‘what he thinks of our call.’ A courier carried to Worms the news of the arrival of the Genevese deputation, and the Strasburg magistrate entrusted him with a letter for his deputies, Jacob Sturm and Mathias Pfarrer, in which he enjoined them to do all they could to prevent Calvin making any engagement with the Genevese. The high estimate formed of Calvin in Germany, the fact that an imperial city sent this Frenchman as a deputy to assemblies convoked by the Emperor to take into consideration the deepest interests of the Empire, might well contribute to work a change in the opinion of some of the citizens of the little republic with respect to Calvin, of whom it had hitherto been possible to say: ‘A prophet is not without honor save in his own country.’ The Genevese deputy arrived two days after the courier, and delivered to Calvin the letter of the Council of Geneva. He read it, and it is easy to imagine the impression which it must make on him. It ran as follows:
‘To the Doctor Calvin, Evangelical Minister.
‘Our excellent brother and special friend, we commend ourselves to you very affectionately, because we are fully assured that you have no other desire but for the increase and advancement of the glory and honor of God, and of his holy Word. On behalf of our Little, Great, and General Councils (all of which have strongly urged us to take this step), we pray you very affectionately that you will be pleased to come over to us, and to return to your former post and ministry; and we hope that by God’s help this course will be a great advantage for the furtherance of the holy Gospel, seeing that our people very much desire you, and we will so deal with you that you shall have reason to be satisfied.
‘This 22d October, 1540.
‘Your good friends,
‘The Syndics and Council of Geneva.’[[19]]